Musical selection: Flying Lotus — Never Catch Me (featuring Kendrick Lamar)
Nwala
When your ancestors or unborn descendants visit, do you listen?
You came to me in a dream
The son I have never met, or perhaps
A forefather’s liminal return
I’d not heard your name spoken
But it rang like a bell from within
You spoke it from your mother’s womb
And that word embraced me, dancing
Unorganized, ready to receive you
I made space for your arrival
Cheap unused coasters tossed aside
Purple sharpie readied for notes
Bottle-opener — your granddad called-
— the one you never met
— or maybe you did in past lives
Anyway, he called them church-keys
Yeah, I never got the joke either
But I easily made space for it
So fitting you in was a shoo-in
A lighter, always a lighter
— For incense, for centering
— For the weed tucked away for weekend
For sage, to oust evil spirits
But that ain’t for you, unmet kin, whose
Name I never heard, but always knew
I never want to catch you either,
Though I do need to pause a spell
To catch my breath thinking of you
Please settle near me; know us better
Stay as long as you like and tell me
Everything you need to clear the air
Your name’s meaning is elusive
But it hails from Nigeria, along
With the brunt of our ancestry
How many lives have you lived?
Did you toil, like most of us, within
Colonization’s unending shadow
Or did you stand unbowed, unbroken
Mahogany-forged by African sun?
