Poetry by Fae Wolfe

           barbara w CC



A Ritual for Brown Womxn 

Diasporic journeys have dismantled 
our rituals. Like ashes scattered,
dissolved into seawater,
they have become ungraspable. 

In ritual we reclaim 
that which has been lost, stolen, 
forgotten. With feet bare on ground 
layered in autumnal leaves, 

we encircle a fire of transformation.
Listen closely to fierce yearnings
of unwritten stories. Incessant chattering 
percolated through blood 

and genetic memory,
residing just beneath the surface of skin. 
We chant, calling them in. 
Summon our ancestors in vibrations 

to bring us back together. 
We go back to-get-her
the ancient mothers, wild with herbs,
rich in remedy. 

Buried forest deep in self-discovery. 
Remembering each other is coming home.
Home to body. 
Home to source. 

Home to the profundity of silence 
where we converse in ancient body shapes. 
We blow smoke from white sage, 
set intentions that dance 

behind naked flames. 
We heal from the severance 
of our mother’s tongue,
abandon the memory of languages 

we never spat out. 
And speak instead, in sacred energy. 
We motion acceptance in limbs, 
shaking out their histories from flesh, 

from bone, from deep within. 
Our hands summon one another.
Reach up towards healing 
to hold each other. 

Our tears,
form the oceans that carried us here.
And here we are,
shades of love dancing 

in profound humility.
Here to soak in the magic 
of our melanin,
each of us an equatorial sunset.  

We came here to weave 
all that has been unwoven.
We are the sweetgrass 
to an African Basket,
holding our own stories. 
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Fae is a Dance Artist based in Manchester, U.K. Her work blends poetry and movement to confess the multi-layered narrative of the othered body. She centres her writing around queer identity and experiences of otherness from a mixed heritage perspective. IG: versing_the_body

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