The Black Braid of Memory

By Chris Christou

The Black Braid of Memory contains and unveils a series of poems on exile, addiction, and inheritance, and their serpentine currents in the life of our narrators. Both an homage to remembrance and its act undertaken, the lyrical prose poetry of Chris Christou speaks through the haze of our times, and to it. This is his first published work.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Thresheld Press
• Release date: Sep 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781777588915

Chris Christou

Chris Christou is a writer, storyteller, and activist. He was born and raised in Toronto, Canada.He is the author of a book of poetry entitled the Black Braid of Memory, as well as forthcoming books on the psychedelic culture, the unauthorized history of tourism, and radical hospitality. Finally, he is a student of all things chocolate and cacao-related. He currently resides in Oaxaca, Mexico.

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Copyright © 2020 by Thresheld Press

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

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ISBN: 978-1-7775889-0-8

ISBN: 978-1-7775889-1-5 (e-book)

Second Edition, 2021

Contents

Acknowledgements

endtrance

omeyocan

cazar - casar

nomads land

doorways

foris kin

iron age

khronicled

the plot thickens

old country

arroyos

fountains of youth

vivication

darkness falls

hierosgamos

zajorin

fyrian

recipe

a lineage

Acknowledgements

To extended family and friends: you know who you are and how our lives have become intertwined like a ball of string. The gods might be kittens wryly, playfully unknotting us. It is with deep reverence that you are remembered and to whom with open hat and hand, I bow.

To my mother: that in a time that often only solicits neediness you have always proceeded as if you are needed, accordingly and humbly. You defined such loving honour and perseverance long before I could understand its meaning. Dad, thank you for telling the stories, and remembering.

To those elders and elders-in-the-making that have so emphatically been an inspiration for this work: the convivialist Michael Sacco and the myriad ChocoSolistas: may it be that those magic beans teach us alchemy. For Stephen Jenkinson, Nathalie Roy, their scholar-ship and its sailors whose eloquence and sorrow-filled beauty is a living testament to the soul of language and how it all could be, and sometimes is. For Gustavo Esteva & UniTierra Oaxaca whose dedication, discipline, and humour is a beacon for how we can learn to proceed together, humbly and humbled, as comidantes & companeros.

To the great poets and writers whose