Ramadan Mubarak! Blessed Month of Ramadan! Happy International Jazz Heritage Month. Happy International Poetry Month.
African American Museum and Library@ Oakland, Program
Return of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, Friday, April 22, 2022,4:00 PM – 5:00 PM. Free online event
Description
Chief Priest Osemwegie Ebohon—historian, journalist, poet, and playwright—is a chief priest in the spiritual traditions of the Edo people in Benin, Nigeria, West Africa. Since the 1970s, the priest—a founder of the Ebohon Cultural Center in Benin—has worked tirelessly for the return of the world famous Benin bronzes and carved ivory works of art plundered during the late nineteenth century punitive invasion by British armed forces.
Chief Priest Ebohon will discuss the punitive invasion and theft of the art, disclose where the Benin bronzes settled in European and American museums, and detail the diplomatic efforts underway to affect their repatriation to Nigeria.
Mental Health Support for Black Families
A Conversation with Quincy Troupe on Wanda’s Picks Radio Show
An Interview with Mr. Quincy Troupe
By Wanda Sabir
I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Quincy Troupe at the end of March. I wondered as I always do, what could we talk about. The man is both a scholar and a performance artist who has probably heard anything I could possibly suggest we discuss. Nonetheless, I took a breath—did my due diligence regarding his new work, “Duende: Poems, 1966-Now” (2022). I read much of the work and made sure I touched all of the pages with my eyes. And the conversation was wonderful. I kept hearing surprise and delight in Mr. Troupe’s voice. I even asked him a question or made a comment on a motif he has—using “eye” for “I”, he’d never heard addressed before.
This was, by far, a highlight of my humble year so far and I hope when you listen to the conversation and later, when you watch it, the magic comes through. Visit Wanda’s Picks Radio, April 13, 2022 (http://tobtr.com/12085435). Follow me and this site, so you never miss an episode.
“Duende: Poems, 1966-Now” (2022) by Quincy Troupe is amazing! His work stylistically is so varied. I found it had to read without savory breaks to sit in the work, splashing the images and sounds, tasting the specificity of spoken language—the work anchored in Black space, memories – crabs walking sideways, haints or spirits living on ocean floors where dry bones.
“In Duende: Poems, 1966-Now” just out on Seven Stories Press this year, Quincy Troupe fuses Black liberation love songs into a civil critique that forgets nothing as it queries everything. Using language like graphite on canvas, Troupe crafts work that recasts what seamed holy. Stitches unraveled, candles relit, lightbulbs left unscrewed—this survey of old and new work reminds his audience of what we—Black people left behind, how much of what we are is creative invention and grace.
Duende documents this amazing journey, Troupe both example and guide. His life is our life too. We all come from the same waters–
Excerpted here are: Embryo (1972), Snake-Back Solos: Selected Poems, 1969-1977, Skulls along the River (1984), Weather Reports: New Poems, 1984-1990; Choruses (1999); Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems (2002); The Architecture of Language (2006); Erranꞔities (2012); Ghost Voices: A Poem in Prayer (2019); Seduction: New Poems (2013-2018); New Poems 2019-2020.
Don’t be intimidated by the 656 pages. Just take it one poem at a time. There are praise songs for ancestors Kobe Bryant, Aretha Franklin, Derek Walcott, Toni Morrison . . . Sekou Sundiata, Michael Jackson; tributes to John Coltrane, Lady Day and Dinah Washington, A Dirge for Mike Brown, Tamir Rice & Trayvon Martin (527). He also writes about family, loved ones, friends. The collection opens with “Embryo” for his mother Dorothy Smith Troupe Marshall (22).
Themes traverse the work—alienation and reunion, memory and recreation— ancestors, politics—spirit a connecting tissue that keeps the wayward bound, safe. There is a poem about President Biden, Senator Nancy Pelosi, and many that mention President Obama. The locations for the stories or poems move and shift between California and New York, Ghana and Guadeloupe.
We ride the subways. . . sit on beaches, walk through busy city streets, listen to music travel into the interior spaces in matters of the heart. Several poems are to his wife Margaret. How many collections do you own where a Black man honors his wife?
Musicality is present in all the work—sung easily in the longer pieces which fly on wings of black birds without punctuation. Eyes travel slowly so we don’t get kicked off the boat or out of the crowded van. We make notes to return later, these notes in the margins on pages where we read a word we don’t know or can’t pronounce. Is this a Troupe creation, we wonder as we continue to the next word, give up and take a Google break.
