Exploring the Complexity of Our Relationship to Water
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Geoffrey Philp-Miami, Florida |
Emily Zobel Marshal-Leeds, Wales |
Brent Clough, Sydney, Australia |
Poet, novelist, playwright, and Marcus Garvey scholar, Geoffrey Philp chairs the committee to exonerate Marcus Garvey. He is author of Marcus and the Amazon, a satire on colonialism and an assertion of the struggle of people of color for empowerment. His forthcoming book, My Name is Marcus, is a graphic novel celebrating the historical empowerment of Marcus Garvey.
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Dr Emily Zobel Marshall is a Lecturer in Postcolonial Literature at the School of Cultural Studies at Leeds Beckett University. Her books focus on the role of the trickster in Caribbean and African American cultures and Caribbean carnival cultures.
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Brent Clough is an Aotearoa-born radio producer and writer. He is a PhD candidate in the department of Anthropology at the University of Sydney.
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Charmaine Wade Perry-Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Charmaine Wade Perry writes about culture, sports and ocean life in Jamaica. |
Andrew Moss- Brisbane, Australia
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Dennis Vessies, Beverwijk, Netherlands 
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Andrew Kwabena Moss is an Anglo-Ghanaian
who specializes in Anansesem, the storytelling of the Akan-speaking people of West Africa. |
Dennis Vessies is the Founder of Global Drums Gathering : Water Protectors
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Karen Wade
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Monica Minott-UK/Jamaica |
Meera Chakravorty-Bangalore, India |
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Karen Wade is the CEO of KP Wade, Personal Development Agency. She specializes in Linguistics and the way language shapes the
individual’s identity and his/her location in the society. |
Monica Minott is the first prizewinner of the inaugural Small Axe poetry competition and author of the poetry collections Kumina Queen and Zion Roses.
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Dr. Meera Chakravorty is an author, poet, and member of the Research Faculty in the Department of Cultural Studies, Jain University, Bangalore.
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EDITORIAL by Marva McClean
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All water flows into the same ocean
The winds of change have pushed us into a world we are yet to write; a world we are yet to comprehend. We are at a crucial border site and we are uncertain about how to proceed. It is at this border site that we must begin to translate this global movement of Black Lives Matter into a human story of which we all must write a chapter; Black, Aboriginal and Indigenous peoples. It is a story about managing our past and moving forward; forming a community without borders in a flattened global age; taking bold steps to create a global culture of a much more vigorous struggle and output than we have experienced before. We have a strong and sturdy foundation to build on. For, contrary to the way history has been written, Black people have connected and disseminated a broad plateau of cultural knowledge over thousands of years for we are a communal people. We were never meant to be separated, isolated and alienated. The world has existed because of the principles of harmony and communal life established by the Ancients. We must maintain this in our relationship with each other, in our tending to the Earth, especially our water, for water is life. Even though we may live in different parts of the globe, we are one people like tributaries of the rivers which all flow into the same ocean.
In this issue we examine through poetry and prose, the complexity of our relationship to water. This relationship is as diverse as the ebb and flow of the sea, the currents of the river and the still calm of the lake. It is one that is entangled with the history of colonization and fed by the genetic memories of our ancestors and the cultural practices they gifted us. For African descendants, whose ancestors journeyed along the Middle Passage, the womb of the ocean still holds the bones and memories and stories of millions who were drowned in its depths. Yet, the ocean is also symbolic of renewal; a promise of new opportunities. Our heritage-songs-cultural mores-journeyed with us to become a radical imaginary on the soil of the Americas with cultural uprisings such as Rastafari and Reggae music traversing oceans to touch humanity across the continents. While many of us enjoy the pleasures of water-swimming in pools, lounging by the seaside and traveling the ocean on cruise ships- there are millions across the globe who are suffering from lack of clean water. Worldwide 739 million people lack access to clean water and Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly vulnerable. We know that water is life, as the Sioux of North Dakota continue to emphasize in their continued struggle to halt the damage to their water and sacred sites. This call for water justice is one that is important to all of us. For we are a spiritual people guided by ancient beliefs and wisdom grounded in the ideology of community and communal living. There is beauty and power and grace in lifting each other up. Is there water enough to cleanse our world of the injustices that maintain human suffering? At the time of writing, the GLOBAL DRUM GATHERING: WATER PROTECTORS, a -worldwide gathering of drumming to heal the world is being organized. It is envisioned that the reverberation of the drums across the seas will create a vibration to cleanse and rejuvenate our souls and Mother Earth; an oceanic sway that I hope, will contribute to cleansing of our world and our soul. Dr. Marva McClean is a poet, scholar/activist and Teacher-Researcher. She is the Gladstone Library, UK, Political Scholar in Residence 2020, author of From the Middle Passage to Black Lives Matter: Ancestral Writing as a Pedagogy of Hope (2019) and co-author of Indigenous Epistemology: Descent into the Womb of Decolonized Research Methodologies (2020). Dr. McClean leads the online literary initiative, Strong in the Broken Places: Poetics of the African Diaspora and is interested in collaborative inquiry with international scholars, activists, writers and community leaders. http://www.fromthemiddlepassagetoblacklivesmatter.com/ |
REFLECTIONS ON WATER
Water Represents Life!-Meera Chakravorty
Water represents life, mobility, flow and gracefulness in Indian culture. Among many Sanskrit
words used for water, one is Nadi which is a feminine gender. Nadi is addressed as the Mother, the one who walks gracefully and therefore can be seen as a young woman too. River is also worshipped as something divine, as water is a life- sustaining factor facilitating agriculture and other activities. It is also used as a route to travel to other places for commercial purposes. The ecological development is certainly sustained by the river. The Ganges is India's famous river. You have the opportunity to walk its coast line. As it flows through many regions, people can use it to travel from one place to the other.
Celebrities like Sitar player, late Pandit Ravishankar and late Ustad Bismillah Khan played their instruments many a time sitting on its bank while people listened to them. For the Hindus, it has been the holy river and many festivals and rituals are performed on its banks. It’s featured on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Holiness of Rivers-Marva McClean I constantly seek the presence of rivers in Jamaica. At times like this when I am unable to physically go by a river, I conjure up imaginatively, the river on my family property on Coxland, Jamaica where we would wander and spend hours swimming, catching crayfish under the watchful eyes of our helper, Caseta. River is also a metaphor I associate with ultimate beauty and goodness. It is also force and destruction. It is food and life force. It is the place where country women come to wash their clothes, cook, spend the day and fellowship with neighbors. Children swim in and out of the caverns, go under deep boulders, climb the rocks and move with the natural rhythms of the day. What a wonderful act of celebration! What a wonderful manifestation of the holiness of the universe!
The Opposing Truths of the Sea -Marva McClean
The ocean has been for me, for as long as I can remember, a source of contradiction, inspiring conflicting emotions. For it reminds me always of the Triangular slave trade, patterns of the journey from West Africa-throughout Africa to ports in the Caribbean-South and Central America where approximately 2.1 m enslaved Africans died along the way. I often visualize the poor, unhealthy conditions aboard the slave ship; starvation, barbarity and the thousands choosing to die by suicide. There are even cases where they were thrown overboard to lessen the load of the ship.
