i am i
& the colour of nite
blending
am I, the nite,
ancient womb
7-tonal jazzriff
alpha & omega
auset & ausar
horus eye
of the blackpearl nite
winking in the deep
glowing in limitless space
i
fire the tonal rhythm of the jazz nite
seeing
hearing
feeling
touching
tasting
being
minding
all that i am
i am i in the womb of day
newborn child of my soul’s eye
piercing the fathomless darkness of manmade arrogance
i am sound
radiating pulse
litning coming as i go
thundering
oya & yemoja
sunjata in sunyata
i am i
in the black
woman
nite
ma’at dancing to shango’s bata
in seven-tonal modulated polyrhythmic scat
in the blues space of my creation
i am i
singing aum
i am i
singing aum mani padme hum . . .
i am i
singing allahu akbar . . .
i am i
singing our father who art in heaven . . .
i am i
singing ibara go mojuba, koni ko se bara go mojuba . . .
i am the testament
& the judgement
the first and final word
i am the colour of nite
blending to colour day’s birth
—sing
New York native Omowalé-Kétu Oladuwa is the son of Carrie and John Taylor, Margaret Fisher and Tyrone Foster, and the cultural student of “Chief” James Hawthorne Béy. Residing now in Indiana, Oladuwa discovered writing and his Afrikan identity on death row, where he began to write himself anew. Married and the father of five, he graduated Fordham University, and the Medill School of Journalism, at Northwestern University, with bachelors and masters degrees. His poem, “a force of nature,” was published in the inaugural edition of the Indianapolis Review. In 2013, he self-published a narrative poem on CD, “a thousand thousand fireflies never equal zero,” in collaboration with Dr. George Kalamaras, and Michael F. Patterson. Two audio chapbooks, “tone poems from an urban baobab,” and “blues dahlia, were released in 2014.” Prior to launching a 382-day, 48-state solo motorcycle sojourn, in the fall of 2015, Oladuwa launched his blog rootfolks poets press http//rootfolks.com. He has read his work at colleges and universities, schools and community centers, museums and other venues throughout the East Coast and Midwest.