i listen to motown in muddy waters
found out i was supreme
swam through heat waves in tambourine tubes
eating sugar pies with my honey bunch
soothing minstrel pains with soul spells
in beats and hollers to melodies so deep
they carry me la vie en rose from concrete
on strong arms to promise lands
where they trade star strangled banners
for sweet hymns sang in stacked
mahogany pews with outkast undertones
climbing ain’t no mountaintops to roll
down miseducation hills to meet marley in
the valley where we wail and pray
chess moves in God’s grace for baduism
over a picnic of roots and weeds and sway back,
back forth and it begins to purple rain
and i let it baptize me
and i bask in the Black in me that makes
my country’s soul so musical
— negro spirituals built american bandstands
one day i’ll write a book called jupiter dreams. about 2022 and how we all learned to expand in the discomfort and settle into ease, surprising ourselves with how delicious and gentle we were able to make this life. how the wave of jupiter entering pisces washed us all in deep love and brought pleasure flowing back into our lives. how we all felt backed by loving community and aligned opportunity. each chapter will be filled with tales of mine and my friend’s dreams coming true. healed bodies, words published, babies birthed. we’ll joke about how much like nature we all felt — going from the forever-long barren winter to blooming, everlasting spring. dancing between the raindrops and the warming sun soaking into our golden skin. the time will be ours and it will be glorious.