Troupe is erudite. Brilliant. One wonders how he writes so well and so prolifically?
My favorite sections so far are those with haunting imagery—the sections that have a soundtrack, the poems I hear waves crashing and birds calling, circling diving. I appreciate the longer work that acknowledges the wounding and the scars Black people carry. Love is what has saved us and it is visible in the art the words illustrate, along with actual illustrations. “Duende” is a magical Black love story. The ending is happy, despite the tragedy, despite the horror.
Troupe walks sings dances us through the history that is our story in this experiment called America. He doesn’t tell us to watch out; he tells us to listen and follow the rhythms into those spaces we know only when we arrive.
It is a beautiful work, the man is a genius, a brilliant conjurer who has honed his craft well— “Duende” a sample that with each moment past becomes out of date. Yet, truth is never dated so neither is this master conjurer who calls on the spirit world to ride with him into these spaces we visit too seldom. Here the memories are freshest, medicine assured to cure. Troupe’s libation freshens the road. It is a Black magic star home.
A Southerner, born July 22, 1939, in St. Louis, Missouri, Troupe’s muse plays bass, sings tenor and wears blues. . . . The recipient of numerous awards, the scholar, poet, teacher – retired after 35 years at University of San Diego, La Jolla, now lives in Harlem with his wife Margaret Porter Troupe. He has an event at the NY Library April 28, 2022, for National Poetry Month. It is in person and online. Register in advance.
There was a Black History Month 2022 program at African American Center at SF Main Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdS4V2g9TDY
Other QT programs April 2022:
Note: We spoke to Quincy Troupe, author, poet, about his latest work, “Duende.” It is a collection that spans 50 years of a creative life fully embodied. Taped in Zoom, this audio only approximates the honor it is to speak to such a magnificent human being 3 months before his 83rd revolution around so(u)l.
He has a few more appearances this month:
1. National Poetry Month: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NY Public Library, Iris Project, Thursday, April 14, 6:30-8:30 PM ET. Here is the recorded program:
2. With Mildred Howard and David Murray at the close of the “The House that Will Not Pass for Any Color than Its Own.” Saturday, April 16, from 4 to 6pm at Belvedere Plaza (just north of the North Cove Marina) to mark the end of the artwork’s stay in Manhattan’s Battery Park City.
3. Poet, Quincy Troupe | DUENDE: Poems 1966- Now | Reading & Book Signing at the Carrie Chen Gallery on Saturday, April 23 from 4-5pm, 16 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230
4. NY Society Library, Apr. 28, 6 PM ET Livestream (free)
https://www.nysoclib.org/events/livestream-quincy-troupe-duende-poems-1966-now
Bay Area Women’s Theatre Mini-Festival through May 2022
Listen to an interview with Alejandra Maria Rivas and Tracy Baxter with Kathryn Seabron on Wanda’s Picks, April 8, 2022.
Face Coverings Now Voluntary for Riders on AC Transit
AC Transit will implement a voluntary face mask policy effective Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Riders will now have the option of wearing a face covering while onboard our buses.
We do still strongly encourage everyone to follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which recommends that transit riders wear face coverings.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) dispensers at the entrance of each bus will continue to have complimentary, disposable face masks and hand sanitizer available for the convenience of our riders.
Please visit our website, or contact us directly for more information, questions or comments:
- Connect on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
- Submit feedback using the AC Transit Official Mobile App
- Call our Customer Services Center at (510) 891-4777
Your health and safety are always our priority. Thank you for riding AC Transit.
Music
Tribute to Founding Member of the Watts Writers Workshop
In 1965, Los Angeles burned. Watts, located on the outskirts of the city simmered in unrest. From the ashes of this rebellion, a writing workshop formed, run by a screenwriter who wanted to make a difference, Budd Schulberg. Budd, a Hollywood big-shot, drove to Watts and taped a note on a door announcing a workshop had formed. At first, no one came. Then a straggler peeked inside. Within the Douglass House on Beach Street, a high school kid decided to give it a shot. Leumas Sirrah took the workshop and then told his friend, bringing with him Johnie Scott.
“The Watts Writers Workshop allowed us to voice what urban Black America was thinking, feeling and seeing. Before that, no one was listening,” Scott said.
