Ogu’s Sword & Brathwaite’s Pen
I can scarcely recall
the time
the context
when in conversation
we spoke about Brathwaite
Bel Bagay
Rachel liked to say
expression of admiration
recognition of fierceness
surrendering to deference
Bel Bagay
bel meaning beautiful
bagay means thing
when she uttered these two words
in rapid succession they became one
Belbagay
no longer qualification of thing
only beauty
Cutting through dense air swiftly
precisely like a sword
he wielded his pen
expert marksman
They were comrades in arms
who spoke only in parables
they had been trained
on the battlefield en tandem
often swapping their instruments
for survival was imperative &
death was never an option
Belbagay
no longer qualification of thing
only beauty
Go open the gates
He had been told
Go open the gates
Go open the gates
Scripting cursives on parchment lightly
intently like a pen
he brandished his sword
expert wordsmith
Blood brothers in warfare
one absorbed the gash
the other bore the scars
time traveling spirits sustain
wounds in this land of mortals
for survival was imperative &
death was never an option
Go open the gates
Go open the gates
He had been told
Go open the gates
I can scarcely recall
the time
the context
when he was sent forth
with whispers of directives
Go open the gates
Go open the gates
Go open the gates
Belbagay
no longer qualification of thing
Only Beauty
Gina Athena Ulysse is a feminist artist-anthropologist-activist and self-described post-Zora interventionist. Her performance work lies at the intersections of geopolitics, historical representations, and the dailiness of black diasporic conditions. Her artistic projects include Because When God Is Too Busy: Haiti, me & THE WORLD, a collection of photographs, performance texts, and poetry; and the avant-garde VooDooDoll: What if Haiti Were A Woman; On Ti Travay Sou 21 Pwen or an Alter(ed)native in Something Other Than Fiction; and BlackLiberationMashUp. Her newest work, “Remixed Ode to Rebel’s Spirit” has in conversation with ghosts at the British Museum. A widely published author, she is a professor of anthropology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.