Black History Moon

Black History Moon

Full Moon  February 6, 2023

 

The space between these letters

is it shrinking or growing?

Can one breathe, can the other thrive

can one see oneself in the world?

 

Are the winds more cruel

have they turned their face away

revealing us power blind, showing

us something difficult to see?

 

I want something wise, words or an image

to clarify how much pain there is & why—

a monument to transience or transcendence

or a trickster who closes the circle

of wandering in this oceanic flotsam.

 

Perhaps all history is black history:

particular to this horror-soaked nation

but also opaque as the night’s own story

by turns fearful of what cannot be seen

grown into vivid-bright promised place

safe, then dark again, in time, from light.

 

Say their name.

Each beloved here & gone.

Living love’s conduit.

Sing the story true & be not afraid.

 

Black liberation aims to free us all.

 

It is a dream but is it real without us—

choices do matter in the storm

the web of our world, this slender bridge

stretched beneath our bare & aging feet

by silver moonlight we help each other over

& it is thus pure blessing

worldly magic.

 

Poem by Qayyum Johnson.

Painting by Suiko McCall. Worldly Magic, 2023. Ink on paper, digitally manipulated.