The workshop became the spot, a literary broiler-plate for ideas and passion and part-time home for a few poets who had no place to go. In no time, the notoriety of these Watts writers soared. Strong, vibrant and prolific, unapologetically black, these poets went from unknown to international fame, summoning greats like Sidney Portier and Senator Robert Kennedy. Sammy Davis came through so did actor Marlon Brando, as well Richard Roundtree, Nina Simone and James Baldwin to list a few. The Workshop produced numerous novels, poems, essays and plays including their own publications, From the Ashes of Watts, and WATTS Poets & Writers edited by Quincy Troupe. It also had a national performance on television on NBC and received a National Endowment of the Art award.
“The NEA provided tremendous assistance, no question about it.” Schulberg said.
“Sammy Davis gave us money, we grew into our own entity,” Leamus Sirrah added. “I discovered I liked poetry. I wrote one or two poems a day.”
The workshop grew from two to fourteen members then more including; Harry Dolan, James Jackson, Sonora McKeller, Birdell Chew Moore, Guadelupe de Saavedra, Ryan Vallejo Kennedy, Ernest Mayhand, Jimmie Sherman, Jeanne Taylor, and My Daddy Was A Numbers Runner, Louise Meriwether and Blossom Powe and later, writer Wanda Coleman.
“Mother was prolific,” Mario Powe said of his mom, Blossom Powe. “It was a thrill seeing her read and perform on tv.”
As one of the last members, Kamau Daaood orchestrated the workshops continuum at The World Stage, a storefront in Leimert Park founded by the acclaimed Horace Tapscott. Kamau, who attended the Watts Writers Workshop at its satellite location on Slauson and West remembers it being run by Elvie Whitney Landauer.
“Whitney was a playwright, she was supposed to do a play at Dorothy Chandler, but at the very last minute they pulled it.”
The Watts Writers Workshop had its own plug pulled the night it was torched in a similar style as Judas and the Black Messiah. As some say, “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust.”
But the dust has not settled on these fiery wordsmiths. In a tribute to a former member, Ojenke remembers Eric Priestley well. “I was walking down the street and heard piano playing inside a building, a mix of Rachmaninoff with jazz motifs. That’s how I discovered the workshop. Eric’s piano playing pulled me in.” The two pianists learned they also shared birthdays with Beethoven and Bach.
Eric wrote Abracadabra and Raw Dog, screenplays, essays and poems and was a member of The Writers Guild. But his greatest talent was his ability to cheer other writers on. Not just his friends, and Eric had many but also novice writers in the countless writing gigs he lead throughout the city, including Antioch, Dominguez Hills and CSUN and a long stint overseas in China.
On Saturday, April 9th 2022 at 2pm via zoom there will be a tribute to Eric Priestley. Original workshop members will honor their friend in a reading. To sing Priestley home brings a historical convergence of talent. Five original Watts Writers Workshop members will share work and stories including Alvin “Ojenke” Saxon, whose poetry charmed Bob Marley; Anthony “Amde” Hamilton who formed the poetry trio, The Watts Prophets; Quincy Troupe, who penned, Miles & Me and the Watts to Harvard scholar, Johni Scott. The show will include a call-in from the first member Leumas Sirrah and the last member, Kamuu Daood.
Starting the show will be a drumming sequence by Louis Harris and Jai-Jai-Kabasa. Closing the show will be remarks from women writers who bid the bard Eric farewell; Los Angeles Times writer, Erin Aubrey, poets Wendy “Tchise” James and Houston Blue. The show is hosted by David Maruyama, professor at Compton College and poet/novelist Pam Ward.
Poetry for the People Tackle Environmental Justice
Black Literature vs. The Climate Emergency celebrates the power of Afro-Diasporic fiction, non-fiction and poetry at the forefront of addressing the climate emergency by featuring contemporary Black authors from the US, Africa and throughout the African Diaspora whose work directly addresses these issues. Streamed via YouTube on Tuesday, April 5th, from 12PM-6PM Pacific Time/3PM-9PM Eastern Time, the event invites an escalation of literary efforts to document and imagine a successful movement for climate justice, as well as encouraging the engagement of Black communities. TO WATCH
Honoring the Waters of the Planet
Listen to a Radio Show interview with Yeye Teish on Wanda’s Picks.
Olokun Rising Full Ritual Schedule
From Yeye Teish:
Alafia good people:
This document is provided to suggest the many ways that you and your community can participate in the Olokun Rising: Praise-singing for the Waters of the World. Please alter these recommendations to suit your needs, resources, time zones etc.
Important: There is NO FEE for participating in this ritual. Your only costs are altar offerings for the ancestors/Orishas/Deities, meals, transportation, shopping, or entertainment during “open times.”
