black history/futures: learning to read the family tree
02 Feb 2019i felt so much like drowning that i gasped for air.
when i was younger, i would sink into the tree for fun or to feel safe or to daydream my parents or grandparents daydreams. but now that i was coming of age, sinking in the tree took on a whole new light.
when someone returned to the spirit realm from the world of the living, their memories were recorded in the family free. i still don’t fully understand how burying people in our family grave makes that happen, but it does.
as people in our family aged, our ability to read the tree improved. now that i was seeing all the threads between family members, the community, society, the planet, and the stars, i can see why the young are protected from this.
as i sank my filaments into the base of our tree, i saw all the threads. all of them. commence the drowning sensation.
my mother ran out to the backyard.
“little one, what are you doing?!”
and then she stared at me, jaw hanging. she swallowed hard, recovered her composure, and stood up as tall as i’d ever seen her stand.
“i see. well then, i guess it’s time. i will summon the council.”
words / writing / post-processing
208w / 10min / 5min