"THAT WHICH IS GOOD IS NEVER FINISHED"
-- Proverb of the Sukuma people of Tanzania
(a wedding poem for Christopher and Varanda)
Click the flash player below to hear this original work performed by the Seven Foot Poet
{mp3}poetry/20081216_7ft_that_which_is_good{/mp3}
It is wonderfulwhen you love yourself enoughto allow yourselfto be -- to have -- to give -- to takea wish -- a hope -- a spouse -- a soulmate.
The distance between yesterday tomorrow and today
can be measured in magic
when you levitate
your frame of reference
drift into a different perspective
an anciently new
ancestral reality
where
1 + 1 = 1
and
1 + 1 + 1 = 1 . . . infinitely.
That which is glorious
cannot be diminished.
That which is good
is never finished.
Your union pre-dates a beginning
and post-dates an end.
Your ancestors bring
tenfold blessings
ivory bracelets and leopard skins.
Modern society’s feeble understanding of dimensions
acquiesces like pawns before a king and queen
when your love is mentioned:
“Bow down time!”
“Bow down space!”
“Bow down distance!”
Earth and sky celebrate
this marriage
this day
Know this
Know it like you know your heart is beating this very instant.
By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)
Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)
Copyright 2008.
Kemit Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”) is a highly acclaimed spoken-word artist, and has published two books A . . . Z . . . Infinity and Crucifixion of My Soul. The collective body of his works presented in www.blackagendareport.com and www.voxunion.com are in tribute to Listervelt Middleton, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, and “For The People”. Currently, he is a facilitator at AYA Educational Institute (www.ayaed.com) in Atlanta, Georgia and can be reached at sevenfootpoet@gmail.com.
Orisanmi Burton is an assistant professor at American University’s Department of Anthropology.
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