Infinite Work: Throwing Fists
March's theme for Soul Food Sundays is Source
Nothing we do is isolated. Yesterdays are foundational to our todays. Everything we are, an amalgamation, of everything we been through, and what others have been through, of what has happened and what hasn't happened.
A while back, I shared a poem here and on Instagram, called Throwing Fists. It's a quick poem that fills me with a lot of love and wonder. When I saw that Plantin Mag was accepting writing submissions, and particularly took consideration of work that was already published in the world, I sent them Throwing Fists. I adore the work that Plantin Mag is doing. In their own words,
We curates works that speak to the experiences of 1st & 2nd generation Black immigrants and pair them with talented illustrators. As designers & artists ourselves, it was important to create a visually compelling space for our submissions to exist. So, we work to establish collaborations between the written word and a network of generous illustrators and designers.
The opening illustration to this Soul Food Sundays was created by illustrator Arnold Randall in response to my poem Throwing Fists. The poem and the illustration were published today, and I am so grateful to see it. It is affirming for me to consider that what I have made finds new ways to live. It is affirming to see the written images I spin together translated and transformed into something visual and visceral. Nothing we do is isolated. We are consistently shaping and being shaped. So often I forgot the wealth or resources and work and moments that I have access to.
While Throwing Fists acted as a sort of source for Arnold's visual transformation, Arnold's work is a testament to his experience, values, and purposes. Throwing Fists as a poem is a testament to my experiences, values, purposes, dreams. Those both imaginary and tangible. I turn my head, look all around me, and all I see are sources. All I see are ancestors. All I see are descendants. Everything born and giving birth somehow.
Check out Arnold Randall's Instagram and Plantin Mag for more breathtaking/breathgiving work.
And lastly, here is the illustration again + my poem Throwing Fists, which you can read in Issue 3 of Plantin Mag,
Throwing Fists
I threw a fist
full of seeds
into the sky
and they took root midair
every morning
I water my floating garden
I throw water skyward
and it doesn’t rain back down on me
gravity & I’s little secret
gravity remembers me
and sometimes forgets herself
on these days,
I throw myself skyward
and I get to lay my hands on my sky-lilies
my touch lingering on that which blossoms
when I am ready to return to the ground
gravity takes me there softly
as if I am a fraction of a flower
a petal floating slow as a feather
I know how it feels to have wings
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