Afrobeat Journal Issue 2 : Spring 2011

by Donna Aza Weir-Soley

My beauty was never the common beauty of the pampered whore
Whoever seeks such beauty deserves whatever weakness that he finds.
Tepid and tasteless like watered down coffee.

My beauty is my strength
My strength is my beauty
My steady gaze,
broad back and
uncommon grace
these will endure past time
and beyond history.
I am Ayiti,
Africa transplanted to the Caribbean
I was here from the beginning
I will endure.

I am blackness uncompromised
Original blessing and original sin
I am the pure white of forked lightning
I speak with a forked tongue
I am Eden before the fall
I am Paradise after the fall
I am the venom and the wisdom of the snake-god
the treachery of the serpent and
the transforming colors of the rainbow.

I am woman blessed and cursed
I give life and I take life
I am the mother of them that bless me
And the mother of them that curse me
I am Freda and I am Dantor
I give birth to the favored
I give birth to the despised
I am Africa, transplanted to the Caribbean
I was here from the beginning
I will endure.

I am your wealth and your poverty
I am your glory and your disgrace
I am your fierce courage
I am your shameless cowardice
I am your strong black manhood,
I am your proud African womanhood,
I am your dignity and your vulnerability
I am an untouched well of Black diamond
Seething deep beneath your surface
Waiting for you to find me
To see me, to claim me, to finally know me.

My beauty was never the common beauty of a pampered and petted whore
Whoever seeks such beauty deserves whatever uselessness he finds.
Tepid and tasteless like watered down coffee.
My beauty is so fierce,
so dark, so thick
so ancient, so strong,
you will have to grow new eyes to drink it in.

My beauty is my strength
My strength is my beauty
My steady gaze,
broad back and
uncommon grace
these will endure past time
and beyond history.
I am Ayiti,
Africa transplanted to the Caribbean
I was here from the beginning
I was here from your beginning
I will endure.

Festival of Diwali
Feast of Diwali
Festival of lights, tiny pinpricks of stars

Candles in brown paper bags of sand
Line the walkways of every house on this street

The howling of dogs and the low clicking sounds
night makes, eyes of strange creatures shining in the dark

A feast of burnished, blazing suns

Father, I am coming home to your arms
Mother, I have lost my way

Clouds gather, heavy snow drifts down
The sky is awash in blue streaks of sound

I need your touch like I need sleep
I need you, like I need sunlight and air

Let the night gather itself
Let the dew break in our faces.

Ten thousand pin-pricks of dying stars, a festival of lights.

Who is Donna Aza Weir Soley?

𝒥𝒶𝓂𝒶𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓃 𝒟𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝒜𝓏𝒶 𝒲𝑒𝒾𝓇-𝒮𝑜𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝒸𝑒𝒾𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒫𝒽𝒟 𝒾𝓃 𝐸𝓃𝑔𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒰𝓃𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝒞𝒶𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓃𝒾𝒶, 𝐵𝑒𝓇𝓀𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓎. 𝒮𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝓈𝓈𝑜𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒫𝓇𝑜𝒻𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑜𝓇 𝑜𝒻 𝐸𝓃𝑔𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽, 𝒜𝒻𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 & 𝒜𝒻𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒟𝒾𝒶𝓈𝓅𝑜𝓇𝒶 𝒮𝓉𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒲𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃’𝓈 𝒮𝓉𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓉 𝐹𝓁𝑜𝓇𝒾𝒹𝒶 𝐼𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝒰𝓃𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓎. 𝒜𝓏𝒶 𝒲𝑒𝒾𝓇-𝒮𝑜𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝓅𝒾𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒲𝑜𝑜𝒹𝓇𝑜𝓌 𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝒶𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓇 𝐸𝓃𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝐹𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅.

Books:

First Rain (Peepal Tree Press, 2006)

Eroticism, Spirituality and Resistance In Black Women’s Writings (University Press of Florida, 2009),

Co-editor of Caribbean Erotic: poetry, fiction and essays (Peepal Tree Press, 2010).