If I Ain't African
someone tell my heart
to stop beating like a d'jembe drum.
If I ain't African
someone tell my hair
to stop curling up like the continent
it is from.
If I ain't African
someone tell my lips
to stop singing a Yoruban song.
someone speak to my hips
tell them their sway is all wrong.
If I ain't African
how come I know the way home?
Along the Ivory Coast
feel it
in my breast of bones.
If I ain't African
how come my feet do this African dance?
How come every time
I'm in New Orleans - Charleston
I fall into a trance?
If I ain't African how come
I know things I ain't suppose to know
about the middle passage - slavery
feel it deep down
in my soul?
If I ain't African
someone tell their Gods
to stop calling on me,
Obatala, Ellegba, Elleggua,
Yemaya, Oshun
Ogun!
Tell me why I faint
every time
there is a full moon.
If I ain't African
how come I hear
Africa Africa Africa
everywhere I go?
Hear it in my heartbeat
hear it high
hear it Iow.
If I ain't African
someone tell my soul
to lose this violet flame
someone tell their Gods
to call another name.
someone take this drum beat
out of my heart
someone give my tongue
a new mouth
to part.
If I ain't African
someone tell my feet
to speak to my knees to send word to my hips
to press a message on my breast
to sing a song
to my lips
to whisper in my ear
If I ain't African
If I ain't African
If I ain't African
PLEASE
tell my eyes
'Cause if I ain't African
I ain't livin'
and God knows
I ain't
ALIVE!
by Glenis Redmon
http://www.scla.org/docs/redmondpoems.html
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