The Ancestral Dust Cloud
A poem about the Saharan dust cloud and African Ancestors
Prologue:
I am intrigued by the enormous Saharan dust plume that’s entering the southern United States this weekend. According to the Weather Channel, this particular plum is one of the thickest ever seen. True Saharan Dust arrives in the USA every year but never of this size and thickness.
This dust cloud, to me, represents the millions of African slaves who toiled in the south to build the wealth of this nation. Each particle of dust comes from the homeland of my ancestors. This poem is for the ones who jumped ship into the Atlantic to be free on the waves instead of bondage under the lash.
An African Dust cloud is coming
laced with the DNA of my ancestors
Marching over the deadly graveyard
The middle passage
Wrapping the sun in brilliance
Darkening the skies where slaves once toiled
Dust particles transport stories
Mansa Musa glitters in brilliance
Gold drops from majestic and mighty fingers
Hannibal sits on an elephant in the haze
