Lost Letter #1: Phillis Wheatley, Boston, to Susannah Wheatley, Boston*
by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
January 18, 1764
Dear Mistress:
Odysseus sailed the ocean like me
and Nymphs held him in their arms.
They are ladies like my yaay.
[i will burn this letter in the hearth you are
watching me as i smile i am a good girl i am]
I shall practice my lessons for you
and Miss Mary, pretend Master Nathaniel
does not yank my hair and tell me,
he’ll take a razor and shave me bald.
For you, God will scrub my skin—
but when might I see my yaay? I cannot
recall how she would say bird or baby
or potato in that other place.
Yaay needs to see that my teeth grew in,
that I am alive after my long journey.
[yaay come for me please i shall be a good
girl i have forgotten how to be naughty]
Today snow comes down. Outside,
a soul has slipped and fallen on the ice.
That’s what that crying means.
Your servant and child,
Phillis
* The word “yaay” here means “mother” in the Wolof language of Senegal and The Gambia of West Africa.
KISS
Wampum by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Memphis Resurrection by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Dreams of My Father by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
The Gospel of Barbecue by Honorée Fannonne Jeffers
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers / The Prophetess Sojourner Truth Discusses the Two Different Versions of Her Most Well-Known Speech, One Nearly Unknown and One Very Beloved Yet Mostly Untrue
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Chorus of the Mothers-Griot by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Naming Ceremony by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
No comments:
Post a Comment