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Aido Hwedo Is Here!!!! « Thread Started on Nov 5, 2008, 5:02pm »
For me, the line that sums up this stunning poem by Audre Lorde offered in celebration on this historic day as Barack Obama, a Black man, is elected president of the United States is: we do not choose all our rituals.
And: My whole life has been an altar
And: Mother, loosen my tongue or adorn me with a lighter burden.
Call
Holy ghost woman stolen out of your name Rainbow Serpent whose faces have been forgotten Mother loosen my tongue or adorn me with a lighter burden Aido Hwedo is coming.
On worn kitchen stools and tables we are piercing our weapons together scraps of different histories do not let us shatter any altar she who scrubs the capitol toilets, listening is your sister's youngest daughter gnarled Harriet's anointed you have not been without honor even the young guerrilla has chosen yells as she fires into the thicket Aido Hwedo is coming.
I have written your names on my cheekbone dreamed your eyes flesh my epiphany most anicent goddesses hear me enter I have not forgotten your worship nor my sister nor the sons of my daughters my children watch for your print in their labors and they say Aido Hwedo is coming.
I am a Black woman turning mouthing your name as a password through seductions self-slaughter and I believe in the holy ghost mother in your flames beyond our vision blown light through the fingers of women enduring warring sometimes outside your name we do not choose all our rituals Thandi Modise winged girl of Soweto brought fire back home in the snout of a mortar and passes the word from her prison cell whispering Aido Hwedo is coming.
Rainbow Serpent who must not go unspoken I have offered up the safety of separations sung the spirals of pwer and what fills the spaces before power unfolds or flounders in desirable nonessentials I am a Black woman stripped down and praying my whole life has been an altar worth its ending and I say Aido Hwedo is coming.
I may be a weed in the garden of women I have loved who are still trapped in their season but even they shriek as they rip burning gold from their skins Aido Hwedo is coming.
We are learning by heart what has never been taught you are my given fire-tongued Oya Seboulisa Mawu Afrekete and now we are mourning our sisters lost to the false hush of sorrow to hardness and hatchets and childbirth and we are shouting Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer Assata Shakur and Yaa Asantewa my mother and Winnie Mandela are singing in my throat the holy ghosts' linguist one iron silence broken Aido Hwedo is calling calling your daughters are named and conceiving Mother loosen my tongue or adorn me with a lighter burden Aido Hwedo is coming.
Aido Hwedo is coming.
Aido Hwedo is coming.
Aido Hwedo: The Rainbow Serpent; also a representation of all ancient divinities who must be worshipped but whose names and faces have been lost in time.
Our Dead Behind Us, Audre Lorde, W. W. Norton, 1986
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