It can be done in a group or all alone. It is open to all people of all traditions, everywhere.
Please go to the water source nearest you or as directed by your ancestors and intuition.
Please observe the protocols regarding COVID, mobility issues, safety, and other factors impacting your life. The Harbor Masters have the responsibility and authority to guide and direct community activities.
Friends and members of Ile Orunmila Oshun can/will gather in Oakland, Ca. but traveling to Oakland is not necessary. Living accommodations will be provided for those who come. If you are coming to Oakland and need a place to stay please let me know ASAP.
The following ZOOM link is available from April 8, 9:00 am Pacific Time until 8:00 pm Pacific Time on April 12th. Please put this information in your calendar now so you can “tune in” as you need to.
Here is the link with the meeting ID, the passcode, and phone numbers.
Luisah Teish is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87681984932?pwd=N1ZLMFJNRElMalpmVEJtTjU2TGNLZz09
Meeting ID: 876 8198 4932
Passcode: 798242
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kIwzCrhQD
Those who are coming from out of town and/or scheduled to receive divinations/elevations should come into Oakland early on the 8th. We will make transportation arrangements to our meeting place. The location will be revealed to those who are coming. Please come prepared for the baths, divinations, and elevations you are to receive. Instructions will be sent as needed.
Spiritual Elevations: 12:00-5:00
Divinations
Elekes
Addimu Orishas
Dinner 6:00-7:30: We may cook at the facility or eat at a local restaurant.
Sacred Space/Meditation 8:00-10:00 pm
Ceremonial White Clothes are Required for this ritual.
Overview of the weekend-Yeye & Kelly
The Elevation of the Ancestors will take place at Oyanike botanica 2988 Adeline St. @ Ashby, Berkeley 94703
Set altar for the Water Spirits.- Please build an altar with photos/objects for the water deities/creatures/land masses. Make it powerful, beautiful, and safe
Ancestors beneath the water. A list of the ancestors who have died by water (Ex. The middle passage. Pirate ships, migrants, flood/tsunami etc.)
Crystal bowl, bells, and candle meditation. Place water and candles on the altar, ring bells, hum, cry, moan, as your spirit guides. Relax, release, go inward. Includes a head cleansing. Candles may be purchased at the botanica.
Recording of Mojuba Fe Fe Iku by Elaina.
Dream totem assignment- Understanding the planet Neptune-Kelly Beard, Resident Astrologer.
To bed: At your residence
Morning Meditation-Exercise 6:00-8:00 (optional)
Time to wake-up, exercise, meditate, or walk in the garden. Whatever it takes to energize yourself for the day. Time to cook and eat breakfast.
Shrine visit -9:00-10:00
Salutations to the shrines/altars of the Harbor Masters. We will present offerings to the Olokun Shrine of Iya Nedra in Oakland.
Ceremonial White Clothes are Required for this ritual.
The Day the Sea stood still 10:00 am-12 noon
An educational presentation on the conditions of the waters of the world. YouTube videos. Review in advance. Please tailor these recommendations to address your concerns. Oakland location to be determined.
(See Appendice A):
Lunch 12:00-1:00 As you please.
Journey to a local water source 1:00 am-4:00 pm
Please carpool to the river, ocean, lake. Or go to easy locations including park fountains, swimming pools and your kitchen sink.
Apology to the Water Spirits:
Teish will write this with input from other priestesses. (See Appendice B)
A plea for salvation.-individual and collective prayer/song (See Appendice C)
A litany for each person, community, and for the planet.
Performed at various locations.
People are participating all over the world.
Dinner 5:00-7:00 pm. As you please. Free time.
Words Across the Water 7:00-9:00 pm
Colorful clothing welcomed.Please avoid wearing black.
Oyanike’s botanica. 2988 Adeline St. @ Ashby Berkeley 94703
Praise-singing the Water
Drumming and Dance before the altar- Bring your instruments
Hope and Makeshift Orchestra
Storytelling, dramatic readings.
Recorded Chant for Oshun by Brazilian musician.
Multi-traditional presentations. The Many Mermaids of the World-group sharing.
Olokun-Iya Ohen- Nedra Williams
Yemaya- Iya Cathy royal
Mami-Wata- TBA
Hawaiian perspective-Leilani
-Kemetic
Native American perspective
Mayan Water worker
Wicca-Celtic
Hindu
** We need people who are willing/able to praise-sing more of the water spirits.
10:00 PM Rest, relaxation-sleep.