Sometimes when I sit on the seashore, alone in the gathering darkness of evening, I think I hear the wailing cries of kinfolk being thrown into the water-chained as one. The pain of the Middle Passage rises up in genetic memory, and feelings of foreboding remain to shadow the present with anxiety and uncertainty about the unknown. Echoes of this resound in each step we make, from the tumultuous sea journey of the Middle Passage, to plantation life during enslavement and resistance movements today. Yet, the sea brings me solace, inspiration, adoration and delight. The touch of water brings a spiritual cleanse. Jamaicans look to the sea for food and fish is a central part of our diet. The sea is also a vessel of baptism where congregants are immersed in its waters as a symbol of new birth into a life of Christianity.
In contemporary times, the sea continues to be the vessel for transporting people escaping from their homelands, seeking opportunities. The Mariel Boatlift of Cuba. The Boat People of Haiti. Like those who lost mothers and fathers and children and loved ones on dinghy crossing the ocean from Haiti to Miami, or the fleeing throng from Mariel to the shores of Key West, we know that some waves will never reach the sand of the shore and we accept, though reluctantly, that some will perish along the way for this is the dichotomy-of hope and despair- that so infuses/defines our life in the Diaspora.
Water represents life, mobility, flow and gracefulness in Indian culture. Among many Sanskrit
words used for water, one is Nadi which is a feminine gender. Nadi is addressed as the Mother, the one who walks gracefully and therefore can be seen as a young woman too. River is also worshipped as something divine, as water is a life- sustaining factor facilitating agriculture and other activities. It is also used as a route to travel to other places for commercial purposes. The ecological development is certainly sustained by the river. The Ganges is India's famous river. You have the opportunity to walk its coast line. As it flows through many regions, people can use it to travel from one place to the other.
Celebrities like Sitar player, late Pandit Ravishankar and late Ustad Bismillah Khan played their instruments many a time sitting on its bank while people listened to them. For the Hindus, it has been the holy river and many festivals and rituals are performed on its banks. It’s featured on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Holiness of Rivers-Marva McClean I constantly seek the presence of rivers in Jamaica. At times like this when I am unable to physically go by a river, I conjure up imaginatively, the river on my family property on Coxland, Jamaica where we would wander and spend hours swimming, catching crayfish under the watchful eyes of our helper, Caseta. River is also a metaphor I associate with ultimate beauty and goodness. It is also force and destruction. It is food and life force. It is the place where country women come to wash their clothes, cook, spend the day and fellowship with neighbors. Children swim in and out of the caverns, go under deep boulders, climb the rocks and move with the natural rhythms of the day. What a wonderful act of celebration! What a wonderful manifestation of the holiness of the universe!
The Opposing Truths of the Sea -Marva McClean
The ocean has been for me, for as long as I can remember, a source of contradiction, inspiring conflicting emotions. For it reminds me always of the Triangular slave trade, patterns of the journey from West Africa-throughout Africa to ports in the Caribbean-South and Central America where approximately 2.1 m enslaved Africans died along the way. I often visualize the poor, unhealthy conditions aboard the slave ship; starvation, barbarity and the thousands choosing to die by suicide. There are even cases where they were thrown overboard to lessen the load of the ship.
Sometimes when I sit on the seashore, alone in the gathering darkness of evening, I think I hear the wailing cries of kinfolk being thrown into the water-chained as one. The pain of the Middle Passage rises up in genetic memory, and feelings of foreboding remain to shadow the present with anxiety and uncertainty about the unknown. Echoes of this resound in each step we make, from the tumultuous sea journey of the Middle Passage, to plantation life during enslavement and resistance movements today. Yet, the sea brings me solace, inspiration, adoration and delight. The touch of water brings a spiritual cleanse. Jamaicans look to the sea for food and fish is a central part of our diet. The sea is also a vessel of baptism where congregants are immersed in its waters as a symbol of new birth into a life of Christianity.
In contemporary times, the sea continues to be the vessel for transporting people escaping from their homelands, seeking opportunities. The Mariel Boatlift of Cuba. The Boat People of Haiti. Like those who lost mothers and fathers and children and loved ones on dinghy crossing the ocean from Haiti to Miami, or the fleeing throng from Mariel to the shores of Key West, we know that some waves will never reach the sand of the shore and we accept, though reluctantly, that some will perish along the way for this is the dichotomy-of hope and despair- that so infuses/defines our life in the Diaspora.
HEALING RHYTHMS
GLOBAL DRUMS GATHERING: WATER PROTECTORS
One Tribe. 8000 Drums. One Heartbeat.
Kim MacNeaury-Canada
On August 8, 2021, 35, 000 drummers from the four directions of the Universe representing more than sixty countries gathered at 11:11 A.M. to drum, seeking peace and blessings for the healing of Mother Earth across the globe. The intention was to connect as one heartbeat via the rhythms of the drum to renew our relationship with Mother Earth, manifest our intention to become the change we yearn, and to link together as one community flowing with vibration along the currents of the waterways of the globe. This event was envisioned by Dennis Vessies who collaborated with Jim Greywolf Petruzzi in gathering other spiritual leaders from across the globe to make it a reality. Shaman PWW noted that the ripples from the water flow would lead to an evolution of consciousness across the globe. She called on everyone to "find your heart. find your rhythm and give it to the Universe." Tessa Theresa, Fiji emphasized the importance of connecting across borders and experiencing the force of the vibration simultaneously. "This is a beautiful and potent time to do the work required of us, " she asserted. "This is a time of mass healing and people are remembering who they are and what is required of them. We have had all of our lifetime to prepare for this work. Together, let's bring it into being."
. Calling all Tribes from the Four Winds Directions
www.globaldrumsgathering.nl
The Drum Is Me!
By Dennis Vessies
Founder Global Drums Gathering: Water Protectors
After making my own shamanic drum, I got obsessed by its vibrational sound. When I started to play it, it felt like my own soul was in the drum itself. The drum is me, like I am the drum. We become a whole. Years ago, I had a dream and in the beginning of this year I had two visions about this event. I didn’t know what it meant until now.
In the month of February 2021, I was undergoing another Sacred plant medicine ceremony, also known as Mother Ayahuasca. She has given me a lot of 'downloads' from the Source, the Source of all life. While this was happening, I felt a shaman standing next to me, I opened my eyes and did not see a shaman, but he was there, energetically. I could hear him, chanting, like he was updating my soul. I became a new individual, a new human being. After this, the drum journey started, guided by Spirit and the heart.
A few weeks later, we got invited to play in a drumming ceremony in Amsterdam, to raise consciousness for the people among us and to heal ourselves and our Mother Earth.
