(noun): an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime. (noun: archaic definition): dread, terror.

The practice of jumping over a broomstick sufficed as a public marriage ceremony among slaves in the 1840s and 1850s as they were usually not permitted to marry legally. This practice is still used in some African American communities.

The possible subject of this poem,Emmett Till, was lynched at the age of 14 in 1955 for supposedly sexually harassing a married white woman. Till became a symbol for the Civil Rights Movement following his death. The white woman who accused Till admitted years later that she fabricated the story.

This could refer to two things, or both at once. The first option is that the speaker has literally been on a boat while the water was filled with oil and became seasick. The second option is that seeing all of the oil and damage to the Gulf made the speaker feel sick, thus referencing a “boat-tossed face.”

This could allude to the fact that very little people speak about minor (and sometimes even major) oil spills and other kinds of pollution, and therefore, language (speaking about these events) is constricted by a metaphorical ceiling.

Miracle spread is an alternative fatty spread (similar to butter) consistent of different oils popular in Australia. This adds on to the “breadbrown slice of careless nature,” as miracle spread is used on bread or toast as a butter substitute. It also adds to the satirical, eco-critical tone of the poem in which the oil spill is metaphorically visualized through several food references. The beaches are “awaiting” the arrival of the oil from the spill. It is referenced as a “gift” sarcastically.

Included satirically, because sea turtles are killed and/or harmed by the effects of oil spills’ contamination.

(verb): to become unwoven, untwisted, or unwound.

Veracity, or truth, “rises” to the “surface” just as the marine wildlife such as sea turtles and fish will rise to the surface of the water after being killed by the contamination of the oil spill.

There have been numerous oil spills that have affected the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Mississippi River. As there are no oil spills named specifically, Jerry Ward Jr. may be referring to the constant toxification of the Gulf by runoff and small leaks that occur continuously and go largely unnoticed. He may be trying to raise awareness about the small yet still significant destruction of nature that people are unconscious of or apathetic towards.

(noun): conformity with truth or fact. “Veracity” may indicate that the prior “theory” of the oil spill is no longer valid as there will one day be concrete evidence of pollution, as oil will eventually wash up on the shore of the coasts.

“Housed in theory” may allude to the lack of knowledge or care for the small, everyday oil spills. Only large oil spills like 2010’s BP (Deepwater Horizon) Oil Spill are televised and announced. Many people also believe that global warming and pollution are not a huge danger for the Earth, so “housed in theory” could be satirically calling out those people who are skeptical.

A churn is a machine or container in which butter (a thick substance) is made by agitating and breaking apart fatty molecules. This is a tiring process when completed by hand because of the vigorous effort required to churn thick substances. This image of churning the water allows the reader to recognize how much oil must have been in the water and its effect on the water’s consistency.

Jerry Ward Jr. was born in Washington, D.C. in 1943 and then moved to Mississippi six years later. He grew up largely on the Gulf Coast.

Sea turtles are included in the Gulf of Mexico’s most endangered and threatened species. Sea turtles are among the most impacted species each time an oil spill occurs.

“Beautiful indifference” represents the purity of fish. They “ignore” the oil that is going to cause their deaths because they are unaware of its existence and its harmful effects. They, unlike humans, are unable to prevent damaging occurrences such as oil spills from happening.

Butter or butter-like substances consist of various oils. This reference to butter may aid the reader in visualizing what this oil might look or feel like. It also assists in completing the image of churning butter as a metaphor for the oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

diction that reinforces the idea of the mundane.

Trethewey again resists the linear nature of history, evoking the "now" to emphasize the lingering presence of the past.

"dailiness," may imply insignificance and mundanity or diligence and dignity -- depending on the perspective of the individual who frames the photograph (frames the narrative of history).

the woman, though captured in the picture, represents an ethos of Blackness and perseverance that prevails against the onslaught of time.

the past resists efforts to capture or frame it -- even a photograph that preserves a fixed moment cannot hold both women still.

a photograph has no physical "texture," unlike the pictured women whose depth and personhood cannot necessarily be captured in film.

culturally significant food to Black people, greens and yams juxtapose the "buckets of peas for shelling," correlating Blackness and labor.

the "two women" may be representative of Trethewey and her late mother, a significant figure in many of her poems.

