Embark on Fawohodie

Lashia Bowers, MA, LPC, ADC
Clemson University

______

A poem about realizing freedom through transformation.

I went to the ocean

to get energy from my ancestors

MISeducation etched MISinformation in my wave lengths

having me thinking that my bloodline started on a ship

While the world goes through the motion

To eradicate racist systems (as if this were the first riot)

I must dig deeper

realizing the system was developed on the idea of my submission

Things fall apart leading to abolition

To proverbial jump-ship

we follow the rhythms of war drums

holding our hands up and marching (two by two) in acquiescence is no longer enough

They Shootin’

It is time to lift our eyes to volition

To see the knife in their outstretched arms, the Judas in the kiss

weaponize resistance as a form of mental healthcare

singing in litany against this mental/physical/spiritual warfare

I am Born FREE

We will continue the UPRISING

I have every human in my DNA

We have the power

I will not rest until

We embark on Fawohodie

Then, with my fist held high and my mind’s eye

To sea the endarkening of the future

From EMPIRES to arks: arks to EMPIRES

centering in the motherland

no wahala

fathom this

we survived

the flood

let’s manifest

our world/the fire/the uprooting/our world

R