There was someone I knew that showed me a prophecy about what would happen if 8000 drums play together at the same time. So, I got inspired and obsessed by this prophecy and decided to organise such an event on a global scale. I got my inspiration from the Otomi Tribe. I want to honour the keeper of this prophecy and give him all of my respect. Thank you. This is a new non-commercial event. That's why we are the ones we have been waiting for.
THE PROPHECY: WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW WILL COME
When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as Warriors of the Rainbow.
Prophecy of the Eagle and Condor
We will reunite with our brothers and sisters.
Because we are One, like the fingers of the hand.
We are One, brothers and sisters.
Rich and poor, black and white,
indigenous or non-indigenous.
We are One with peace on earth
MEDITATION ON THE DRUM
GLOBAL DRUMS GATHERING: WATER PROTECTORS
Divine Great Mother - A prayer offered at the Gathering of the Drums
BY Connie Vogel
Divine Mother
We Unite here now for thee
We Unite for our planet,
Home of all sentient beings.
We Unite our hearts as One,
Pouring out our unconditional love and intentions to raise the vibrations throughout the land and for all that walk, swim, crawl and fly on your mantle.
May the volume of our healing intentions and the power behind the river of love generated in this present moment, bring some measure of forgiveness for any lack of stewardship in days past.
We hear the call and we are here,
We hear your cries; we feel your tears.
Please hear our sincere cries now, take our tears that they may cleanse away some measure of wrongs,
Guide us true on our path with you,
Always in service for the highest good of all the Land, the Water, the Air and the Spirit of all sentient beings.
Great Spirit and all allies present in this healing circle for our Mother Earth,
Please take our united energies from the Universal Cauldron and spread them lavishly throughout the land to all situations in need, to all sentient beings in need and always for the highest good of all.
We hear your cries, we feel your tears,
We hear the call and we are here.
Amen, Aho, and So it is....it is done, it is done it is done.
www.globaldrumsgathering.nl
The Drum Is Me!
By Dennis Vessies
Founder Global Drums Gathering: Water Protectors
After making my own shamanic drum, I got obsessed by its vibrational sound. When I started to play it, it felt like my own soul was in the drum itself. The drum is me, like I am the drum. We become a whole. Years ago, I had a dream and in the beginning of this year I had two visions about this event. I didn’t know what it meant until now.
In the month of February 2021, I was undergoing another Sacred plant medicine ceremony, also known as Mother Ayahuasca. She has given me a lot of 'downloads' from the Source, the Source of all life. While this was happening, I felt a shaman standing next to me, I opened my eyes and did not see a shaman, but he was there, energetically. I could hear him, chanting, like he was updating my soul. I became a new individual, a new human being. After this, the drum journey started, guided by Spirit and the heart.
A few weeks later, we got invited to play in a drumming ceremony in Amsterdam, to raise consciousness for the people among us and to heal ourselves and our Mother Earth.
There was someone I knew that showed me a prophecy about what would happen if 8000 drums play together at the same time. So, I got inspired and obsessed by this prophecy and decided to organise such an event on a global scale. I got my inspiration from the Otomi Tribe. I want to honour the keeper of this prophecy and give him all of my respect. Thank you. This is a new non-commercial event. That's why we are the ones we have been waiting for.
THE PROPHECY: WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW WILL COME
When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as Warriors of the Rainbow.
Prophecy of the Eagle and Condor
We will reunite with our brothers and sisters.
Because we are One, like the fingers of the hand.
We are One, brothers and sisters.
Rich and poor, black and white,
indigenous or non-indigenous.
We are One with peace on earth
MEDITATION ON THE DRUM
GLOBAL DRUMS GATHERING: WATER PROTECTORS
- Together We Drum for Love, Light, Healing and Peace with the Waters and with All Life!
- A drum is a voice, alive and feeling as with any voice. When it speaks then we must listen and honour the message with our best and noblest selves, for it is a voice with great power and it is a voice that is a gift to us from a greater being. If we do this, then our lives will be full and happy.
- The Moon is a circle, the Earth is a circle, the Drum is a circle and WE are a circle.
- Remember that drumming opens portals to the spirit world, draws spirit in and opens you up to receive it.
- I hear a drum in my soul's ear coming from the depths of the stars.
- The drum is considered to be a living thing and it contains the spirit of the animals and trees that were used in its making.
Divine Great Mother - A prayer offered at the Gathering of the Drums
BY Connie Vogel
Divine Mother
We Unite here now for thee
We Unite for our planet,
Home of all sentient beings.
We Unite our hearts as One,
Pouring out our unconditional love and intentions to raise the vibrations throughout the land and for all that walk, swim, crawl and fly on your mantle.
May the volume of our healing intentions and the power behind the river of love generated in this present moment, bring some measure of forgiveness for any lack of stewardship in days past.
We hear the call and we are here,
We hear your cries; we feel your tears.
Please hear our sincere cries now, take our tears that they may cleanse away some measure of wrongs,
Guide us true on our path with you,
Always in service for the highest good of all the Land, the Water, the Air and the Spirit of all sentient beings.
Great Spirit and all allies present in this healing circle for our Mother Earth,
Please take our united energies from the Universal Cauldron and spread them lavishly throughout the land to all situations in need, to all sentient beings in need and always for the highest good of all.
We hear your cries, we feel your tears,
We hear the call and we are here.
Amen, Aho, and So it is....it is done, it is done it is done.
HEALTHY RIVERS! HEALTHY OCEANS. HEALTHY PLANET!
Celebrate World Rivers Day September 26, 2021
WORLD RIVERS DAY, one of the world’s biggest celebrations of the environment was founded by Mark Angelo in 2005. On Thursday, September 26, 2021 more than 100 countries will participate across 6 continents in asserting the urgency of creating healthy waterways. Countries will engage in projects and activities that highlight the link between rivers and the plight of the ocean, especially the need to clean up rivers to prevent garbage from getting into the sea. This global celebration focuses on increasing public awareness of the historical, cultural, and health benefits of clean rivers and the urgent need to protect the environment and eco-diversity by becoming stewards of rivers across the world.
World Rivers Day 2021 will mark the formal inauguration of the River Ethiope Basin Institute (REBI)at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria.
Celebrate World Rivers Day September 26, 2021
WORLD RIVERS DAY, one of the world’s biggest celebrations of the environment was founded by Mark Angelo in 2005. On Thursday, September 26, 2021 more than 100 countries will participate across 6 continents in asserting the urgency of creating healthy waterways. Countries will engage in projects and activities that highlight the link between rivers and the plight of the ocean, especially the need to clean up rivers to prevent garbage from getting into the sea. This global celebration focuses on increasing public awareness of the historical, cultural, and health benefits of clean rivers and the urgent need to protect the environment and eco-diversity by becoming stewards of rivers across the world.
World Rivers Day 2021 will mark the formal inauguration of the River Ethiope Basin Institute (REBI)at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria.