Trethewey places the two women in the foreground of both the photograph and the poem, possibly to subvert the cultural dismissal of the women's "dailiness."

Trethewey emphasizes the substance lost through not being able to interact with the women -- it is significant to note that the photographer is a white man. What also might be lost by the gaze being aligned with the white, male perspective?

The woman and man described in the poem are complex figures. The removed, third-person narration obscures the intention of the characters or what they think about their predicament. The poem goes from the focalization of the woman to the focalization of the man back to the woman. It obscures who is the focalized and who is the focalizer of this poem.

"relief" refers to the physical texture of the women's faces but could possibly refer to an emotional or mental relief (either from pausing working or another reason).

The poem then focuses on the woman. This added line suggests that it is her perspective that he is not good enough. In his face, she sees her absent father, and he is a sort of replacement for her father.

This suggest that the woman could be demanding, but it is because she is cautious. She is cautious and wary in her current relationship due to the abusive or neglectful relationships she has had with men in the past.

Clifton Johnson was an American author, illustrator, and photographer. "Johnson viewed photography in similar terms to painting and composed his photographs in that fashion. He stated that he selected subjects in the same fashion as he would for paintings and posed them in a way that represent 'naturalness of life as I see it.'"

Throughout the life of this woman, she only had men who would take from her. The man (in the first line) is not enough to replace these men or make up for what she suffered from these men.

"His Hands" appears in the second section of Trethewey's collection Domestic Work. Kimberly Wallace-Sanders notes in her article on this collection that the second section "describes a series of life moments throughout history for seemingly ordinary people" (267). Of this collection, Trethewey says, "I first got interested in writing poems about domestic work because I was looking at a kind of documentary photography. I was interested both in the images themselves, as well as in the language that would often accompany them in the form of captions. Together, those two things were working to frame a kind of reality."

This complicates the scenario--she has been married before, to a soldier, an honorable patriotic figure who is guilty of a sort of double life or infidelity.

No matter how hard he tries to provide for the family, he will never be enough.

The hands are represented once again, the cracked sore hands represent the grueling hours of labor. She is in a sense performing a labor of love as she works through the pain in his hands with her hands to alleviate him of his pain.

She is done with her work and the house is dark and the kitchen empty, which demonstrates that he works late. The screen is hooked, so he is locked out.

Here, we learn that he is not just a physical laborer but a low wage laborer. Working on the docks is not a prestigious or high paying job. His pay twice spent represents that he is overworked and underpaid for this hard labor.

Here, no longer is it just his hands, but her hands as well as the two hands intertwine, showing a sort of intimacy.

This line alludes to line 5 “men who would only take.” however, it is now the woman doing the taking, not being taken from. This suggests that the man might be more generous and loving than the previous men as “his hands” will work to provide for her. THis could suggest a cruelty of the woman, highlighted in line 7 (“the sharp edges of her words), as she takes from him by taking whatever his body is able to produce for her, no matter at what expense. However, here the woman is “taking” from his hands through the rubbing “soreness” from his hard labor. This suggest what she receives from the man is a sort of pain or she sacrifices her comfort to alleviate his pain.

The Middle Passage was the crossing from Africa to the Americas, which the ships made carrying their 'cargo' of slaves. It was so-called because it was the middle section of the trade route taken by many of the ships

an effusively enthusiastic or ecstatic expression of feeling

a large group of people or things of a particular kind

a Jamaican political activist, publisher, and journalist. He started the "Back to Africa" movement which advocated the separation of the blacks and whites.

A member of a South African people traditionally living mainly in KwaZulu-Natal province. "The Zulus formed a powerful military empire in southern Africa during the 19th century before being defeated in a series of engagements with Afrikaner and British settlers" (editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica) which may explain why they are descried as “shaking the earth.”

relating to or characteristic of Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of fertility and ruler of the afterlife.

Image of a mage (magician) and musician waving a wand or baton to create magical, beautiful music

a magician or learned person

the falcon-headed Egyptian god of light and the son of Osiris and Isis whose right eye was the sun or morning star, representing power and quintessence, and whose left eye was the moon or evening star, representing healing.

may be calling Sun Ra a Horus roaring words of truth and affirmation to the impotent brutes of the white community

The word Neanderthal is German, named for the Neander Valley where human fossils have been found, and around 1926 neanderthal became popular British slang for a "big, brutish, stupid person."

