Reveries of Longing

Melissa Kiguwa

Description

Melissa Kiguwa is a blue writer, performer, a social critic, television and radio personality in South Africa. Raised by a Haitian father and a Ugandan mother, Melissa considers herself an afro-diasporic nomad. Migration, imperialism, gender, spirituality, sexuality and capitalism influences much of her work.

Sujets

• Littérature Africaine
• Littérature Africaine
• Poetry

Informations

• Publié par: African Perspectives Publishing
• Date de parution: 04 avril 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• EAN13: 9780992228583
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Reveries of Longing

Reveries of Longing

Melissa Kiguwa

ǁǁǁ͘ĂĨƌŝĐĂŶƉĞƌƐƉĞĐƟǀĞƐ͘ĐŽ͘njĂ

ǁǁǁ͘ĂĨƌŝĐĂŶƉĞƌƐƉĞĐƟǀĞƐ͘ĐŽ͘njĂ

African Perspectives Publishing P.O. Box 9342 Grant Park 2051 Johannesburg, South Africa E mail: [e-mail] Website: www.africanperspectives.co.za Facebook: African Perspectives Publishing

Copyright©Melissa Kiguwa 2014

Cover artist: Olga Lolo

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording, or by any other information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 9780992228538

CONTENTS

Author’s Note

At a Womyn’s Meeting in Phoenix

Hometown Checkpoints

5HÁHFWLRQV LQ WKH &LW\ , Planting Season The Brooklyn Village Womyn Lonely to Destitute Dating 101 ,QVXUJHQW /RYH0DNLQJ Wanderlust Brimstone in the Promised Land Church Politics

5HÁHFWLRQV LQ WKH &LW\ ,,

%XWFK 4XHHQV DW D )XQHUDO

5DLVH WKH 6XQ

1RERG\ 7DONV

$V LI WKH *RGV ZHUH 3OD\LQJ

A Poet’s Prayer

$IUR:DQGHULQJV

9 13 15  21 23 27 29  35 37 39      53 

CONTENTS

On Distance Sense M , 6SHDN D +RO\ *KRVW 5HÁHFWLRQV LQ WKH &LW\ ,,, Forced Penetration ,I , ZHUH WR %ORZ XS WKH (PEDVV\  DP 7R 7UD\YRQ DQG 2VFDU DQG (PPLWW and Him and Him and Him and Him 5HÁHFWLRQV LQ WKH &LW\ ,9 /XVW 7DNH 2YHU +RZ WR /RYH D 5HYROXWLRQDU\ Praise Yoga PTSD 8Q%URNHQ Acknowledgements

57 59 61   69  

79     91 93  97

Author’s Note

I used to love the parable of the reckless son who leaves his father’s wealthy home for the thrill and glamor of the city. In place of the adventure he searches for, he finds utter desolation.

No thrill. No glamor.

In fact, he eats worse than the pigs at his father’s home. The story ends when the son, finally aware of his mistake, returns home and finds a celebratory party to welcome him home. Pigs are slaughtered, wine is ever-flowing – the prodigal son who was once lost is now found.

It would be years before I realized prodigal children do not exist. There is no one waiting on the other side with expectant arms.

Code-switched tongues are heard with suspicion: these tongues both exotic and foreign to those they call their people, their family.

And so, children of migration, displacement, revolution, and diaspora makeshift “home” in dilapidated welfare housing complexes, desert land before borders, in slums, on barrio street corners, and inside camps for refugees and internally displaced persons. These same children look for acceptance in cultural enclaves in the city, in sex, in love, in faith- based communities and shrines, and in majik.

Catharsis in exodus

My prayer is simple: as empire-building shifts and grows, may we who are caught in the crosswires create brave ways of imagining ourselves. May we have the strength to tell our own stories. May we speak in solidarity with each other, to each other. May we love unabashedly and fearlessly. And may we find (or create) for ourselves safety, peace, and home.

9