The river black and matte like rubber urges me to think of the past
Oceans of crime and centuries of grime dismembered by our magic at last
Nations of Black bodies ensnared by other Africans
Sold as chattel to avaricious conquistadors and mercantilists
The river bleeds red in memory of this holocaust
This predation of Black skin was a central pillar
Laying the foundation for the rise of capitalism as a global system
This history continues reenacted religiously
Embedded in the sinuous fabric of our polarized and crisis ridden society
This is an age that threatens apocalypse
Riddled with mass incarceration and cybernetic exploitation
Each of these are components of this architecture
Landmarks on a map of injustice
The sun rises over the river and suddenly the water is studded with color
In this moment I see transcendent visions of karmic magic
Witchcraft conducting indigenous African wisdom to our hemisphere
The magic of magi circulates
Permeating our bloodstream
Empowering insight
We open our sacred eye and spread our butterfly wings
Hastening this firestorm of liberation
Sacred witchcraft amplifies our power to heal
To celebrate our joy and amplify pleasure
The river mirrors a kinetic light show
Reverberating on its surface
And coursing sinuous paths to the water’s depths
We dance with the light and with the stars
Breathing life into collective empowerment
Living in the moment armed with potent sacred witchcraft
images are by Naiima Lovechild: @NaiimaLove on twitter
–BYPO PHOENIX c)2021