Right back
Tag you’re it
I heard a story
Of a man with
No fees
No bondage
He was and is set free
Weapons are evil
My jealousy
May it beautify
My soulish pride
And then die to
Be alive
To be survived
By the culture
If necessary
For god’s will
God’s infinite Love
That never fails
And then only to
Never fail
I stayed inside
My little shell
I stayed
Inside my shell
And the sand
And the leaves
On the palm trees
Sprayed beneath
Into my ocean dreams
Palm trees
A piece of me
Slave ships
And white skin
All over me
But yet there
Living inside of
Me
What a shell
What a story
To tell
Inspired by Fatoumata Diawara’s Kokoro, “Kokoro, which means ancestral heritage in Bambara, Fatoumata says ‘Why are we not proud of who we are? We are black Africans, descendants of Sunjata Keita, the emperor of the Mandé people. We have our own culture and civilisation, which we must be proud of. Instead, we want to look like Westerners, Chinese, Asians, and Arabs by bleaching our skin, selling off our land and resources, and adopting their fashions. As a result, we are lost and our traditions escape us. So who will come to defend our African dignity in our place?’” – https://circuitsweet.co.uk/2018/04/fatoumata-diawara-shares-new-track-kokoro/
I’m just a slippery antevāsin
Betwixt in between
A student
On the ever shifting border
Near the wonderful
Scary forest
Of the new
– Liz Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
Kelsey With Some Jo 