I Acknowledge and Honor My Humanness
Image of Felicia “Onyi” Richards captured by Jigme Tenzin Salto
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness expressed
Through this particular body sanctioned by [my] Spirit.
Pre incarnation it chose what may appear a limit;
But in every present moment it works with Life’s colors,
As it carves paths for future versions of Me and others
Called, Remember and be who you are…
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness expressed
Through the choices I make, whether they be or be seen
As positive, negative, or the shades of neutral in between;
Deemed right, wrong, or questionable;
Petty, basic or higher vibrational.
Why do we see ourselves as “only human” when we fuck up?
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness expressed
Through the experiences of every personal or collective Ancestor;
By moving in any of the directions, infinitely more than four
As I shapeshift to learn from element(al)s freedom;
Seeing my reflections within all Kingdoms—
Animal, Plant, Mineral…oh how you mirror such vulnerability and trust.
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness expressed
Through what tests once reported is 99.9% African—
Always known to me as Yorùbá, Igbo, or simply (yet not simply) “Nigerian”;
Through my indigenous and nature-like ways of being
Alongside ways not of Nature, according to limited seeing.
But doesn’t it all belong to and come from Earth anyway?
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness expressed
Through all the ways my big beautiful hands create;
In all the movements I permiss my hips to make.
I birth works and worlds of infinite wonder.
I see so much beyond what on the surface people offer.
Oh, you think this is deep? You’ve barely scratched the air above my surface.
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness expressed
Through the vast and unknown depth of emotions I feel.
For much of my life I intellectualized as my way to deal.
The work/play/practice I now get to move through
Is a beautiful balance and aligned spiral between the two.
I am grateful to my Ori, Ìfá, Ọṣun and Ọbatala for transforming my DNA.
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness expressed
Through knowing there is more reverence I can pay.
So much more is unknown for me to say.
I’ll leave this for now, let’s say to be continued.
In writing only this now, my devotion has been renewed:
I resign from dimming my immensity to soothe your anxiety.
I acknowledge and honor my Humanness, expressed
Through all of the bodies that encompass its embodiment:
…Energetic…
…Intellectual…
…Emotional…
…Physical…
I am an infinite being choosing to navigate a finite experience on this version of Earth at this particular time through a body currently labeled “Black” and “Woman” (amongst other things). Given the fuckery people so willingly engage in due to being triggered by the darkness and femaleness within and without, this is one crazy ass choice! Like literally, when destinies, life paths, and lessons were being passed out in the spirit realm pre-incarnation, was mine like “Oooh sign me up for that one right there! That sounds fun”??? And it wasn’t just me cuz A LOT of us have decided to be here!
My goodness!
That is either extreme and mass foolishness or fearlessness.
In considering it all, I really believe it does take a huge amount of courage to wade through the levels of insanity we have collectively created that all boil down to ideas such as: I am not worthy. I don’t get to be here as I am. I am disconnected from [the] All That Is.
In maintaining these beliefs through our unwillingness to face, alchemize, and integrate them, we create and collapse into our suffering, and extend it outwardly in ways that harm everything within and around us.
No one group of people is immune from this behavior. So really, ALL of our spirits are exercising a master level of bravery in being here and working through it ALL.
We ALL are in ALL of this together.
Our Humanness—beyond, within, birthed from the mystery of the unknown—is a gift.
May we see our reflections in each other and in this divine abyss.
From the rich and fertile darkness we ALL come; to the same we ALL return.
Image of Felicia “Onyi” Richards captured by Jigme Tenzin Salto
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On this poem and reflection:
A friend sent me a link for a magazine’s Open Call. They were accepting entries for their next publication, which had a focus on Black embodiment. In addition to some things coming up for me about writing in general, I was experiencing a block around the topic. What kept coming was writing about humanness; and I kept judging it as not [Black] enough because it didn’t center that specifically defined being-ness. Oh the insanity caused within all of us in having made a thing out of a made-up thing.
At some point throughout my mulling and writing, the deadline passed, and there was no opportunity to submit a piece after the fact—I asked. I decided to continue crafting it anyway, I was riding on the high of encouragement by an existing writer friend and new writer acquaintances (who I had told about the article before the deadline). I was also needing to heed the knocks from [my] Spirit, which had been prompting me to start writing more.
Would this article have been accepted by the magazine? I don’t know. But I accept it for and about me as a reflection of my voice and my directive: drop insistence on/focus on/mention of “race” (as we currently know and use it) unless there is specific need (i.e., I am truly excited/being neutrally guided to do so). My work is to operate in a particular way within this made up construct as part of a multi-prong approach (by all of us leading collective healing) for transforming it.
We each have specific work to do and will get a lot more done if we stick to that which is truly ours.
© 2023 by ONYI LOVE ® LLC & Felicia Richards