Divine Beings of the West African Yorubax, paralleling the Kemetic neters and the Christian/Hebrew/Muslim angels.

(Annotated by Touré)

primordial- existing at or from the beginning of time; primeval.

a statement or slogan repeated frequently.

Version of singing that sounds like taking breaths in and out

Greek for a monolithic, four-sided Egyptian pillar, which tapers into a pyramid, symbolic of pharaonic authority.

The original divine bird, which served as an archetype for he later Greek bird, the phoenix. (Annotated by Touré)

Part 1 is used to explain who Sun Ra is and his eternal greatness, but part two has an "our" that is being referenced. It is not solely about Sun Ra

"At a point in his life, Sun Ra began to turn to ancient Egypt and Ethiopia for his spiritual out-look and sartorial style" (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Thus, Egyptian references are made in the poem. Egypt may also represent the start of civilization.

They are both influential jazz musicians. The fact that all the names are untied as one may suggest they are similar to the magical idea of "alchemical" mentioned earlier in the poem

The our in this poem is introduced in part two. It may be referencing African Americans in general or those specifically that are visionaries of the Black Arts Movement

The Kemetic neter who symbolized knowledge, ancient wisdom, mystery, measurement of the heavens, phases of the moon. (Annotated by Touré)

Two outstanding African American visionary epic poets, leaders in the 1960’s Black Arts cultural era. (Annotated by Touré)

Greek for Auset. The Nile Valley Civilization’s Great Mother, “Queen of Heaven,” “Throne of Kemer,” the queen and co-ruler with King Asar (Osiris, Greek). Humanity’s archetypal Back Madonna. (Annotated by Touré)

Pharoah Sanders (born Farrell Sanders, October 13, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. A member of John Coltrane's groups of the mid-1960s, Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multi-phonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound"

West African, Yoruba orisha symbolizing kingship, whose sacred presence was embodied in thunder and lightning bolts. (Annotated by Touré)

American jazz saxophonist and composer whose musical innovations broke through formal thematic and harmonic restrictions in jazz improvisation.

Repetition of audacity

calling the combination of Coltrane and Pharaoh "alchemical" may imply they are a magical duo

involving a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.

Aural - relating to the ear or the sense of hearing.

Anglo means a white, English-speaking American. By saying plastic parameters and Anglo- blandness, Touré may be suggesting the conformity to white society is plain, dull, and lacks any of the substance or creativity that Black culture possesses.

a representation of a sacred serpent as an emblem of supreme power, worn on the headdresses of ancient Egyptian deities and sovereigns.

(Annotated by Touré)

"Negritude" refers to a movement that was founded in the 1930s by thinkers, writers, and activists such as Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Léon Damas. Negritude condemned colonialism and sought to cultivate "Black consciousness."

From Kamit ot Kemet (meaning the Black Land). The Kamites were the black people of the Black Land.

(Annotated by Touré)

Sonny Blount was a jazz and funk musician

Repetition of eternal and immortal. Calling the night everlasting may suggest everlasting darkness which maybe a metaphor for black skin.

uncontrolled; unconstrained

showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks or showing an impudent lack of respect

a person that has a well-developed Mount of Jupiter (located on the palm of the hand at the base of the index finger. It has a connection to the Greek God, Zeus, who became Jupiter in Roman mythology) and a long and large finger of Jupiter and that is usually held by palmists to be characterized by ambition, leadership, and a religious nature

(Definition of Jupiterian- Merriam Webster)

Ra- Egyptian God of the Sun

myth- a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. Sonny Blount claimed the planet Saturn as his birthplace. He took as his motto "Space Is the Place." Thus, the constant use of space and magic imagery in the poem has to do with Sonny’s musical science fiction overtones.

Sonny Blount, later changed his name to Le Sony'r Ra was alive from May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993. He was a well known American jazz composer and poet. He was known for his experimental music philosophies.

May be referencing or comparing his 'realms' to heaven, a kingdom of eternal life

The contribution to the brightness of the night sky from all unresolved extragalactic sources. Capitalization of Comic Light may be because it is another name for Sun Ra. Poet is saying 'he is' the light.

Realms- Kingdom

Also referring to Ra, Egyptian God of the sun

The poem is dedicated to Sonny Blount, who believed in eternal being.

