On the Aquarius Full Moon a group of Black women and femmes gathered to write together in memory of Toni Morrison. Guided by “A Knowing So Deep,” her 1985 letter to Black women in honor of Essence Magazine’s 15th Anniversary Issue (edited by Cheryll Greene), we dedicated our participation to the people we love, living and ancestral and we wrote letters to ourselves, each other and our broader communities. We found that we had a lot to say to ourselves, powerful ancestral listening to do and a renewed sense community. As a closing ceremony we wrote this group poem together. I recommend reading it aloud with a hand on your heart or your belly.
Know
After “A Knowing So Deep” by Toni Morrison
by the participants in “A Knowing So Deep: A Writing Ceremony for Black Women and Femmes”
a nectar so bloody
a wound so raw
a day so dark
a fear so profound
a dream so black
a weeping so near
a crying out so necessary
a voice so daring
a voice so valuable
a letter so needed
a dream so dandelion
a truth so forgotten
a remembering so vital
a portal so open
an evolution so easy
a black woman so healed
a mouth so open
a laugh so boisterous
a noise so harmonious
a pleasure so free
a sound so shine
a freedom so defiant
a smile so treasured
a memory so sacred
a river so rich
a grace so endless
a redemption so beautiful
a womb so unburdened
a body so unbroken
a surrender so glorious
a forgiveness so tender
a gratitude so holy
a solitude so restorative
a sweat so sacred
a stillness so empowering
a bone so shared
a wisdom so within
a wisdom so expansive
a communion so vast
a pink so open
a sensing so wondrous
a pussy so willing
a joy so earned
a secret so known
a vulnerability so noble
an embrace so freeing
an idea so grand
a sisterhood so rich
a friendship so real, deep and unwavering
a shared laugh so deep and long
a laughter so divine
a child so adored
a kinship so rare
a community so whole
a lover so mine
a love so free
a lineage so strong
a gathering so on time
a moon so full
a toni so divine
a toni so beloved
a webinar so visionary
an Ancestree so strong
a future so now
a now so ours
an us so beautiful
an us so ours