Slendah's Poet's Page
Biography
Born Linda Diane Mayfield, this aspiring African American poetess grew up in the Red Hook housing projects, of Brooklyn, New York
She graduated from Kingsborough Community College with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Data Processing.
Although Linda began writing poetry in junior high school, she abandoned the craft in her late teens, and only recently began writing again in 2003, over thirty years later.
Online, she goes by the pen name of Slendah.
Her poetry has appeared on websites such as Mr. Africa, Soulful Chemistry, E-LiteraryCafe, and TimBookTu.
Linda currently resides in the East New York section of Brooklyn with her son, Lawrence.
Award/Honors
- Linda has been the featured poet at Poeticnites.
Website: Life Is A Roller Coaster
Email: ldmhayes@yahoo.com
Brooklyn, New York/United States
"African Burial Ground"
In New York City, May of 1991,
construction on a federal building had begun.
As excavators started removing stones,
they dug up a graveyard full of human bones.
Archaeologists were brought in to exhume the graves,
and discovered these were the remains of African slaves.
Slaves that cleared shorelines, and built New York's first roads,
incurring premature deaths from carrying crushing workloads.
The information gathered from this discovery,
will help us to secure our place in New York's history.
Listen to the ringing of the old church bell,
as we bid our forefathers, a proper farewell.
African Americans dance in the streets,
to the thunderous sound of pounding drumbeats.
Lifting our voices in a mighty chorus,
we pay tribute to our ancestors before us.
Individual coffins carved by hand,
were fittingly commissioned from the homeland.
Their bones were reburied, their souls finally free,
on the fourth of October 2003.
© Linda D. Hayes ~ All rights reserved.
"The Ultimate Sacrifice"
Have you ever used Godís name in vain?
Thatís why an innocent man was slain.
Have you ever stolen from another?
Thatís why He was taken from His mother.
Have you ever purposely fibbed or lied?
Thatís why Jesus Christ was crucified.
To right the wrong the world had done,
God sacrificed his only son.
His claim as God's Son brought Him rejection,
But the proof was in His resurrection .
He shed his blood as an act of love,
offering eternal life in Heaven above.
Please open your heart. Let Jesus in.
His precious blood washes away all sin.
Our loving God forgives misbehavior,
when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
© Linda D. Hayes ~ All rights reserved.
