If anyone had been paying attention to the signs, they would have realized that air turns white when things are about to change, that paper cuts mean there’s more to what’s written on the page than meets the eye, and that birds are always out to protect you from things you don’t see.
But no one was paying attention.
That thing where you burn sweetgrass for the first time in a long time
Cover the Altar with it
Pray to the Ancestors with it
Bathe your essence with it
And it does it’s thang{you who Know, know what I’m talking about}
Hair, Clothes, Skin, Blankets, Room, Soul, coated in Sweetgrass
For Hours
..and you wonder to yourself, at yourself, “Knowing this is what it does, why have I not burned it in so long??”
{I’m not a Theist, or an Atheist, I am an Other; and I know that sometimes when I feel beaten down, the fundamental strength that I first need to reach out to, is the strength to pray. And this helps to reestablish my core.. And as we say in ballet; all roads lead back to the core.. And I am thankfull}
“The real ceremony begins, where the official one ends.” ~ Linda Hogan
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do you know what this is a picture of… let me start by saying that my son, jazz amora, came home from school and no sooner than he put the key in the door, he called my name, and i came from the kitchen to see what was going on.
he flashed a bright smile and then, in some retro Solid Gold Soul Train 1978 Community Talent Show streak of enthusiasm, he broke into a full blown performance. waving arms and foot steps to match.
there was no conversation, no hello, no salaam, no high five, there was just a million teeth and a dimple and the sudden lyrics of “broken glass everywhere, people *bleepin on the stairs, you know they just dont care, i can’t take the smell, can’t take the noise, got no money to move out, i guess i got no choice….”
after about three minutes of this routine. he ended with a skinny kids version of a b-boy stance which then melded into a ‘malcolm x’ pose. he was beyond impressed with the whole idea of the routine more than he was with himself for actually performing impromptu.
he asked me if i knew who Grand Master Flash was —i told him i did. i asked him what he knew about GMF, he told me that he’s studying, researching, and writing a paper on the profound lyrics from the GMF’s song ‘The Message.’ he said it was a part of his social studies class. he said he was analyzing the lyrics and planned to write many papers about it. he told me one paper would be about the blackman’s responsibility to family, community and to himself. and the other would be a compare and contrast of the community ‘back in the day’ and its present day condition.
he said something that really struck me.
he said, ‘the older generations takes credit for all the wonders and beauty of their era but rejects and won’t take responsibility of the negativity that was born from it. like us, some of we’re born from it, but they act like they don’t know us. malcolm x said you should never forget where you come from…. and we haven’t forgot. we came from you. you should except us like you accept the wonders and beauty that came from your era.’ his using of the word ‘you’, means anyone in their late 20’s and beyond. he’s a 6th grader, so the 20’s and beyond seem like light years away from where he is.
those papers he’s holding are the lyrics to Grand Master Flash’s - “The Message”
Yup.
(This is a Tumblr Cloud I generated from my blog posts between Mar 2011 and Feb 2012 containing my top 20 used words.)
