The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 10 OCTOBER 2019

THE GRIOT JUMP FROM PAGE 25 Ishmael Reed, “The Charlie Parker of American Fiction.” In Flight to Canada, a Neo-Slave Narrative--a term coined by Ishmael Reed-- Raven Quickskill wonders about fiction-- “Fiction, you say? Where does Fact begin and fiction leave off?”-- Ishmael Reed saved my Pen Master: Mumbo Jumbo decolonized my Pen Master’s Mind at the University at Buffalo. “Fiction, you say? Mumbo Jumbo became his Cahier d’un retour au pays natal-- Aimé Césaire returned to hi native land-- NEGRITUDE. AFFIRMING BLACKNESS-- From Herman Melville’s Ishmael to Ishmael Reed’s Jes Grew-- “Jes Grew is the delight of the gods”-- He returned to his blackness and Africanité. When my Pen Master leaves his office, I become lonely, anxious, and afraid of ICE. Afraid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will storm the building, Break the wooden door and burst it open, Handcuff me as an Illegal Immigrant--An Alien. Un clandestin--and Deport me back to Rwanda-- When my Pen Master’s brother put me in a DHL Envelope and mailed me to the U.S., I did not receive a U.S. Visa at the port of entry. Who am I now? Am I a U.S. Citizen? My Pen Master is a U.S. Citizen. Am I his child? Am I gonna make it in the cornfields of Ioway? Maybe there is hope: I am a Survivor. Ndi Uwarokotse. I survived the Rwandan Geno/Cide. Queen Bey says “I’m gonna make it.” Note to the Editors: Rarely do we imagine that tragic events such as the Holocaust and Genocide not only affect humans, fauna, and flora, but they also affect inanimate objects. Through personification, this polyglot and multicultural poem explores this issue and more: Survival, Trauma caused by the Rwandan Genocide, Cultural Idenity, Immigration, just to name a few. Through the process the poem pays homage to European, Euro-American, African American, Native American, and Caribbean writers or artists: Virginia Woolf, Herman Melville, Ishmael Reed, Bob Kaufman, Gerald Vizenor, Ray A. Young Bear, Black Hawk, Aimé Césaire, Max Roach, Charlie “Bird” Parker, Beyoncé (Destiny’s Child), and other unnamed Africana storytellers. I am Dr. Pierre Mvuyekure, Griot for The Soultown International Magazine. I’d like to thank the African storytellers for having SOUL! , Oct. 2019 • The Soultown International Magazine • Celebrating 2 years • Connecting Our Cultures to Our Cyber & Conscious Communities • thesoultown.com 27

The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 10 OCTOBER 2019 | Page 27