FROM SEA-TO-SEA, RASTAMAN VIBRATIONS AFFIRM ANCESTRAL WAYS
MICHAEL ST. GEORGE DUBS ANCIENT RHYTHMS & ANCESTRAL LIVITY
By Brent Clough
In August 2017 Jamaican-Canadian Rastaman, dub poet, and musician, Michael St. George (MSG) visits Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, an archipelago of 83 tropical islands in Oceania or the Western Pacific. MSG is linking with ancient Black communities, guardians of their own lands for thousands of years. The popular Ni-Vanuatu (Indigenous) roots reggae artist, Stan Antas tells Michael: “Our locks are also a traditional, kastom, symbol of the warrior.” He is welcomed with a feast in a reclaimed urban garden where there are speeches about the deep links between Jamaica and Vanuatu, much laughter, and intense storian (conversation). During Michael’s stay he attends jam sessions and holds drum workshops introducing local youth to Rasta, Kumina and West African rhythms. In one powerful session Michael plays a Senegalese drum pattern on his djembe and two leading local musicians, Marcel Meltherorong and Tio Bang sing ‘E Mambo Simbo’, a song from Biak in West Papua - the Melanesian (Black) nation currently occupied by Indonesia. The fit is precise and perfect and the small crowd is electrified. Such correspondences become familiar during Michael’s stay. In one place Michael is reminded strongly of his grandmother’s ground in Portland. Similar histories of European colonialism and plantation slavery bind Ni-Vanuatu with the Jamaican experience and strange parallels exist too between reggae and certain kastom songs and dance beats, especially those from the island of Pentecost called Raga. In exploring such profound affinities Michael supports local artists as they offer up their own gifts. At his last performance on the Vanrebel sound system MSG invites two pre-teen drummers from the workshop to free-style. The boys are shy at first but soon add wildly creative fills to Michael’s steady rhythmic pulse. Later, Michael chants, “return to the ways of your ancestors” repeatedly over a heavy dub riddim. A group of young Ni-Vanuatu men and women enter into the music with abandon, their steps improvised around kastom dances they have known since they were children.
Micheal with Marcel Meltheroron
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Micheal with Stan Antos
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Michael St. George (MSG)
A native of Jamaica and inspired by his working-class upbringing, Michael St. George's work primarily focuses on themes of justice, social equity, inter-generational relations, and current relevant issues. MSG has been performing live and recording his music and poetry since 1990. Michael's unique performances and workshops interweave languages and rhythm in a dynamic blend that is inspirational, thought provoking, and incites constructive conscious change.
Editor's Note: Michael has led an outstanding career grounded in music and poetry in which he examines the condition of our world and our responsibility in taking action to make a difference. Through a combination of lyrics, rhythm and graphics, he pushes us out of our complacency and asks pointedly, what are you going to do about it? His piercing gaze and uncompromising stance are strikingly conveyed in his latest socio-political production
I DO NOT SUBMIT! Check it out @
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSWuAjYYD5A
Michael offers this perspective on this controversial production:
This is an invitation to interact with all senses and sensibilities. It’s our hope that it will be useful in your current conversations. It will ignite some. It will inspire others. We encourage you to continue the dialogues—with yourself, with your community and most important, to consult conscience. Thinking is one of the highest functions of the human faculties. I grew up with a community of elders, healers, spiritualists, artists; educators who questioned everything, even the question itself! Thinking is vital for health, freedom and knowledge.
A native of Jamaica and inspired by his working-class upbringing, Michael St. George's work primarily focuses on themes of justice, social equity, inter-generational relations, and current relevant issues. MSG has been performing live and recording his music and poetry since 1990. Michael's unique performances and workshops interweave languages and rhythm in a dynamic blend that is inspirational, thought provoking, and incites constructive conscious change.
Editor's Note: Michael has led an outstanding career grounded in music and poetry in which he examines the condition of our world and our responsibility in taking action to make a difference. Through a combination of lyrics, rhythm and graphics, he pushes us out of our complacency and asks pointedly, what are you going to do about it? His piercing gaze and uncompromising stance are strikingly conveyed in his latest socio-political production
I DO NOT SUBMIT! Check it out @
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSWuAjYYD5A
Michael offers this perspective on this controversial production:
This is an invitation to interact with all senses and sensibilities. It’s our hope that it will be useful in your current conversations. It will ignite some. It will inspire others. We encourage you to continue the dialogues—with yourself, with your community and most important, to consult conscience. Thinking is one of the highest functions of the human faculties. I grew up with a community of elders, healers, spiritualists, artists; educators who questioned everything, even the question itself! Thinking is vital for health, freedom and knowledge.
MARCUS GARVEY WORDS COME TO PASS
Look for me in the whirlwind and the storm!
Garvey was born 1887 in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. He traveled through Central and South America in his 20s. In 1914, he established the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Kingston, Jamaica and relocated it to Harlem in 1917. Garvey advocated Pan African nationalism and preached an eloquent message of Black pride and dignity, inspiring generations to come. He authored the publication Negro World to convey this message throughout the world. His memory and influence remain throughout the Diaspora today and has extended across the continents as far as Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Garveyism resonated within the Black Consciousness movement rapidly developing across the USA and spread to the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa. The Negro World, the official newspaper of the UNIA, was published in French, Spanish and English with a circulation of over 200,000 across four continents. In response to Garvey’s assertion of Black equality and dignity, the US Justice Department hired its first black agent, James Wormley Jones, to infiltrate the UNIA. Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and sentenced to five years in federal prison. Garvey’s second wife, Amy Jacques Garvey initiated a letter campaign pushing, President Calvin Coolidge to commute his sentence in 1927 in exchange for Garvey accepting deportation. He spent his last years in Jamaica working relentlessly to revive the movement and eventually died in London, England in 1940.
Look for me in the whirlwind and the storm!
Garvey was born 1887 in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. He traveled through Central and South America in his 20s. In 1914, he established the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Kingston, Jamaica and relocated it to Harlem in 1917. Garvey advocated Pan African nationalism and preached an eloquent message of Black pride and dignity, inspiring generations to come. He authored the publication Negro World to convey this message throughout the world. His memory and influence remain throughout the Diaspora today and has extended across the continents as far as Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Garveyism resonated within the Black Consciousness movement rapidly developing across the USA and spread to the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa. The Negro World, the official newspaper of the UNIA, was published in French, Spanish and English with a circulation of over 200,000 across four continents. In response to Garvey’s assertion of Black equality and dignity, the US Justice Department hired its first black agent, James Wormley Jones, to infiltrate the UNIA. Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and sentenced to five years in federal prison. Garvey’s second wife, Amy Jacques Garvey initiated a letter campaign pushing, President Calvin Coolidge to commute his sentence in 1927 in exchange for Garvey accepting deportation. He spent his last years in Jamaica working relentlessly to revive the movement and eventually died in London, England in 1940.
