Chambered Nautilus

"Stand up," she said.

Actor, singer Gwyn Mackenzie reads a poem from the book and podcast, Mercury's Wake [https://pod.co/mercurys-wake].

Julia Fulton shares Trapped in Heaven

Actor/writer/director, Julia Fulton [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Fulton] reads her poem, Trapped in Heaven.

Roi Kwabena's DEEP OBEAH

Celebrating the memory of the author of Deep Obeah, Dr. Roi Kwabena. He was a cultural anthropologist [http://nefertamu.tripod.com/poet.html], but not an academic. His work was done entirely outside of the walls of academia, a form of cultural activism that inspired others who—even without a degree in anthropology—began to call themselves anthropologists nonetheless. He was an artist, a musician, a poet, a teacher, an essayist, a researcher, a publisher, and for a while a politician as well. What distinguishes Roi Kwabena ....was his combination of art and analysis, culture and politics, publication and public engagement, in the service of a committed critique of imperialism and neo-colonialism. A man from “the periphery,” he operated across the periphery and the centre. ---Professor Maximilian C. Forte from Zero Anthropology [http://openanthropology.org/roi-kwabena.htm] My thanks to Professor Maximilian Forte for permission to share Dr. Kwabena's words and music, they are powerful.

I've Known Rivers - Langston Hughes read by Anindo Marshall

Kenyan–American, master teacher of Dunham Technique, percussionist, and composer, Anindo Marshall [https://werglobal.show/anindo-marshall/], reads Langston Hughes seminal ode and witness to the history of humankind from the beginning of civilisation through the eyes of the Blacks experience. As Charlotte Stevenson wrote in the online magazine for York St John University, "Words Matter," (https://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/englishlit/black-history-month-ive-known-rivers-langston-hughes/) "What Hughes stresses is the need for that ‘flow of human blood in human veins’, all of those voices who have remained in silence, to persevere in being heard no matter what it takes. That straightforward honesty is vital to the thoughts he shaped and put out into the world to make positive change." The river represents a meaningful, traumatic, and hopeful reflection.

Danse Africaine – Langston Hughes read by Bridget Graham

Los Angeles vocalist, songwriter, and multi-media performer, Bridget Graham [https://werglobal.show/bridget-graham/] performs "Danse Africaine" by the great Black American poet, Langston Hughes. "Danse Africaine" is an early poem of Hughes (1901–1967). His poetry reflected on Black awareness, African roots, while exploring the lyrical connection between music and poetry.