Bantu Knots & Butterflies: A Written Reflection

By Maryam A Muhammad and David N Jones

Where contemporary conversation fails, poetry sustains. And poetry has sustained the lives of many.

Arranged in three sections, Bantu Knots & Butterflies is a collection

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maryam Azeeza Muhammad
• Release date: Jan 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736551615

Maryam A Muhammad

Maryam Azeeza Muhammad is a journalist and poet from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Inspired by the works of phenomenal writers such as Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, and bell hooks, Maryam has chosen writing as her medium. For her, it is a spiritual way of paying homage to her ancestors and the African diaspora as a whole. Her work is dedicated to Black women, who for so long have been under-appreciated all across the globe. Though she considers herself to be a tree sustaining deep roots, she also considers herself to be a generational curse-breaker dedicated to promoting healing, wisdom, honesty, and acceptance in her writing.

Book preview

Bantu Knots & Butterflies

A Written Reflection

Maryam Azeeza Muhammad

© 2021 Maryam Azeeza Muhammad. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Moja

Sanctification

Old Flame

Obscure

My Ori

The Prototype

Elixir

Magnolia At Dusk

Sword & Stone

Observation

Kanekelon

It’s My House

The First Element

Sainte

Love

In Matrimony

Cymande

Untitled

Drowning

Ajẹ

Mbili

Xi.Xii.Mmxvii @ 9:22 P.M.

The Truth

Weeping Angels

Liberation

Sundays

Insurrection

Justifying Womanist Rage

A Prayer To My Ancestors

Bantu Knots

Butterflies

By Daylight

Seconds

Free

A Sanaa Lathan Film

Shine

Made Genuine

For Oluwatoyin Salau

Curse-Breaker

Birthmarks

Words Of Affirmation

Tatu

Hiwot

Strong

Victorious

Iii.Xiv.Mmi

The Empress

Medicine Woman, Born Again

J. Baldwin

Kumogakure

The Movement

Xciii

A Recipe For Caribbean Lavender

For Audre & Assata

Salted Wounds

This Is Not A Poem About G*D

The Pearls From North Carolina

Elderberries

2010

Great, Old Haint Tree

The Negress Speaks Of Rivers

Neo-Soul: Hi-Definition

A Love Note For Abolition

Foreword

My favorite thing about poetry is that the genre usually lends itself to multiplicity and variety. Two factors that heighten the chances of it speaking to people. Bantu Knots & Butterflies is a collection of poems that detail growth, whether it be hair growth in a protective style, the transition of the author into womanhood, the growth of consciousness, and the growth of relationships both carnal and spiritual. The story of growth is never solely about growth nor is it linear. Decay is featured, stagnation is as well. The longest moments of our lives are memory and imagination. And this is why poetry and any other art has the potential to be eternal. Art isn’t always about relatability, it's about seeing the human condition as it exists in someone else. This book will invite you into a world that might be similar to yours, or maybe one so different that it will alter or expand the one you live in.

The main tenet of poetry is to write what you know. The only thing that qualifies a poet is that they follow this law. Azeeza is not a member of any religious group but she does follow the law of poetry religiously. The luxury of having someone who knows you read your poetry is that they can instantly tell when you’ve stepped out of bounds, when you attempt to tell a story in which you are not authorized to do so. Contrary to what Percy Bysshe Shelley