The Age of Phillis. Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

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СКАЧАТЬ has met

      the hyena laughing

      about chains. The man

      will pound metal

      to forget that

      grievous sound.

      He will master

      what was brought

      from earth,

      from viscera’s

      need—

      until his hands seize,

      he will do this work,

      and his son will do

      the same,

      and it will be written

      upon the griot’s skull.

MOTHERING #1

       Yaay, Someplace in the Gambia, c. 1753

      after

      the after-birth

      is delivered

      the mother stops

      holding her breath

      the mid-wife gives

      what came before

      her just-washed pain

      her insanity pain

      an undeserved pain

      a God-given pain

      oh oh oh pain

      drum-talking pain

      witnessing pain

      Allah

      a mother offers

      You this gift

      prays You find

      it acceptable

      her living pain

      her creature pain

      her pretty-little-baby

      pain

FATHERING #1

       Baay, Someplace in the Gambia, c. 1753

      After the required time,

      the seclusion to fool scream-faced

      souls: the naming ceremony.

      People arrive with gifts

      for the close-eyed baby with no sense,

      separate into men and women.

      They do not count their children

      like bad-lucked livestock—

      they eat. They talk.

      Chew kola.

      Pray at the required

      times. Then: eat.

      Still: eat.

      The baby unaware of her meaning.

      In years, her father’s expectation:

      her body hailing a good

      bride price, that she might

      sing forth sons—

      if she prays as well.

      At any rate, boys clearly hear

      the loudest greeting.

      Births to be cherished.

      Tribal hierarchy.

      God. (Him only or grouped,

      translated stars.)

      A man. His wife.

      (Maybe: two more.)

      A girl sits right at the bottom—

      and yet,

      her father carries her high.

      With this bone-gourd,

      he has become

      someone.

DAFA RAFET

       Yaay, Baay, and Goonay, Someplace in the Gambia, c. 1756

      When mother and child

      walk from the village

      to gather fruit, faces

      recite quotidian love.

       Do you have peace

       (Waw, waw, diam rek)

      Then, they are alone, and the toddler

      points out the fat-bottomed

      baobab, the mango

      with its frustrating reach.

      Mother pierces a low-hanging

      jewel, and her small

      shadow trills gratitude.

       Yaay, you are so nice

       (Waw, waw)

       Yaay, I love you so

       (Waw, waw)

      No demonstration, but a hand

      touching the tender head

      that was braided over cries.

      Later that night,

      the father must listen, too.

       Baay, I ate a mango

       (Waw, waw)

       Baay, I saw a bug

       (Waw, waw)

      The child sits closer

      to his mat,

      whispers СКАЧАТЬ