{"id":176433620,"date":"2014-03-10T01:56:13","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T06:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/?p=176433620"},"modified":"2014-03-10T01:56:13","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T06:56:13","slug":"poetry-the-past-predicts-the-future-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/2014\/03\/10\/poetry-the-past-predicts-the-future-2\/","title":{"rendered":"POETRY: THE PAST PREDICTS THE FUTURE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"photo<\/a>

photo by Alex Lear<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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the past predicts the future<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(for narvalee)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

when you get closer to yr relatives<\/span><\/p>\n

you will be surprised<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

at how black they are,<\/span><\/p>\n

they feel<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the fit and familiarity of their emotions in the twilight<\/span><\/p>\n

how much of your pain they understand<\/span><\/p>\n

with a knowing smile, and how much of their pain<\/span><\/p>\n

you never knew, thus you frown<\/span><\/p>\n

embarassed by your ignorance<\/span><\/p>\n

and turn to yester-world<\/span><\/p>\n

altared on the mantle piece:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ancestral photographs, amazingly graceful figures<\/span><\/p>\n

whose dominant features are boldly ironic eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

which seemingly float effortlessly just above the surface<\/span><\/p>\n

of the cream colored paper, inscriptions in unfading black ink<\/span><\/p>\n

on the reverse “me & shane, dec. 1934”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a small, soft purple, velvet box enshrining a plain gold ring<\/span><\/p>\n

a slip of torn paper from another era unthrown-away<\/span><\/p>\n

seven quickly scribbled numerals, the abacadabra key<\/span><\/p>\n

to a birth, a midnight move to another town, or even<\/span><\/p>\n

a pledge cut short by accidental death, “oh, it’s just a number,”<\/span><\/p>\n

the slow, quiet response to your investigation<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

so you pick up a pencil gilded with the name of a 1947 religious<\/span><\/p>\n

convention attended and delicately place it down beside<\/span><\/p>\n

an 87-year-old hand mirror (you resist the impulse<\/span><\/p>\n

to look at your reflection, afraid that you might see<\/span><\/p>\n

unfulfilled family aspirations), this mirror is atop<\/span><\/p>\n

a piece of lace, pressed, folded, ancient matriarchal adornment<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

you will be surprised to learn,<\/span><\/p>\n

as the years go on, everything<\/span><\/p>\n

your people say sounds like something<\/span><\/p>\n

from your life story, something<\/span><\/p>\n

you wondered about sitting in the car<\/span><\/p>\n

the other day in the hospital parking lot before the visit,<\/span><\/p>\n

before the treatment<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

especially if you are intelligent<\/span><\/p>\n

paid more than $10 an hour<\/span><\/p>\n

carry credit cards rather than cash<\/span><\/p>\n

and climb aboard a flying machine more than three times a year<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

you will be surprised that although you live in some other city<\/span><\/p>\n

there is a spot with your familial name<\/span><\/p>\n

blind embossed and hand engraved in the heart-home<\/span><\/p>\n

of people you seldom see, surprised<\/span><\/p>\n

that much of your life had already been accurately predicted<\/span><\/p>\n

by an aunt who knew you before you were born, i.e.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

when your mother<\/span><\/p>\n

and father were courting, staying out later than curfew<\/span><\/p>\n

and clutching dreams tightly in the naked embrace<\/span><\/p>\n

of yr conception<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2014kalamu ya salaam<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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        the past predicts the future \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(for narvalee) \u00a0 \u00a0 when you get closer to yr relatives you will be surprised \u00a0 at how black they are, they feel \u00a0 the fit and familiarity of their emotions in the twilight how much of your pain they understand with a knowing smile, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[6],"tags":[4,12,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176433620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176433620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176433620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176433622,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176433620\/revisions\/176433622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176433620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176433620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176433620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}