She Is Black

By Jay Blackwell and Orli Sofer

A first-time collaboration between African-American poet Jay Blackwell and author of creative nonfiction El Shaddai Gebreyes, this multi-genre collection is a meditation on faith, love and identity. With passion, each vivid thread is woven together to create a dynamic tapestry. On the face of it, the words transform into captivating images. Examining the back of this tapestry - i.e., looking beyond the outward presentation you will see two souls traversing oceans. Grateful for each breath above the waters and attentive to each cry below, the writers encourage you to journey to the point where you find she in he and He in she.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483695082

Jay Blackwell

El Shaddai Gebreyes is the author of Ever Before Me: Your Love, 100 + Poems for Holidays and Special Occasions by Frederick Douglas Harper and The Last Adam. She serves as a librarian and lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Jay Blackwell aspires to be inspired by his many todays, yesterdays and tomorrows. Which is another way of saying, he strives to be ageless and full of thanks in remembering who he is. He travels around a lot and likes to write about his musings in]between adventures.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Orli Sofer and Jay Blackwell.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4836-9507-5

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4836-9508-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 09/10/2013

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Contents

Preface

Freedom with No Equal—Creative Nonfiction

Orli Sofer

The Traveling Stranger

The Kabbalah Student

Miles

The Shabbat Queen

Genesis 17:1

Elle

Stacey

Poetry

The Shape of Sound

Cashmere

Mi familia

Prince Charming

Enthralled

Meditation

Love

Plays

Connected

Pygmalion and Galatea

She in He

Preface to, She in He

A Dream Deferred

Airport Bucky

Being Me

Birthday Wishes

Breezes

God Blessed Me

Her Change is Long

Holding Near

I’m Gonna Be Like the Sun

In Love

Lightly on the Edges

Listening to the Winds

Love’s Knot

Manipulation

Moving to Surrender

My Emotions About

My PR with God

Mysterious Stares

No Dignity

Now At Last I Rest

Now I Know

Pain

Power of Prayer

Roses and a Rose for You

SHerEllenian’s Fix

Surrender and Gain

The Cost of Things

The Little Thief

The Slavers

Two, Two Old Gurls

Udot Welcome

What It Could Have Been

When I Seen Your Spread

When You See Me

Who Would Be

Will You Be There?

God wanted all of humanity to choose one delegate for a face-to-face meeting with the Creator. The Pope was selected to enter the heavenly court and return to earth with a full report. When he returned to mankind, the Pope was interviewed by the news media. Reporters asked, What did He look like? Was He tall? Did He have a long, white beard? What did His voice sound like? The bewildered Pope responded, She’s Black.

Preface

Dear readers,

In the black box theater of my mind, I cannot imagine the original El Shaddai. I legally changed the spelling of my first name from Elshaday to El Shaddai. The pronunciation is the same. The former is the more oft-transliterated version from Amharic to English and the latter from Hebrew. I am not fluent in Hebrew or Amharic, so it’s like having a cuneiform tattoo on my body when I cannot really make out the characters. It’s fashionable, but is it the deepest expression of who I am? Will it help me attract what I want? Luck? Peace?

One nice thing about Jewish people is that they don’t name their children after deities. It makes them more human, while my name has made me so spiritual, admitting I have a body is a miracle and identifying which God to worship involves daily debate. OK, so there’s only one G-d. My mother, bless her heart, claims I was the first child in Ethiopia named El Shaddai. I’ll explain her reasoning later.

I think Jewish people perform mitzvot to feel a connection to God, but I feel most connected when I call His name. I am excessively verbal and Kabbalists believe God Is a Verb. I met an Ethiopian guy named Adonai, which means L-rd. Have we gone too far? A common name among Spanish speakers is Jesus. I am a fan and a follower, but not the incarnation. Others must be immune to this dilemma. Everyone is entitled to experience an existential crisis, but an identity crisis requiring you to change your name as much as your average rapper is ridiculous. Yet, this is what I am going through.

How can I ask you not to be offended by my name when I am offended at the practice of naming children after God? In an abstract way, it’s offensive. In all practicality, I identify with the name El Shaddai or some variation, so at this point I cannot change it. I share the name of the Almighty. It’s the source of my pride and humility. Pride in being attached to a being infinitely greater than myself. So, here are some pages. I’m writing these days and exploring adopting a new pen name.

The first book I published was under the pseudonym Hawa Amatullah as I journeyed into Islam. The next few books used my birth-given name, El Shaddai Gebreyes, as I became a librarian. And now here I am with yet another name change. My new pseudonym is Orli Sofer, as I embark on adventure after adventure in Kabbalah. Each name change, like a costume change, leaves me somewhat recognizable, but reminds everyone of the performative nature of writing. I’m telling stories—not all true. This is the realm of creative nonfiction and to genuinely take you, the reader, on a journey I must enter into that space with you.

As a writer, I think it’s important to document personal stages of development. My psychology does not