Finding X/Self

Many years ago   a resource centre was throwing away
literature from the widest four corners of the
African diaspora   a sea of books   to sail   to make
a voyage of discovery of New Words

Edward Kamau Brathwaite X/Self
                                         Finds me

-1 MAR 1999
40p
X/SELF
Withdrawn

The words that follow   I never fully understand
but page after page are turned greedily
eyes become fat and mouth become full
with verse and lyrics that leave their sweet taste

‘towards
algonquin Pontiac discovering his arrows were on fire

towards
Tupac amauri II

towards
My heart at wounded knee

towards
Red Tacky bleeding in the West’

Something sings a litany to me
fills my angry African self with belief
weighs heavy on my birthright
spins my triangle back to its beginning
gives me back my obelisk
                                    Creating my own narrative

towards
James Cone liberating Black Theology

towards
Malcolm writing from Mecca

towards
Small axe   big tree Bob Marley

towards
Martin Luther King’s dreams in a living nightmare

To the voice that walk across blared lines of humanity
a narrative free of constraints
                      self so assured it lives
                                             beyond the boundaries dictated

towards
Nanny of the maroons catching bullets with her bottom

towards
The bare foot fakir/ Gandhi that brought the British Empire down

towards
A God/Allah/Jehovah without a name to fight or kill for 

towards
Marvin Gaye and God save the children