The Soultown! Volume IV: Issue 1 JANUARY 2020 | Page 23
The Griot
Susanna Endicott wanted John Indien to teach
me
Some kind of Christian credo—
“‘Je crois en Dieu, le père Tout-Puissant,
Créateur du
Ciel et de la terre…’” Repeat, mon amour, “‘Je
crois en Dieu…’”—
I refused and told John Indien, Listen, my
lover,
“Je n’appartiens pas à la civilisation du Livre
et de la
Haine.” “ I do not belong to the civilization of
the Bible and
Bigotry.”—”The
Bible is an antique Volume.” It is a
Still Life—À la Tête Antique—
Nature morte à la Tête antique—
African masked Spirits led Pablo
Picasso to a brothel on Carrer d’Avinyó—
Les Demoiselles d”Avignon—
Spain’s Barcelona embraced
Racial primitivism.
Je n’appartiens pas à la civilisation du Livre et
de la
Haine.
I belong to the Ancient Traditions of Ubuntu
and Songs.
J’appartiens aux traditions anciennes d’Ubuntu
et chansons.
“Voilà l’histoire de ma vie. Amère. Si amère.”
That is the history of my life. Bitter. And bitter.
It exists, the Song of Tituba. I hear the song of
Tituba across the Island—
Elle “existe, la chanson de Tituba! Je l’entends
d’un
bout à l’autre de l’île.” The other day, I heard a
young boy
Sing it— “L’autre jour, j’ai entendu un garçon
de quatre...ans
la fredonner”:
“Je n’appartiens pas à la civilisation du Livre
et de la
Haine.”
DR. PIERRE MVUYEKURE
The Griot
________
Learn more from
The Griot at:
thesoultown.com
Email Me: [email protected]
Note to the Editor: This poem celebrates the
work of Maryse Condé, especially I, Tituba,
The Black With of Salem, which rehabilitates
Tituba as an Africana Root Worker, not a witch.
I am Dr. Pierre Mvuyekure, Griot for The
Soultown International Magazine. I’d like
to thank the African storytellers for having
SOUL! ,
Jan. 2020 • Immortalizing Our Stories to Implore Positive Progress In Our Communities • thesoultown.com
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