A Poem for Clara

Muhammad

She went to the door
when Master Fard knocked
selling red silk
asked was brother there
she said yeah
he in the back
drunk as a coot
Master Fard
sobered him
raised him from dead
so-called negro
Master departed
Elijah in charge
brothers said no
even his own brother
Kallot
Elijah ran seven years
black devils after him
"I will eat one grain of rice
til we kill Elijah."
Clara ran Nation
raised children
Elijah came home
snatched again by devil
this time white
charged with sedition
draft evasion
five years prison
Clara ran Nation
raised children
a little silent woman
disrespected by sisters
who shared her man
in her face
caught on roof
getting to her man
why they dis me
in my face?
she told Nisa Islam
Clara
first lady of the Nation
silent warrior
where is her bio
her mention on Women's Month
No black studies of Clara
comforter of Elijah
chief wife
mother of Herbert, Wallace,
Akbar, Ethel, et al
who will tell her story
raise her name to glory
this silent warrior
who nurtured Nation
those early days
when Elijah fled for his life
from black devils
white devils too.
who will call her name
great ancestor Clara.
I was in her house

she spoke to me
As-Salaam-Alaikum.
--Marvin X
3/10/10