My History Is…© [with audio]

On By Dawn MinottIn Poetry 
Click👆to listen to audio of this post

My history is too bold to be contained in one month, far less one with just 28 days

It’s lived out loud every day in every month of every year

As bold as January 1st to December 31st colliding, it’s like fireworks exploding, making its presence known

My history is birthed from the continent which cradled life—civilization’s place of first beginning

As mystically dark as before God spoke the universe into form and all that was needed came from its void

Before slavery and colonial conquest, we were … from the Nile to the Volta River valleys, from the Pyramids to Griottes/Griots’ courts—keepers of our epic prayers and stories, retold

*****

My history is too rich to be just one-and-only—it’s beautifully diverse

Birthing a people of magnificent kaleidoscopic shades of color

From chocolate-dark as starless nights to caramel-brown hues, multi-colored as sun’s light

My history is a treasure too creatively inventive to be hidden

Trailblazers are we in mathematical numbering, web-animating, traffic directing, science and technology engineering

From sanitary belt to steel pan to peanut butter. Yeah … my history’s way too expansive for this poem’s attempt to contain it … or even convey it

My history is bombastic, vaulting the Biles over racist typologies and running Bolt-fast—dismantling discrimination o’er tracks and in fields…

Whether with the noose or whatever weapons they choose, whether on sidewalks, in cars or in beds—lives being snuffed out, we shout…

From the intellectual prowess of Timbuktu’s Bamba, through to the oratory genius of King to Marley to Gorman—we challenge isms and schisms to achieve justice, one-love and inclusion for all

My history is me, I am my history—interdependently connected

Too linked to conceive of myself as separate and sovereign from others

Too deeply misunderstood not to be activist

Too beautiful not to value my worth—regardless of what others think or how they feel about me—I matter!

My history is too compassionate not to be treated with care, protected, loved without questioning

Too artistic it is in rhythm and harmony and melody not to sing it or dance it or orate it or play it—in all ways, though, honor it

Too matriarchal not to tell her-story—from Mama Africa to children of the diaspora … separate, yet equal, yet together

Too panoptic not to be a shared humanity—so I declare: “Ubuntu—I am because we are”

My history is BLACK—a collective human story

2022 ©DeeMin All rights reserved

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In creative solidarity, Dee

30 thoughts on “My History Is…© [with audio]”

  5. Anonymous

    ‘My history is too bold to be contained in one month…….’. Thank you for voicing this for all of us. So beautifully read. It deserves a live reading. Perhaps when Calabash starts staging again!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. Dee, fantastic. So deep and so beautiful. ‘My history is too bold to be contained in one month….’ . Thank you for saying it for us. It deserve a live reading. Perhaps when Calabash begin staging again!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks Sadje. Yes I wanted to emphasize that we are all connected, a shared humanity, while honoring and celebrating my heritage and history. Glad to know you got it!!! Thanks for your constant engagement. Really appreciate it!!! Cheers, Dee

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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