A poem for today

my clan

by Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro

Tanitia's Ink: Honor The Black Woman
http://tanitiasink.blogspot.com/2010/04/honor-black-woman.html

my family traces

una traición a nosotros mismos
our ancestry explodes

in traison

when my own brother Olué rapt us

took us to the naos
chained me, my sister, my baby brothers
my family pride was lacerated
 
during mask ceremony
in the new nation
the dancer goes into deep trance
he communicates with the ancestors
translates our sorrows thru the mask
during the ritual
this is your maldición, he said
dancers bring messages of wisdom

I decipher the meaning of the message

song, dance and music
musical instruments like in my old house
 
for thousands of years
the gradual effects
the territories
Colonial governments
systems wrecked
African drumming
shakers made of woven baskets
shakers made of gourds
rattles
Sanza,  a small thumb piano
the Ivory horn dance with the wind
hunting us
drum made of wood and animal skin
held under the arm to play
remember me my Olué traitor