“The Land of Life: Royal Eighty”

Willis “Bing” Davis

poster designed by Yamilet Perez Aragon

You are Sankofa returned

standing on the edge of now

textile love integrated with mask making

storytelling in multi-colored chalk.

Griot is that jazz in your finger-tips?

 

Connections rooted like baobab trees

oak and ivy

“Jump back, honey

 

jump back.”  Traditions of carried burdens

released into sidewalk drawing

turned sculptures, turned language,

community blended patterns, sketched

decoded waves of paint

gripping brushes, turned dance

echo of history.

Handmade in jewelry

magic of woman

turned wife, lover, turned eternity.

 

Self-understanding pioneered

ancestral spirit indigenous-like dreams lived.

Who do you say that I am?

Legacy building legacy

a living artifact

African-Appalachian “A blessing to be black.”

Red clay rituals

shaped forty years of teachings

birthed EboNia. 

Fathering stretched into framed Skyscrapers,

empty space filled.

 

“Pull from within”

said those five siblings

Diamond Avenue's second lifetime

one west side city block, be gateway

triangled visions migrating like aging

lines, pronounced wisdom.

 

Landmarks should never be moved

roots-of-joy shrine visually

eighty is the season of awakened destiny.

©️Sierra Leone