Who are These Strange People I Have Entered
into Kinship With?
February, 2006
St. Croix,
Virgin Islands
Connie Berhe`
Critics balk when truth-tellers talk
Though I am black and so are you
I may as well be purple and you be blue
You from the African continent
Me diasporically-separate
The breach forged so intentionally
Forever to divide us mentally, physically
Our coming together allowed me to see
My forgotten, stolen history
As your brothers came ashore
They built parking lot empires from this distant shore
Tapping the tills so cleverly
That the boss man could never see
Diligently, gently, quietly, respectfully
They steal them blind
They are hell-bent
Maybe payback
Maybe amends
For sins committed against the brothermen?
You fought the revolution from your armchair
Spouted Malcolm, George, Fanon, Mao
Convoluting dialectics
Expounding apologetics
Lying the life you love
While you ran your fingers through blonde girls’ hair
I was watching, listening, learning
To sift your lies through the strainer of the truth
To challenge your idiocy, half-truths, uncouths
To never again reside under the same roof
Your daughter well-named
Life-Revolution
Yet you left her in a whirlwind of confusion
By the time I left the town
I found the meaning of your name meant clown
Cultural Bondages
Factions
Fronts
Tribalism in the refuge city
Lying, thieving
Suicide
Societal blunders
Societal ills
Things get heavy
Yourselves you kill
Warrior tribes
Sneaky vibes
Kohl-rimmed eyes
Like lipid pools
Tinkling anklets
Bejeweled feet
Cross-tatooed foreheads
Sensuous charcoal-dyed gums
Hennaed hair, palms and feet
Hand-woven cotton
Uniformed dress
Tribal best
Yet your brothers you detest
Kalimba songs
Somber odes
Oozing mysterious chants
Ancient ways in modern days
Krar in sweet accompaniment
Marriages arranged
Parent-ordained
Conspicuous blood-stained wedding sheets
Mothers and fathers who have never kissed
Claim their wedded-bliss
While standing outside of the ancient stone-carved churches
Come Sunday's service
Deemed unclean and unholy
Must not enter the holy place due to last night’s marital sex Considered a disgrace
Holy priests abide in caves of rock
In the land of crosses
Guarding the covenant’s ark
Frankincense and myrrh cloud haunted faces in desolate places
Coffee and tea savored serendipitously ceremoniously
Denied virgins aged forty and up
Lifetimes spent in their father’s houses
Where they still live and sup
In certain parts of town
The elite get down
Party of 5000
Fete new life begat
While the destitute man beats his breast
On beds of dirt his hungry children sleep unfed
His greatest desire some crusts of bread
A place to rest his weary head
His burdened wife lives in defeat
Her fertility she dare not breach
Bringing forth life once a year
Another mouth whose hungry cries will pierce her heart and ear
Leper colonies still exist
Separated from society like in biblical tales
Virgin mothers give birth in modern hospital in the refuge state
No exit path for a new life to take
Botched circumcision one of seven kinds
Willing-unwilling victims of centuries-old misogynistic ploy
Preserved to prevent a woman’s joy
While men gallivant continentally
Enjoying women deemed loose
Guilty and free
Spreading AIDS in society
Want to marry a virgin
While they play the whore
Importing virgins to serve
Who soon abscond with new-found freedom
Revolutionary bands across the lands
Tout the victories of the clan
Songbird freedom fighters sing amongst those who turned their ploughshares into swords
Men and women reap revolutionary rewards
Thirty-plus years of warring brothers
Who look exactly like each other
Disputing borders of tribal lands
Their victories-do they understand?
While they go forward will they be held back
By a history of war and lack?
Stabbing in the back?
Will those now in control oppress more than the oppressors of old?
With the advent of modern technology
Currencies bear your country's history
Soldiers so long in the field
Knowing not how with funds to deal
Un-entangled-no monetary qualms
I cook your spices-seventeen
Allspice, ginger, fenugreek
Garlic, clove and ginger
Paprika, nutmeg, cardamom
Cinnamon, cumin, coriander
Black peppercorns, red chilies, ajowan seed
Onion, shallot
Melded and blended
Tastes just like heaven sent it
Dip your bread of fermented teff
Into your saucy, fragrant stews
Sniff my fingers all day afterwards
The flavors Motherland-imbued
Imbibe your fermented honey wine
Get sweetly tipsy
Dance moving my body in your customary ways
Your faces those of sultans and sheiks
Loving the cultural romances-the mystery
Bittersweet my history
Who are you strange peoples that I have entered into kinship with?
Your blood coursing through the veins of my offspring
Intricate cadence of this dance
Has afforded me the extraordinary chance
To share my life and blood and the history of this ancient cultural tree []
