I bought Paul Goodnight's, "Links & Lineage" in Washington, DC over 16 years ago because its absolute beauty spoke not only to my heart -- but to my very own "becoming" as a Black woman in these alleged, United States of America.
It's always had a prominent place in every home we've owned since. Now, it hangs again, in my new foyer in "the belly of the beast," keeping me grounded in, as Mr. James Baldwin said, "from whence we came."
When I look at it -- I see my Mama parting out the last two sections, so she could finish the "joined-plaits" she routinely put in my hair when I was little. My mother died exactly a week before my birthday and on my niece's (my sister's daughter) birthday in 1996. She was 65. I was 40. My niece was 18. Links & lineage matter, Fam.
When I look at it -- I see me (I cannot tell you how much that little girl looks just like me when I was that age!), sittin' between her knees, lovin' her greasin' my scalp -- even as I wanted her to hurry up and finish when she got down to my "kitchen." Links & lineage matter, Fam.
When I look at it -- I see my Gra'Mama workin' on yet another quilt ( I have one of her hand-sewn ones, stored in an old steamer trunk that belonged to Sal, my father's mother). Gra'Mama died five days after New Year's Day in 2002. She was 92. I would be 46 that July. My niece (who'd later have two daughters of her own) would be 24 that July as well. She'd buried my mother, her oldest child of the living 10 of 15, six years before. Links & lineage matter, Fam.
I know it's been a minute since I've written any-damned-thing. But today, I'm moved to salute all my Sisters who had, have, are, or were Mamas -- because links & lineage will always matter to me Fam...
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