Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture &amp; Social Justice Issue 45.1 (2024) Special Issue: Dialogues and Reflections: The Scarborough Charter Original Literary Work
Rising Black Sea
by Dáminí Awóyígà
We have seen so much We have seen hardships and overcome Risen from pitch-dark nights, Nights raging like never-ending wars That left the hope in our hearts, battered and torn Broken and bruised, left unattended to Silence, so deafening you could mistake it for calm
In this Black sea Let your baggage go And let them fall where they may Unload them The Black sea erodes them The Black sea heals us. Let the winds carry your pains away Feel redemption
In this Black sea We see a reflection Of our power Of our Unity And struggles
Justice grew on the tips of our tongues It fed a palette that craved freedom Craved liberation Free as the lines of free verse Praying liberation would cut us loose Praying that the chains that were eating us alive would be halted
We lifted our tongues, Each, a wave of our overlooked And untold histories Each pushing truths to the surface Our stories, and experiences that couldn't be erased
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When darkness descended So did strength and resilience Only love, hope, and family could transcend The suffering we faced We have braved Stormy oceans and seas We still hope and believe there will be new horizons Like waves anew We will rise again
We stand here Our faces, shown in this Black sea The fire in our souls Giving Life to power. WE raise our voices collectively in song We, a song to be sang A story to be written We are the tides That will transform our communities
In this Black sea Let your baggage go And let them fall where they may Unload them The Black sea erodes them The Black sea heals us. Let the winds carry your pains away Feel redemption
When darkness descended So did strength and resilience Only love, hope, and family could transcend The suffering we faced We have braved Stormy oceans and seas We still hope and believe there will be new horizons We will rise again
Dáminí Awóyígà is a 16-year-old high school student. She is an activist, spoken word poet and Halifax’s Youth Poet Laureate. Dáminí is the founder of Dáminí Creatives and the Afro-Indigenous Book Club, a book club created to encourage young people to read books written by Black and Indigenous authors and to share the realities and experi ences of Black and Indigenous Canadians. She is a youth freelance journalist for CBC’s Mainstreet and Vice-Chair of CPA High School’s Black Student Association. Dáminí is a board member of the Nova Scotia Girls Institute for Re source and Learning (NS GIRL), she is also part of the HRM Youth Advisory Council. Dáminí has received multiple awards including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. As a spoken word poet for over five years, she enjoys writing, singing, and performing poems that bring attention to social justice issues.
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