I AM THE EQUAL OF ANY WHITE MAN
SMALL ISLAND/ BIG IN TALENT: XAYMACA -LAND OF WOOD & WATER
Jamaican Takes home Gold, Silver & Bronze in Women’s 100 Meter Race
By Charmaine Wade Perry
Jamaica is an island with about 3 million people with another approximately 3 million in the diaspora. On July 31, 2021, our athletes made Olympic history by achieving a clean sweep of the women's 100m race. Elaine Thompson-Herah came in first, clocking an Olympic record of 10.61 seconds. Second was Shelly Ann Fraser- Pryce at 10.74 seconds, with Shericka Jackson 10.76 seconds. These ladies are all Jamaicans. This was an unbelievable big moment for all Jamaicans as by winning the race Elaine Thompson-Herah is now the fastest woman alive. She beat the old Olympic 1988 record of 10.62 seconds held by Florence Griffith Joyner of the USA. This is not the first podium sweep for Jamaica. This was done twice before:
Beijing Games 2008 - Women's 100m when Jamaica placed first, second and second- Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce/ Kerron- Stewart/ Sherone Simpson. At the London Games 2012- Men's 200m, Jamaica placed 1- 2 -3- Usain Bolt/ Yohan Blake/ Warren Weir.
On Wednesday, August 4, 2021 Jamaica had another magnificent run in the Tokyo Olympics in the men's 110m hurdles with Hansle Parchment 13.04 seconds winning the gold medal and Ronald Levy 13.10 seconds getting the bronze medal. American sprinter Grant Holloway who was the favorite, came in second place clocking 13.09 seconds
Here in Xaymaca, land of wood and water, Jamaicans are feeling elated with much to celebrate.
We are small in size but big in talent.
SEEKING WATER JUSTICE WATER ACROSS THE CONTINENTS
Dirty water and insanitation result in more than 80% of the illnesses in developing countries
THE WATER CRISIS IN AFRICA
By Charmaine Wade-Perry
Across the globe, lack of access to clean sanitary water reflects the continuing dehumanization of millions, especially people of color still reeling from the impact of Imperialism and Colonization. Globally, one in nine people does not have clean water. 783 million people do not have access to clean safe water worldwide. Fifty percent of schools in developing countries lack access to water and 443 million school days are lost per year because of this. This affects attendance in school, harvesting of crops and health. Suffering due to ill-health is common in Sub-Saharan Africa where 319 million people are without access to clean and safe drinking water. 159 million people are still existing on surface water. Source: THE WATER PROJECT
https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/water_stats
FIRST NATION PEOPLE REMAIN DISPOSSESSED OF WATER ON THEIR OWN LAND
Ignoring the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the government of these countries have continued with oppressive dehumanizing tactics against Native Peoples’ access to clean water.
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA
Water Represents Our Spiritual Connection to Our Sacred Sites & Tribal Rights
In Australia, First Nation People, the Aboriginals, struggle to rise above dispossession on their land and gain access to clean water in order to survive on Country. Traditional owners continue to press for greater access to water and control over that water in ways that will not only provide adequate access, but also allow them to maintain cultural traditions, especially those governing sacred sites. Despite legally binding agreements such as the 2004 National Water Initiative, they are denied the power to prevent water extraction and contamination of water due to mining expeditions.
Jamaican Takes home Gold, Silver & Bronze in Women’s 100 Meter Race
By Charmaine Wade Perry
Jamaica is an island with about 3 million people with another approximately 3 million in the diaspora. On July 31, 2021, our athletes made Olympic history by achieving a clean sweep of the women's 100m race. Elaine Thompson-Herah came in first, clocking an Olympic record of 10.61 seconds. Second was Shelly Ann Fraser- Pryce at 10.74 seconds, with Shericka Jackson 10.76 seconds. These ladies are all Jamaicans. This was an unbelievable big moment for all Jamaicans as by winning the race Elaine Thompson-Herah is now the fastest woman alive. She beat the old Olympic 1988 record of 10.62 seconds held by Florence Griffith Joyner of the USA. This is not the first podium sweep for Jamaica. This was done twice before:
Beijing Games 2008 - Women's 100m when Jamaica placed first, second and second- Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce/ Kerron- Stewart/ Sherone Simpson. At the London Games 2012- Men's 200m, Jamaica placed 1- 2 -3- Usain Bolt/ Yohan Blake/ Warren Weir.
On Wednesday, August 4, 2021 Jamaica had another magnificent run in the Tokyo Olympics in the men's 110m hurdles with Hansle Parchment 13.04 seconds winning the gold medal and Ronald Levy 13.10 seconds getting the bronze medal. American sprinter Grant Holloway who was the favorite, came in second place clocking 13.09 seconds
Here in Xaymaca, land of wood and water, Jamaicans are feeling elated with much to celebrate.
We are small in size but big in talent.
SEEKING WATER JUSTICE WATER ACROSS THE CONTINENTS
Dirty water and insanitation result in more than 80% of the illnesses in developing countries
THE WATER CRISIS IN AFRICA
By Charmaine Wade-Perry
Across the globe, lack of access to clean sanitary water reflects the continuing dehumanization of millions, especially people of color still reeling from the impact of Imperialism and Colonization. Globally, one in nine people does not have clean water. 783 million people do not have access to clean safe water worldwide. Fifty percent of schools in developing countries lack access to water and 443 million school days are lost per year because of this. This affects attendance in school, harvesting of crops and health. Suffering due to ill-health is common in Sub-Saharan Africa where 319 million people are without access to clean and safe drinking water. 159 million people are still existing on surface water. Source: THE WATER PROJECT
https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/water_stats
FIRST NATION PEOPLE REMAIN DISPOSSESSED OF WATER ON THEIR OWN LAND
Ignoring the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the government of these countries have continued with oppressive dehumanizing tactics against Native Peoples’ access to clean water.
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA
Water Represents Our Spiritual Connection to Our Sacred Sites & Tribal Rights
In Australia, First Nation People, the Aboriginals, struggle to rise above dispossession on their land and gain access to clean water in order to survive on Country. Traditional owners continue to press for greater access to water and control over that water in ways that will not only provide adequate access, but also allow them to maintain cultural traditions, especially those governing sacred sites. Despite legally binding agreements such as the 2004 National Water Initiative, they are denied the power to prevent water extraction and contamination of water due to mining expeditions.
CANADA: Uphold the Informed Consent of Tribal Nations
A similar situation exists for First Nation Peoples in Canada, a country with vast economic resources, where contaminated water should be a thing of the past. However, for Native people living on reservations, lack of access to water increases their vulnerability and puts limitations on their agency to meet political, cultural and socio-economic goals. Many Native communities depend on water that is contaminated and lacks effective treatments. This puts women, children and the elderly, especially, at risk for gastro-intestinal diseases and cancer.
A similar situation exists for First Nation Peoples in Canada, a country with vast economic resources, where contaminated water should be a thing of the past. However, for Native people living on reservations, lack of access to water increases their vulnerability and puts limitations on their agency to meet political, cultural and socio-economic goals. Many Native communities depend on water that is contaminated and lacks effective treatments. This puts women, children and the elderly, especially, at risk for gastro-intestinal diseases and cancer.
