they slither through the weeds of my namesake
an invitation: from serpent to serpent
"I am here because somebody survived" by Cornelius Eady —Mahogany L. Browne, “On Meditation” Which means, sometimes, you disarm The goon by acting the fool—what they want Is your throat cut, or your heart broken By a dum-dum bullet, or your eyes filling With the void. So they leave with their cartoon Of you in their heads. The instant they turn— the flood waters stopping just before the top step, The hawk grasping feathers instead of flesh— All the small stuff—your sweat beading off Your skin, your breath slowing back from flight To human, you’ve won it. You can pass it on.
Year of the wood snake. Year of shedding. Year of new skin, raw and pink. Year of subterfuge. Year of subtlety. Year of emotional regulation. Year of encounter. Year of aquarian action. Year of racial tension. Year of antivirals. Year of retreat. Year of diving deeper into the brush. Year of striking and biting and standing on business. Year of reckoning. Year of stealth. Year of divestment. Year of principled action. Year of decolonization. Year of catch and release. Year of the rifle. Year of consistency. Year of masking. Year of dispersal. Year of skill share. Year of seed saving. Year of resurrection. Year of no borders. Year of accountability. Year of community care. Year of transformation. Year of inclement weather. Year of not arguing with those who are committed to misunderstanding you. Year of moral clarity. Year of antifascism. Year of accepting our collective vulnerability. Year of hearty greens and root vegetables. Year of insurgency. Year of scarring. Year of no return. Year of archival study. Year of mental fortitude. Year of soil. Year of destruction as restoration. Year of beginnings. Year of magnetism. Year of mourning. Year of clarity. Year of wisdom. Year of the unearthing and the pearl. Year of world ending. Year of world building. Year of purification. Year of intensity. Year of labor. Year of rebirth. Year of political and ecological education. Year of refusal. Year of seed saving. Year of preparation. Year of multimedia modes. Year of discipline. Year of creativity. Year of curiosity. Year of chaos. Year of New Gods. Year against climate doomerism. Year of tree planting. Year of doing it half assed until it can be done whole. Year of civil disobedience. Year of controlled burn. Year of wastewater. Year of truth seeking. Year of truth telling. Year of multiple truths. Year of return. Year of ancestral veneration. Year of doulas and deathworkers. Year of crossroads. Year of cycles. Year of relearning respect. Year of connection. Year of alternatives. Year of demystification. Year of pattern recognition. Year of tongues and codes. Year of intention. Year of simplification. Year of humility. Year of rehabilitation. Year of poems. Year of integrity. Year of furious dancing. Year of land back. Year of decommodification. Year of self-defense. Year of collaboration. Year of the lending library and the book club. Year of practicing what you preach. Year of prayer. Year of predator and prey. Year of ecosystem stabilization. Year of disease control. Year of Pan-African liberation. Year of venom. Year of camaraderie. Year of ego death. Year of making people feel, feel, FEEL!
Year of action. Year of action. Year of action. Year of action.
Personal announcements:
Burrowing. Cooking and eating hearty stews. Prepping my balcony garden beds. Consuming way too much coffee. Writing, writing, writing, writing.
What I’m reading:
Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston
Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez
