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TO THE TASK AHEAD
I
No one can write our story but us;
History merely footnotes us.
In the culture of the penned word,
We must now ink our own story—
Footnoting the keloids of history’s pain;
In doing so, the rules must be ours—
Impervious to Anglophobic critics of the prose
And the poetry cornerstone foundations of our style;
In our midst, do we not have our own prophets…seers?
Do we not have our own scribes…Griots? Do we not?
II
Let us not write for our critics, but for ourselves—demonstrating
Mastery of the indigenous language as well as the enforced—
This enforced language through which we must cipher lines,
Moving to discern lies from truth’s undeniable truth ….
Let those who merely write their history—void of ourstory—wallow
In their criticism…let them wallow in their laughter of the punctuated
Ways we pen the spoken word. After all, it’s ourstory .…Not theirs!
III
Our computer ink wells are everlasting—eternally filled by our God.
Our God, Who is…has always been…will always be…in and before…
The everlasting author of the beginning of all else ….
Come ye Griots, let us continue to shed light on the footnotes of his story
Of our story—in ways that our Exodus children can discern; come…
Let us tender their growth in wisdom that they may strategize from the wandering
And wondering of, what’s next. Come Griots, let us unveil eyes—un-wax ears…
Let us free the minds of our Jordan River children—revealing freedom’s light.
Ours must know ourstory—that they are those we’ve been waiting for;
They must know that they are the shepherds—chosen by the God of the oppressed
In the new promised land—that they not be exploited into entertainment—rather
Let us guide them in being the new Griots of African/Edenic enlightenment.
