Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind


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Accountable to You: A Cosmic Commitment Poem

9781879960930
Yesterday was the first day of this month’s online intensive Becoming Turquoise: On Intergenerational Accountability.  We created an altar that transcends space and time, we reclaimed and renamed who we are and what and who has shaped/is shaping us.  We wrote, we laughed, we remembered.  We taught each other about our ancestors given and chosen.  We playfully called to the future.  We drew on the wisdom of generations of texts by women of color . We theorized the embodied and non-binary work of the word “her.”  We activated the oracle.  We looked in the mirror.   We learned new words and honored the power and pull of what we don’t know.   And together, we wrote this expansive poem about our accountability to give an account to you.   Enjoy.  Again it is best read aloud and even more divinely read together.

P.S. Don’t forget to send your questions and or sign up for tomorrow’s Q&A for Current and Future Grad Students!  You can get your questions answered even if you can’t log on tomorrow night.  Sign up here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/because-brillianceremastered-qa-for-current-and-future-grad-students-tickets-34931279397

 

accountable to you

 

by the participants in Becoming Turquoise: Intergenerational Accountability

 

accountable to the oceans

accountable to the sea snails

accountable to horses

accountable to trees

 

accountable to night

accountable to moonlight

accountable to breathing

accountable to being

 

accountable to the moment

accountable to this moment

accountable to the bigger mysteries you will never fully understand

accountable to little mysteries

accountable to the land

 

accountable to Elders

accountable to truth-telling

accountable to the little people

accountable to ancient transformers

 

accountable to those who died in revolutionary struggle

accountable to the smiles of all the children

accountable to petals

accountable to rain

 

accountable to heartbeat

accountable to the places where turquoise happens

accountable to stewards of the land

accountable to the beauty and silence and wisdom of caves

 

accountable to dolphins

accountable to whales

accountable to coral

accountable to birds

 

accountable to chasms

accountable to wind

accountable to salt

and all other crystals

 

accountable to the not-yet-born who are waiting

accountable to dreams

accountable to you