USA: UPHOLD OUR ANCESTRAL RIGHTS TO RESERVED FISHING, HUNTING & WATER RIGHTS
In the USA, The Sioux Nation continues with the fight to remove/shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline which threatens the water supply across Native land in four states. They have advocated for the rights to uphold and maintain Indigenous sacred sties which are at risk from poisonous leaks including gas from mining the pipelines and dams. Charles Walker, Council member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council asserts, “No poison in our sacred water. No destruction of our sacred lands.”
The Red Road to DC: Totem Pole Bears the History & Spiritual Energy of First Americans
For many, the sight of the pole and their hand upon it resulted in an emotional experience filled with spiritual energy.
The House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation, Washington State, created a 25-foot totem pole, carved from a 400 -year -old cedar tree inscribed with images and stories central to Native American heritage as the focus of a two- week Red Road to DC cross country trip comprising 20,000 miles and 115 stops. The tour kicked off in Washington State for a final destination at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington D.C. The intention was to highlight Indigenous sacred sites at risk and to hold the Biden Administration accountable to the rights of Native Americans as agreed upon in legal treaties. The team journeyed along the earmarked route, stopping in landmark places such as Chaco Canyon, Standing Rock, Bears Ears and New Mexico. Along the journey, June- July 2021, thousands of Native people and supporters joined the team of tribal leaders and grassroots organizers supporting the call on the federal government to shut down pipelines destroying Native people’s access to clean water as well as to end its violation of treaty rights. President Biden is being asked to uphold the obligations of the federal government to the people of Standing Rock, the Lummi Nation and many other Native tribes whose ancestors ceded land in exchange for the promise of reserved fishing, hunting and water rights. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the nation’s first Native American Cabinet Secretary, blessed the pole in what proved to be a highly charged and emotional ceremony, as she noted that the USA is in a new era of truth, healing and growth. Shannon Wheeler of the Nez Perez tribe in Idaho asserted, “We are not history. We are still living, breathing and exercising our way of life that we have practiced for hundreds of years. We are still here and we don’t intend to go anyplace.”
Jewell Praying Wolf James, master carver of the totem pole, emphasized that the pole carried the visions, dreams and stories passed down through centuries to each generation who in turn shapes it as well. For many, the sight of the pole and their hand upon it resulted in an emotional experience filled with spiritual energy.
ECONOMIC SLAVERY IN JAMAICA?
BAUXITE MINING POSES HEALTH HAZARDS, WATER CONTAMINATION AND DESTRUCTION OF HOMES & LAND
There is a frightful war going on in Jamaica with citizens in local communities protesting against capitalist behemoths seeking to expand bauxite mining to the detriment of the people’s health. The side effects of bauxite mining include poisoning of the water, sheets of red dust settling on plants, houses and even inside homes, on clothes and furniture. There is now a marked attempt to expand bauxite mining into the Cockpit Country, bordering the pristine lands of the Maroons. Mining leads to diseases and it kills. Especially local, working- class people who do not have the choice to live elsewhere. When one considers the grassroots revolts, rebellions and revolutions to end slavery and the Maroons’ engagement in guerilla warfare that forced the British to negotiate peace treaties leading to their ownership of the very land they occupy today, the question must be asked, is this another form of slavery extending into the 21st century?
In the USA, The Sioux Nation continues with the fight to remove/shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline which threatens the water supply across Native land in four states. They have advocated for the rights to uphold and maintain Indigenous sacred sties which are at risk from poisonous leaks including gas from mining the pipelines and dams. Charles Walker, Council member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council asserts, “No poison in our sacred water. No destruction of our sacred lands.”
The Red Road to DC: Totem Pole Bears the History & Spiritual Energy of First Americans
For many, the sight of the pole and their hand upon it resulted in an emotional experience filled with spiritual energy.
The House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation, Washington State, created a 25-foot totem pole, carved from a 400 -year -old cedar tree inscribed with images and stories central to Native American heritage as the focus of a two- week Red Road to DC cross country trip comprising 20,000 miles and 115 stops. The tour kicked off in Washington State for a final destination at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington D.C. The intention was to highlight Indigenous sacred sites at risk and to hold the Biden Administration accountable to the rights of Native Americans as agreed upon in legal treaties. The team journeyed along the earmarked route, stopping in landmark places such as Chaco Canyon, Standing Rock, Bears Ears and New Mexico. Along the journey, June- July 2021, thousands of Native people and supporters joined the team of tribal leaders and grassroots organizers supporting the call on the federal government to shut down pipelines destroying Native people’s access to clean water as well as to end its violation of treaty rights. President Biden is being asked to uphold the obligations of the federal government to the people of Standing Rock, the Lummi Nation and many other Native tribes whose ancestors ceded land in exchange for the promise of reserved fishing, hunting and water rights. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the nation’s first Native American Cabinet Secretary, blessed the pole in what proved to be a highly charged and emotional ceremony, as she noted that the USA is in a new era of truth, healing and growth. Shannon Wheeler of the Nez Perez tribe in Idaho asserted, “We are not history. We are still living, breathing and exercising our way of life that we have practiced for hundreds of years. We are still here and we don’t intend to go anyplace.”
Jewell Praying Wolf James, master carver of the totem pole, emphasized that the pole carried the visions, dreams and stories passed down through centuries to each generation who in turn shapes it as well. For many, the sight of the pole and their hand upon it resulted in an emotional experience filled with spiritual energy.
ECONOMIC SLAVERY IN JAMAICA?
BAUXITE MINING POSES HEALTH HAZARDS, WATER CONTAMINATION AND DESTRUCTION OF HOMES & LAND
There is a frightful war going on in Jamaica with citizens in local communities protesting against capitalist behemoths seeking to expand bauxite mining to the detriment of the people’s health. The side effects of bauxite mining include poisoning of the water, sheets of red dust settling on plants, houses and even inside homes, on clothes and furniture. There is now a marked attempt to expand bauxite mining into the Cockpit Country, bordering the pristine lands of the Maroons. Mining leads to diseases and it kills. Especially local, working- class people who do not have the choice to live elsewhere. When one considers the grassroots revolts, rebellions and revolutions to end slavery and the Maroons’ engagement in guerilla warfare that forced the British to negotiate peace treaties leading to their ownership of the very land they occupy today, the question must be asked, is this another form of slavery extending into the 21st century?
WATER POEMS
WATER POEMS
Like rivers, poetry is the veins of the earth, the strands that keep our hearts together, with words that may provoke, inspire, incite, soothe, motivate and uplift. Marva McClean
RAIN ON ME!
By Karen Pableta Wade
Her tears fall unto the undulating curves of the golf course
Blue skies surrendering to
The limitless gray clouds
A wellspring of water washes over parched lips
And weeping endures for a night;
a balm for a cold heart hungry for the soft reassurance of a mother’s love;
This waterfall of tears offers a soft release
A pause in time to gather hope and succor strength
From the mountain top
And as darkness slips away in the morning light
It signals her to weep no more.
