Somewhere the sky

touches the earth — and

the name of that place is

the end — in between

is the journey.

— African Saying

History Lesson: Diaspora

They love Africans in museum cases,

so they left African cultures intact.

— Ezekiel Mphahlele

"Remarks on Negritude"

First they stacked us

in the holds of their dark ships
Then they feasted on our mothers

our names      our blood      our shadows
They routed and captured our masks

our thrones      our bronze carved doors
Now in museums we discover our masks

their ancient eyes track us
We shiver
Discrete signs announce our origins

other signs caution us      Do not touch
Do not touch      Alarms will sound
Something shakes our memory

we encounter our shadows
Something crosses and recrosses

the danger water
We recall Praise Songs

Our ancestors touch us
Our names come home
for Pam McClusky (Seattle Art Museum)


Horn Men

hey

you ever wonder

how they survive

these quote unquote black

men jazz jiving they tenor

saxes

in the up-to-date badlands

of South Africa

Johannesburg to be

precise
some

say they be bad

they be up from the bush

long time out of the

bush these brothers be

watch they

pull music from spots

of leopards

from deep river beds

some say they music be

ancestor masks carved

from water trees
these bad brothers

what they know

be awesome

our essence

uh huh
what they make

be true as rain

see how they sweeten

this parched earth

welcome these brothers

hear them

move us into freedom
and beyond


Song

1.

fresh off the

boat

they break you

in barbados
they split for you

you tounge

they slice for you

you ear
they dig for you

a hole of dirt

for you big child 

belly
they whip you

make you belly

lie down
they put on you

you neck

the ring of

iron
they say no

to no eat the

sugar cane
they put on you

you mouth

the mask of

tin
they tie you

man to

four green tree
    
they make you

man fly to

all four wind
they say you

you sing

2.

sing calypso sky

sing soka wind

they ship you

to they home
all ways

they break you

in barbados
3.

salt

all ways

salt
4.

our bones be

ocean floors
our bones be

masts of ships
our bones be

coral reefs
our bones sing

of salt


Alien Dance Hall

Here a glittered stocking shimmers

here a severed pair of eyes

jams the blues
Everywhere

desire flaps its tentlike arms
Legs slow drag in the pockmarked dust

embrace suns blackened by ancient storms

clawed birds scream

perform a rag      a cakewalk      a stomp

a tango
Observe

this needle wind delivers

imported fragrances of old blood

and fetal bones
Stay here if you wish

Settle here if you wish
Remember while you can

somebody called

my ancestors cannibals
Dance with me

Dance with me
JT Stewart is the Seattle Review of Books Poet in Residence for February. Previously: "Invocation"


    Citations & notes:




    "Many Rivers to Cross" — Song made popular by Reggae musician Jimmy Cliff.


    "History Lesson: Diaspora" —
    

        
Epigraph: Ezekiel Mphahlele — South African writer, scholar, anti-Apartheid activist. 
        

            Negritude - 1930's Paris based literary consciousness movement combining Afro-Caribbean and African philosophy.

            Reprinted as a broadside (2011 - designed by Graphic Artist John D, Berry) for a 4 Culture Grant. Also used by Hedgebrook, the private retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island. Originally published in JT Stewart's chapbook Promised Lands: Poems from the sovereign of dishpan sonnets (Lamaya Press 2010 (3rd Edition)).
        
    


    "Horn Men" — Originally published in Raven Chronicles (1992); reprinted in "Praise Poems to Read Aloud" (1992) as a broadside for the Seattle Art Museum. Inspired by the full-length Basinjum Mask and Gown — African Ejagham Nigeria Cameroon in the African Gallery. Also by listening to to a South African tenor sax musician playing "You Think You Know Me." "Horn Men" also reprinted in Promised Lands (Lamaya Press 2010 (3rd edition)).


    "Song" — Published (2014) in Stone Telling: The Magazine of Boundary Crossing Poetry (MP3 from Jack Straw Productions  - Seattle, Washington.) "Song" was a semi-finalist in the Rhysling Science Fiction Poetry Awards.



"Alien Dance Hall" — Published in Promised Lands: Poems from the Sovereign of Dishpan Sonnets (Lamaya Press, Third Edition (2010)).