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Illustration by John Kendall Hawkins

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Sonnet: Matunda Ya Kwanza

Every day should be Kwanzaa, you ask me,
given our shared African heritage,
way back to Kubrick’s ape man water hole
to that pop song Africa by Toto;
in the 70s it was all the rage
to rasta toke to Haille Selassie.
Early evolution, Serengeti,
cultural anthropology lessons,
Lucy bones and the Mbuti pygmies
Paul Simon “Diamonds on the Soles of Trees” —
or some shit, Pryor’s whitey impressions;
mofo fires lit by some privileged yeti…
Dunno. If George Floyd taught us anything,
it’s that we need CRT badly, bring.

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Matunda Ya Kwanza = first fruits

During this holiday, seven candles are lighted and people place seven symbols around their home: umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith).

[h/t International Students Office – MIT].

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John Kendall Hawkins is an American freelance writer currently residing in Australia. His poetry, commentary and reviews have appeared in publications in Oceania, Europe, and the US. He is a regular contributor to Counterpunch magazine. He is a former winner of the Academy of American Poets prize. He’s working on a novel.

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Click here to read John Kendall Hawkins’ interview with Dr. James Henry Harris, author of  N: My Encounter with Racism and the Forbidden Word in an American Classic

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