She retreats;
Needing time to replenish herself….
And the rainfall settles into a soft drizzle
Filling the water in the well before it runs dry
TAINOS’ ZEMIS HELD CAPTIVE FOR SAFEKEEPING
By Monica Minott
(Jamaican wood carvings from Carpenters Mountain at home in British Museum)
Sirs and Madams, now talk de truth
tell the world how you come by these,
shame the devil with yu confession.
It was in the cross I bring over ? I thank you Sirs and Madams,
for thoughtful yet forked gestures; is a strange
move unnoo mek fe protect we heritage.
First me hear seh all granny people dead off,
wipe-out good-good by raging disease,
de record say sailors tek dem mek sport,
target-cricket, tough wood lick off man head
with one swing. History hard fe true. Pure
worries inna book. Black & white print.
Ship dem come and go, stir up sea like earthquake,
shock and after-shock; a nuh likkle ,
runkous unnou mek cause spirit rupture.
All this fe sure-up we “education, protection, and
spiritual enlightenment unto salvation?”
is like yu set fe tek liberty with high spirit.
Wanton killing of grey-back elephant fe tusks.
capture and divide ancestral lands, --primitive lust.
So much effort it tek fe wisdom tree grow,
your language is mine. I’m daughter of Ruth,
I mek your God mine, after all Mama navel string
done bury here; thief from thief God laugh
THE RIVER NARRATIVE
By Meera Chakravorty
The river flows
Shore-less for quite long
Then
Comes down further
Shrinks gradually
Entering the woods through the village
Invites them to
Listen to her melodies
Her strange verses-
The woods
Harsh and dissonant
Breaks into vain shrill
With eyes loveless and dark
Wishes to spread its insomnia
Across the river…..
ORACABESSA BAY by Marva McClean
The sound of the conch shell echoes in the
distance calling the banana man to the wharf
The orchestra of the waves beat
out a tom tom melody that beckons me to the shore
I sit on a soft mattress of sea grape leaves
landing in a lake of dreams
my gaze rests on the distant horizon,
the place where the sky meets the sea,
this West Indies, this land where winter never comes
but springs forth life from the dark depths of the sea
and the pungent green vegetation of the land
Against the briny onslaught of the wind
I inhale the last notes of my childhood.
I will weather this storm
I will learn from the stories as old as the great seas.
I will tread the waves leading to the questions
and seek answers in the currents of the surf
I will march in the festivals of life
I will savor life sip by sip
RIVER RITES
By Emily Zobel Marshall
I seek baptism
absolution
from life’s sins
from fighting loud enough
to scare our neighbours
from ruptured family
cancer curse
So, water-borne, I thrust my
brown body
across the cloud-rippled sky
Afro-lady-cum
pond-skater
With each stroke
I tame you
Yorkshire river
with each stroke
I claim you
Yorkshire river
I, daughter of diasporic waters
each long muscle flexing as I bid
unfettered
darting towards the
sun’s reflections
shedding history like a
shattered shell
these are my
river rites
this is my
resurrection
complete.
THE WATER SINGS MY WORDS: POEMS BY GEOFFREY PHILP
1
Nearing San Jose
Irises know how to bloom--
To rise from gutter
2
Fog slips into dreams--
Bridges, hills, cable cars, pride
In San Francisco
3
Beside nervous ducks
Egrets stab toads, crayfish, crabs
In Elkhorn’s wetlands
4
Stuck outside Elko
I no longer confess guilt
To clouds at sunrise
Out in the desert
Petty jealousies and fears
Settle into sand
Under midday sun
Cerements fall away like ash
In wild fire haze
The train off schedule
The scent of mint tea from home
The calm of routine
After long tunnels
and fields of shattered crosses
Sunlight on my face
Miles of tumbleweed
Listening to “So Jah Seh”
Hawks glide over dunes
Editor’s Note: Geoffrey wrote these poems while journeying by rail across country with his wife July 2021.
WATER POEMS
Like rivers, poetry is the veins of the earth, the strands that keep our hearts together, with words that may provoke, inspire, incite, soothe, motivate and uplift. Marva McClean
RAIN ON ME!
By Karen Pableta Wade
Her tears fall unto the undulating curves of the golf course
Blue skies surrendering to
The limitless gray clouds
A wellspring of water washes over parched lips
And weeping endures for a night;
a balm for a cold heart hungry for the soft reassurance of a mother’s love;
This waterfall of tears offers a soft release
A pause in time to gather hope and succor strength
From the mountain top
And as darkness slips away in the morning light
It signals her to weep no more.
She retreats;
Needing time to replenish herself….
And the rainfall settles into a soft drizzle
Filling the water in the well before it runs dry
TAINOS’ ZEMIS HELD CAPTIVE FOR SAFEKEEPING
By Monica Minott
(Jamaican wood carvings from Carpenters Mountain at home in British Museum)
Sirs and Madams, now talk de truth
tell the world how you come by these,
shame the devil with yu confession.
It was in the cross I bring over ? I thank you Sirs and Madams,
for thoughtful yet forked gestures; is a strange
move unnoo mek fe protect we heritage.
First me hear seh all granny people dead off,
wipe-out good-good by raging disease,
de record say sailors tek dem mek sport,
target-cricket, tough wood lick off man head
with one swing. History hard fe true. Pure
worries inna book. Black & white print.
Ship dem come and go, stir up sea like earthquake,
shock and after-shock; a nuh likkle ,
runkous unnou mek cause spirit rupture.
All this fe sure-up we “education, protection, and
spiritual enlightenment unto salvation?”
is like yu set fe tek liberty with high spirit.
Wanton killing of grey-back elephant fe tusks.
capture and divide ancestral lands, --primitive lust.
So much effort it tek fe wisdom tree grow,
your language is mine. I’m daughter of Ruth,
I mek your God mine, after all Mama navel string
done bury here; thief from thief God laugh
THE RIVER NARRATIVE
By Meera Chakravorty
The river flows
Shore-less for quite long
Then
Comes down further
Shrinks gradually
Entering the woods through the village
Invites them to
Listen to her melodies
Her strange verses-
The woods
Harsh and dissonant
Breaks into vain shrill
With eyes loveless and dark
Wishes to spread its insomnia
Across the river…..
ORACABESSA BAY by Marva McClean
The sound of the conch shell echoes in the
distance calling the banana man to the wharf
The orchestra of the waves beat
out a tom tom melody that beckons me to the shore
I sit on a soft mattress of sea grape leaves
landing in a lake of dreams
my gaze rests on the distant horizon,
the place where the sky meets the sea,
this West Indies, this land where winter never comes
but springs forth life from the dark depths of the sea
and the pungent green vegetation of the land
Against the briny onslaught of the wind
I inhale the last notes of my childhood.
I will weather this storm
I will learn from the stories as old as the great seas.
