Grandmothers, Ancestors, Orishas, Most High God,
please help me read the shells of my fractured lineage to know from whence i/we come
The answers to my/our origin
are not in ether or entropy
but in the shells, in the husks,
in torn skins and seeds
and plants and seasonings and split
infinitives and beats
and rhymes and lives (RIP Phife)
and movements and lessons
Let the congregation say Amen
Blessed be Grandma Claire’s greens*
Let the church say Amen
Blessed be her carved bird
Let the church say Amen
Blessed be the yams, candied (Grandma Claire’s) or otherwise (Mama Anna’s)
Let the people say Amen
Blessed be the rice
and beans
and peas
jolof / jambalaya / jolofalaya
arroz con errythang (errybody loves arroz)
Let the saints say Amen
Blessed be the grits (with butter and cheese and salt or sugar but never ketchup)
be the porridge
be the fufu
Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen
Amein Amon Amonhetep hetep hetep
May the peace of the Most High that be everlasting rejoin
this coconut, transfigure it into a chariot to carry we home
*The refrain “Blessed be…” is inspired “The Hairmaid’s Tale” from The Rundown with Robin Thede, S1E2
Timothy Prolific Veit Jones is The Inquisitive Eater's Poet of the Month for March 2018.
Timothy Prolific Veit Jones a poet, educator, and organizer whose creative work operates in the continuum of the Black Arts Movement, using a multi-disciplinary approach rooted in Hip-Hop culture as an African Diasporic folkloric praxis. He has performed his poetry at a diverse variety of venues, from Cornell University to Rikers Island to STooPS in Bed-Stuy. He has been published in African Voices, 12th Street, the graphic novel Gunplay, the Penmanship Book anthology 30/30 Vol. 2, The Ferguson Moment, and YRB Magazine. Through his former publishing company, Andre Maurice Press/Indelible Books, he edited and released Blackout Arts Collective’s One Mic: A Lyrics on Lockdown Anthology and Peuo Tuy’s Khmer Girl. Tim was a Riggio Fellow at The New School, and is a fellow at The Watering Hole. He is the author of Musaic: 40 Days, 40 Nights and the forthcoming ethnographic book of poetry titled Water + Blood. Timothy is the Visioning Partner (VP) for Institutional Culture at PURPOSE Productions, teaches Kuumba/Integrated Arts at Ember Charter Schools, and is the co-founder of the Rebel Waters publishing and performance collaborative. He is from Uniondale (Long Island), and lives in Bed-Stuy.
Featured image via Pixabay.
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