Two friends and I went to the D.C Arts Festival and I made it a task to write one poem for every place we stopped. I included four of them below.
“Unrelated” yet notable note: With D.C’s rapid gentrification, and despite the smiling faces, there existed such a tension while moving through the streets. While in some ways content, it seemed, personally, that every new shop that we stepped in, It was as if multitudes were stepping on and obliviously trampling on ashes of which they do not know.
Maybe I’m being dramatic.
Maybe not.
Here goes.
The First Thing I Noticed
I see sign.
Loud. Daring.
Shifting.
Projected images upon white side
of building.
“WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE TO STAND UP AND END WHITE SUPREMACY”
How. Convenient.
How. Needed to be heard
As if
no one already here has
said it.
And I hear
in the quiet
beyond the displays
beyond the chatter
beyond the lights
beyond the laughter
beyond the “hip” and “cultured”
beyond driver’s horns
beyond the programs and dancing
beyond the action, that is,
abstract show,
“Ma…”
“…where’d our city go?”
“Here today, gone tomorrow”
This second poem below is a reflection of my first experience drinking tea from a lovely place called “Calabash”. This tea bar is owned by a 5th generation Jamaican Maroon and Naturalist.
2. They Call It “Calabash”: A Return to Liquid Roots
I stepped into a piece
of ancestral home.
I did not see.
I did not hear.
But,
I felt.
And I
tasted.
Let me ease,
help me please
with mother roots
and divine shoots.
Tea leaves,
spices,
belong to body.
I feel heat.
This heat bleeds
a life refreshing.
Anew. A blessing.
Now,
I see.
I am still drinking the tea and we head on to a bright place. Not entirely sure of the name, but there was so much energetic dancing. Not the dancing that I am used to, but a sort of wild, off-beat, yet innocently enthusiastic dancing. There were two black individuals I focused on: one male, one female. I wanted to record the vibe that I got from them.
Just my interpretation.
3. Untitled
I have love running down my body.
And it feels so good.
I have vibrations tingling beneath my color
an elation of shivers beneath my skin
a type of shade within the shadows
a blending
incredibly light.
I see Life.
happiness in varying forms
in their purest form.
I am watching one.
She is crushing her anxiety
she has jazz hands raising
praising to the piped ceiling.
Her face resists wrinkles
from smiling too hard.
I am recreating scenes with my fingers
and I have chai blowing hot kisses
on every muscle of my body.
I am watching the second.
All in black.
black beautiful skinned
black hatted muser.
His smile is black gold upon
pearled white teeth.
He alone is movie.
He pours out a joy
in all directions
with each step
And it’s great…
They are directed to no one.
Our last stop was a place full of music. Art. Innovation. Fellow HU Students. And so much style.
4. …
Neon lights and black bodies meld
in simple
unified space.
Patterns welcome,
they jump from clothing
and embrace warmly.
Voices.
This is settling place
with Afro beat as constitution.
Ladders of new beginning
a place of modern
recollection.
We don’t remain photos.
We are
motion pictures upon yellows
and all the bright hues
they said our skin
would clash with.
We mix with neon green
and mismatched expressions.
A type of epistemology.
How do you explain this melding?
This gourd
it’s trembling
and it makes
my chest
flutter.
©2017 Afroetry Works