I will tread the waves leading to the questions
and seek answers in the currents of the surf
I will march in the festivals of life
I will savor life sip by sip
RIVER RITES
By Emily Zobel Marshall
I seek baptism
absolution
from life’s sins
from fighting loud enough
to scare our neighbours
from ruptured family
cancer curse
So, water-borne, I thrust my
brown body
across the cloud-rippled sky
Afro-lady-cum
pond-skater
With each stroke
I tame you
Yorkshire river
with each stroke
I claim you
Yorkshire river
I, daughter of diasporic waters
each long muscle flexing as I bid
unfettered
darting towards the
sun’s reflections
shedding history like a
shattered shell
these are my
river rites
this is my
resurrection
complete.
THE WATER SINGS MY WORDS: POEMS BY GEOFFREY PHILP
1
Nearing San Jose
Irises know how to bloom--
To rise from gutter
2
Fog slips into dreams--
Bridges, hills, cable cars, pride
In San Francisco
3
Beside nervous ducks
Egrets stab toads, crayfish, crabs
In Elkhorn’s wetlands
4
Stuck outside Elko
I no longer confess guilt
To clouds at sunrise
Out in the desert
Petty jealousies and fears
Settle into sand
Under midday sun
Cerements fall away like ash
In wild fire haze
The train off schedule
The scent of mint tea from home
The calm of routine
After long tunnels
and fields of shattered crosses
Sunlight on my face
Miles of tumbleweed
Listening to “So Jah Seh”
Hawks glide over dunes
Editor’s Note: Geoffrey wrote these poems while journeying by rail across country with his wife July 2021.
THE MIDDLE PASSAGE & THE BLACK ATLANTIC RE-IMAGINED
By Andrew Geoffrey Kwabena Moss
Afrofuturism Galvanising Slavery Ocean Memorials
Drexciya, the Afrofuturist brainchild of the eponymous Detroit electro duo, is an inspiring thought experiment that furnishes us with an alternative Black history of a deep-sea civilisation. A complex conceptual framework with a water-based utopia at its omphalos has been created. Pregnant African women, considered to be recalcitrant, rebellious or melancholic were jettisoned from slave ships then spawned babies who swam from their wombs. The twist is that their offspring never needed to breathe air and formed a subaqueous empire, an underwater Zion.
The Detroit techno wizards have conjured a sonic third space replete with embedded myths, the construction of syncretic symbolic culture and the invention of new traditions.
‘…the Drexciyan concept of an intercultural, transnational network that shows the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from their homeland, and newly created spaces that transform identities and cultures.’ - DEEP SEA DWELLERS: Drexciya and the Sonic Third Space, N.Gaskins, Shima Volume 10 Number 2 2016
Transcending and challenging reductivist ideas of the fixed nation state, Drexciya is an example of Paul Gilroy’s concept of Black Atlantic unity; a connecting ocean bed. This is an apt paradigm that interrogates European colonisers’ artificial carving up of Africa; a necessary creative and spiritual response to Eurocentric epistemology. Their utopian political project starts with a ‘concrete imaginary’ dream as its fulcrum. Drexciya is a place where genetic memory fuses and fizzes with future possibility, where effervescent dreams become reality, where neural pathways are forged with the plasticity of the bubbling Drexciyan Aquabahn.
Such innovative interpretations of the Middle Passage, that explore the complexities of our relationship to water, have inspired proposals to create ocean slavery memorials. Under threat from the deep-sea mining, our engagement with our environment is called into question. We are urged to consider contemporary and creative ways to recognise the cultural, historical and spiritual significance of the Black Atlantic.
Editor’s Note: Afrofuturism, coined by Mark Dery in 1993, is a cultural aesthetic that explores the developing intersection of African diaspora culture with technology. It encompasses a wide range of media including speculative literature, music and magical realism in an exploration of issues central to the African Diaspora with slavery, resistance and survival being major themes.
By Andrew Geoffrey Kwabena Moss
Afrofuturism Galvanising Slavery Ocean Memorials
Drexciya, the Afrofuturist brainchild of the eponymous Detroit electro duo, is an inspiring thought experiment that furnishes us with an alternative Black history of a deep-sea civilisation. A complex conceptual framework with a water-based utopia at its omphalos has been created. Pregnant African women, considered to be recalcitrant, rebellious or melancholic were jettisoned from slave ships then spawned babies who swam from their wombs. The twist is that their offspring never needed to breathe air and formed a subaqueous empire, an underwater Zion.
The Detroit techno wizards have conjured a sonic third space replete with embedded myths, the construction of syncretic symbolic culture and the invention of new traditions.
‘…the Drexciyan concept of an intercultural, transnational network that shows the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from their homeland, and newly created spaces that transform identities and cultures.’ - DEEP SEA DWELLERS: Drexciya and the Sonic Third Space, N.Gaskins, Shima Volume 10 Number 2 2016
Transcending and challenging reductivist ideas of the fixed nation state, Drexciya is an example of Paul Gilroy’s concept of Black Atlantic unity; a connecting ocean bed. This is an apt paradigm that interrogates European colonisers’ artificial carving up of Africa; a necessary creative and spiritual response to Eurocentric epistemology. Their utopian political project starts with a ‘concrete imaginary’ dream as its fulcrum. Drexciya is a place where genetic memory fuses and fizzes with future possibility, where effervescent dreams become reality, where neural pathways are forged with the plasticity of the bubbling Drexciyan Aquabahn.
Such innovative interpretations of the Middle Passage, that explore the complexities of our relationship to water, have inspired proposals to create ocean slavery memorials. Under threat from the deep-sea mining, our engagement with our environment is called into question. We are urged to consider contemporary and creative ways to recognise the cultural, historical and spiritual significance of the Black Atlantic.
Editor’s Note: Afrofuturism, coined by Mark Dery in 1993, is a cultural aesthetic that explores the developing intersection of African diaspora culture with technology. It encompasses a wide range of media including speculative literature, music and magical realism in an exploration of issues central to the African Diaspora with slavery, resistance and survival being major themes.
ON OUR BOOK SHELF
One must never stop reading
Marcus Mosiah Garvey
PUBLISH WITH US
The global response to BLACK LIVES MATTER is indicative that we are becoming members of a team of socially and historically conscious tribe working towards a borderless society which encourages pedagogies that support the idea of the interconnectedness of all Black/ABORIGINAL/INDIGENOUS people.
Please consider this invitation to publish with us.
The theme of our next issue is Harvesting the Land. Submit a short article or poem of 100-250 words for publication in our Winter Issue by October 25, 2021.
Submit to marvamclean@bellsouth.net
The global response to BLACK LIVES MATTER is indicative that we are becoming members of a team of socially and historically conscious tribe working towards a borderless society which encourages pedagogies that support the idea of the interconnectedness of all Black/ABORIGINAL/INDIGENOUS people.
Please consider this invitation to publish with us.
The theme of our next issue is Harvesting the Land. Submit a short article or poem of 100-250 words for publication in our Winter Issue by October 25, 2021.
Submit to marvamclean@bellsouth.net