The Paddock Review

…..

Paintings of Trees Remind Me of That Billie Holiday Song

Inspired by Paul Morrison’s Cambium (El cambium) 

…..

Felled trees like Black corses

Torn bark saturated

with sap and blood. Vessels

of God, epithelial and cambium coalesced

into swaddling clothes.

I fall to my knees in prayer

and reverence. The dove

and the raven fly overhead

to comfort and remind.

….

This poem is from the chapbook Thick Black Lines (Finishing Line Press), and is available at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/thick-black-lines-by-christie-cruise/

Thick Black Lines includes poems that extend to the experiences of Black people, with a particular emphasis on the nuanced perspectives of Black women. Themes of race relations in the pandemic years, grief and loss, and systemic oppression are interwoven throughout the verses, creating a tapestry of shared experiences. The effects of these experiences on physical, mental, and emotional well-being are entwined.

Christie A. Cruise, Ph.D., is an author, educator, and social justice advocate. In 2019 she released her first book, It Don’t Hurt Now: My Journey of Self-Love & Self-Acceptance. Her poetry, reflections, and self-portrait photography have been published in Gumbo Magazine, Remington Review, Gallery & Studio Arts Journal, Sunspot Literary Journal, Kitchen Table Quarterly, Black Minds Mag, the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG) anthology Heels Into the Soil: Stories & Poems Resisting the Silence, and the IWWG Network edition Our Stories, Ourselves: Narratives from Black Women in Africa and America. In addition, Dr. Cruise has contributed to blogs for the Black Mental Wellness Corporation, The Healing Collective Global, Spoken Black Girl, and Mahogany by Hallmark.