
I saw fire today reaching out and in between
She moved the ground we were standing on
Transformed the form of our being
I heard life screaming out to me
Challenging me to change the course of my journey
Leaning and swaying as she spoke her truthful story
While love washed over each seat and every wave
Something whispered deep down in our souls with each sway she made
I saw my mother in you,
her soul reaching out from deep waters stretching across the Egyptian sea
I felt fire breathing out of you
from the crevices of each part of your inner most being
It moved the way we thought about revolutionizing the spaces we see
We cannot change what we do not acknowledge
We need to see beyond our individual knowledges
It is in the stories we tell, the lives we speak that bear witness to the history
My sister of many mothers from Africa and beyond
Keep breathing life through the stories of the untold and the ones that have gone.
Mother earth from the fire you cast may our lands be transformed
Into the lives we once never had or the ones we once dreamed of.
Today was an important day. I wrote this poem not just because of the path you have taken to fulfill a promise to your Big Momma but also for the example you lived to get to that promise. I am sitting at my desk now and allowing myself to reflect on the experience of vicariously watching you for the past almost two years and I want to scream at the top of my lungs-THANK YOU. Not just to you, but to your beautiful mother who birthed you, and to her beautiful mother who birthed her, and to the villages along the way that sustained them and gave you the foundation that you stand on.
There is something about the beauty of the African soul that sits deep within me. Today I saw you becoming the greatness you were born to be as so many of our ancestors have already done. So, in my Caribbean tongue; I say Auntie Tonya- Respect! in the most humble and gracious way. Thank you for showing up and being you always. Thanks also for helping me through my journey of attempting to learn in spaces, and with suitcases that are not always welcoming to change.
I wish you many more spaces where you continue to set the world on fire.
With love
Erica Kristina Reid- Your Femtee