Sunday 10th:Brunch 11:00-1:00 pm. Oakland location to be determined
Commitment to Sacred Waters-. Each person is asked the think about what they can do to protect and celebrate water. We will take oaths (See Appendice D)
Future plans for sustainable actions-Yeye & Kelly
Ritual Recommendations for April 12th (Neptune-Jupiter)
Altar deconstruction. 1:00-5:00
Closing song
Shopping
Sight-seeing
Departures
If needed, we can continue to perform divinations and elevations.
Receive elekes, addimu Orishas, divinations.
Location to be determined.
Tuesday, 12th
Embodying the Jupiter-Neptune energy.
This ritual will be performed at your own altar as per Kelly’s recommendations.
Saturday 16th: Full Moon in Libra
Ritual as recommended by Yeye and Kelly or other priest/astrologer.
Appendice A: Educational materials. YouTube videos. Recommended readings.
Climate Change Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAa58N4Jlos&ab_channel=DJICaptures
A world without Ice:
Climate change and floods:
Hurricanes:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aeog_6CLAUE?&ab_channel=JoyChannel
Tsunami:
California Tsunami:
Pollution:
Polluted Ocean:
Human Harms
**Human harms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_s6eOPqg-c&ab_channel=EcoBravo
Pollution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX2vHu_IqZ8&ab_channel=List25
Drought: Hunger
California droughts:
Water usage:
Fracking:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1zagvo75RJo?&ab_channel=SenatorBernieSanders
Contamination:
Activism:
Water distribution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcteL7-0-74&ab_channel=MooMooMathandScience
Flint Michigan:
Water Protectors:
Sacred Waters:
Water Walking:
Sacred Water rituals:
Water Deities:
Africa:
Ghana:
Black women Deep Sea Divers:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/Konda+Mason/FMfcgzGmvTstNHbgjddRmWDfPrSSgtss?projector=1
The Water Tree:
World Water Council: https://www.worldwatercouncil.org/en
World Water Day: https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day
Water Poems: https://interestingliterature.com/2018/03/10-of-the-best-poems-about-water/
Our Blue Planet-David: https://interestingliterature.com/2018/03/10-of-the-best-poems-about-water/
More recommendations.
Jeju Korea: Water women.
Jeju:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPCsdGHwe7w&ab_channel=Dr.NancyMcClure-Galli
Appendice B: Apology to the Waters:
Stand before the water source. Feel the energy of the earth rising up into your feet and that of the sky raining down upon you. Let those energies meet in your heart and flow across your chest into your hands. Remember your life -long relationship to water.
Sample:
I _______________________come before this water today to ask forgiveness on behalf of myself, my family, my community, and the people of the world.
Please forgive me for _____________________________________________name it. For this I ask forgiveness.
Please forgive my family for _______________________________________name it. For this we ask forgiveness.
Please forgive my community for __________________________________name it. I ask on their behalf please forgive us.
Please forgive the people of this earth who have injured you in these ways_______________
__________________________________________________________Name the ways. On behalf of all of us I beg forgiveness.
Note: Allow yourself to truly feel this release and think now about your commitment to future action.
Appendice C: Plea to the Waters:
Present your offerings of fruit, flowers, grain, coins, shells etc to the water source.
You may stand with head bowed or sit on the shore. You may want to take some water in hand, wash your head, face, feet etc. Speak from your heart. Example:
“Oh most sacred element WATER. You whom we cannot live without. I/we come to you humbly and with great gratitude for all that you have provided for us, forever. We beg you please continue to ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name the blessing your receive from water. Let the feeling of gratitude flow. Laugh, sing, whatever.
Appendice D. Oath to the Waters
Take time to consider this oath. Commit to performing a simple act to praise and protect the waters of the world. Sign the oath. Example:
I, _______________________________________child of ____________________________. I vow to do no harm and yet even to make each place whereon I walk better for my having been there.
I do hereby commit myself to praise and protect the flowing waters of the earth by performing the following acts:
Name your personal act.________________________________________________________
Name your family act.___________________________________________________________
Name your act on behalf of community____________________________________________
Name your act on behalf of the world.____________________________________________
I ask the elders, the ancestors, and the Water Spirits to guide me in Right Conduct as I fulfill my commitment and devotion to Mother Earth and all Her Children.
I sign this oath with full awareness of its importance and its power.
Name:____________________________Birthdate_______________________Seal________
(Seal: Press the tallest finger on your left hand into some oil and press it next to your signature) Place this oath on your altar.