Honorée Fanonne Jeffers captures her ecology so vividly- literally incorporating imagery of the land, the mother, the father, the components of her being.
She starts her book with red clay. Oddly enough I found this very biblical. God made man from the dust of the Earth. Clay- The makings of our bodies.
Again I am reminded that religion is just a collection of reinterpreted indigenous knowledge. We from the earth. Mother Earth. Clay. The same Earth that we return to when our time is up.
I think Honorée made the decision to start her book with Red Clay Suite very intentionally. It immediately brings the reader to the ground. The imagery instantly set the tone and scenery (ecology?) for the rest of the book. I felt like I was driving through the south, on my way to visit my grandma Ann in the hot Mississippi moisture. Driving through reddish brown plains.
One of my favorite poems in the collection was The Compass of Moss
I’m absolutely fascinated with the ways we have made use of our ecologies for survival, despite the fact that *most* of our ancestors were in unknown lands, amongst unfamiliar flora. I love the way she blends dry and wet landscapes into her narratives- perfectly encapsulating the journey to the south- or away from it.
Who better to tell our stories than the land from which we come? This land onto which we have bled, bred- this land is a living history book. When we write with the land, it tells so much of our stories for us.
Honorée has inspired me to settle better into the mix of the ecologies that exist around me. To pay attention to where I am and to how it relates to my life.
When we write with the land, it tells so much of our stories for us.
I think we should talk about survival ecology in class! I think we've talked around it but not fully through it, thank you for this!
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