a man taking names ai / word by rdoc
hello all, i've done multiple drafts of memoir
since i posted outline a post or two back
Instead of a suboutline i decided to use a flash
wisdomwork story for each of the 9 movements
the wisdom works are from my story collection
flashworks and AI graphics, the conjure's tales
many of which mythologize the babajohn
in the manner of the sufi wisdom tale
tradition, which i greatly admire
went to the city yesterday for judy shepherdkings
memorial and tended to the babajohn at evergreens
i tend to his ancestral mythwork
as i tend to his grave, w/love
and devotion, rest easy
babajohn, i got your back
be safe be well
------------------
XI: INVOCATION
Cast your vision, young hoodoo, as far as you
can see. Determine the challenges the tribe
will face. Prepare the tribal soul to meet them.
X2: THE LINE OF O KILLENS
Once upon a time a young Conjure out of the Delta
stumbled upon the Great Griot Master of Brooklyn
at the Crossroads of Working Premises and settled
in for a period of study that eventually stretched 4
months into 16 years. When asked what on earth
did you study for16 years, the High Hoodoo reply:
1st the Babajohn taught us to be griots.
Then he taught us to be visionaries.
X3: THE HOODOO WAY
Not that long ago a poser heaped scorn and a
buse upon the Babajohn to which the Babajohn
replied - Demoja, my friend, Hoodoo Peace.
Disarmed, the stranger walked off confused. How,
asked a trainee, did you handle that so well.
Hoodoo Blessings, the Babajohn reply, I gave
him what I had to give. I hoodooed him.
X4: A MAN OF POWER
So, the Conqueror doing what the Conqueror do,
conquering folk, when the Babajohn pull him aside one
day and said You a powerful force, young conjure, but
with a little compassion you could be profound.
All the Conqueror heard was powerful. Wasn’t till life
humbled him some he realize the old shaman had been
trying to make sure his legacy, as the Babajohn’s student,
would be warm and loving. Not hard and cold. Taking care
of the tribal soul. Thru him. As I will try to do. Thru you
X5: ON TAKING THE HAMMER
Round about midnight on Beale you might see a crooked elder
in a neon lime polyester suit. He will be toting a black leather
briefcase and in that case are contracts and $10 bills. If you
sign over your soul he will give you $10. You be surprised
how many folk sign up. Souls come cheap in Memphis. But I
also been told the Babajohn come across Scratch at that same
Crossroads and ole Scratch offer him a gift. The Babajohn
ask to see the truth of things and poof, Scratch disappeared
X6: THE CALL OF PROPHECY
There is a blind storyteller in the alleyways of Timbuctoo,
old and frail and desperate, mack mack macking up worlds
we have never seen dreams we have never dreamed
and sometimes she stumble, weariness coming hard
down on her, the world to come fading away
until de griot regains both stride and voice and once again
words of power dance up a new world, a new way, the Long
March of the Firstborn, a star faring folk leaping at the sun -
X7: THE HIGH HOODOO OF MEMPHIS
It's Ricydoc’s Traveling Medicine Show.
Whatever ail you I will cure it for sure.
Down at the Traveling Medicine Show
Come on down to the County Line. Brang the
sick, the crippled, the lame and the blind. If I
can’t cure you I will ease your troubled mind.
X8: THE ELDER’S WAY
in the beginning god created humanity, when
humanity became too proud god created death,
when death became too proud god created art
X9: ON ANCESTRAL POSITIONING
It is Nyamoy who speaks for us here. She who brews
beer in the market place where heroes gather. In payment
she takes their myths their tales and weaves them into
a tapestry that exposes the truths beneath the legends.
All who see it are struck blind. Unless of course you
too are a hero. In which case you will see your Fa.
Comments