By adding his own annotations, he is showing his extensive knowledge of African and Egyptian culture.

someone or something who is wise or exhibits signs of wisdom or intelligence

"A person who seeks having a spiritual meaning or reality that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence"

(Merriam Webster)

Large sailing ship

recurrent as a symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology

Vista- Pleasing view transcendental- relating to a spiritual or nonphysical realm

Derived from the Greek word epiphaneia, epiphany means “appearance,” or “manifestation.” In literary terms, an epiphany is that moment where a someone achieves realization, awareness, or a feeling of knowledge, after which events are seen through the prism of this new light

Shift to a sort of ode to Sun Ra

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One"

African American Jazz singer

Part 3 introduces a 'we' speaker

These flowers are associated with several meanings including purity, love and refinement

"you" could possibly be the speakers partner or its a collective "you" of ignorant and unaware people.

Present could be a double entendre, meaning the present time and a gift to America is black men and how they are elevating their status.

The speaker might be saying money don't grow on trees because its not easy to get money, you have to work for it.

L'Argent is the metal sliver

Dagwood is a character in a cartoon made in 1933. Dagwood loved his wife Blondie and in all the comic strips every time they saw each other or did something for each other they would kiss. So when the speaker says love isn’t Dagwood kisses he is possibly saying love it isn’t rainbows, butterflies and 24/7 kisses.

The speaker of the poem might be from a poor area so there is no money to be found there, nor will there ever be. There is only money far away and it’ll be almost impossible to get it.

Love is going to work which could mean love between some people is how much money they make or need to make to be happy. (love is money)

The "You" is ignorant because she/he thinks that they don't have to work for what they want.

Usury is a illegal action of leading money at unreasonably and unethical high rates of interest. Usury of affection could mean people buy their affection with gifts because that is what a partner wants. It could also mean fake emotions of love.

Possibly the present in which the author published this poem.

This could mean that time is a circle and everything people have done or will do they will do over and over again.

Lamenting is to express one's deep grief or disappointment over something considered not fair.

In the sense of music, bellowed means to sing a song loudly and tunelessly and possibly with anger. Anthem is a musical composition of celebration and is used as a symbol for a distinct group. Putting these two words together could mean a song sung with passion by a certain group of people, maybe African Americans that are sad of what the world is.

The use of the spacing could indicate again that the speaker of the poem is being sarcastic about how things were better back in the day.

In the beginning of the poem and also back in the day boys called each other "Man" and in the present they are calling each other "Dog". This could mean that the speaker of the poem had this group of friends back in the day and now there are kids just like them but calling each other different words.

Sullen is a bad tempered or depressed mood. Posturings is a behavior that is intended to impress or mislead. Referring to the concept of this poem Sullen posturing could mean people are adopting a depressed attitude to mislead the news/media.

The readers of this poem could also read these lines like "He really really truly truly deeply deeply loved" which could indicate some sort of sarcasm because of the spacing.

flash out [for a light] means to shine out of something suddenly. In this poem it could mean these boys out shine people and they look cool or fly.

Harmonized means to sing or play different musical notes that sound pleasing together. Yearning is a feeling of intense longing or desire for something. In the poem they all felt and sang about strong longing for something (the night)

Gait is a persons manner of walking."dancing gait" represents how they proudly walked or danced with style

Stacy Adams is a brand of menswear including suits, sleepwear, shoes, etc. that was founded in 1875 in Massachusetts. They are known for their dress shoes.

Florsheim is a shoe brand in the US founded in 1892. They are known for their shiny tuxedo shoes.

Strange evokes themes of Christianity with "two fathers" and parodies congregation on the holy day with "each Saturday" spent at the barbershop. Similarly, the emphasis on "brotherhood," reiterates the sense of masculine connection valued during the time.

Strange uses images of classic Western culture -- "players, men-of-words, Greek chorus" -- to equate a traditionally valued forum for exchanges of ideas with an intellectual space undervalued by mainstream culture.

Strange evokes a sense of the social pressures and factors that result in "obligatory heists," or shoplifting incidences.

Strange is trying to undercut stereotypes that devalue the real education and guidance and rhetorical analysis that occurs in these traditionally Black spaces.

this line both honors the boy who will never know the full acceptance of genuine praises of mainstream culture, and evokes a sense of the Black masculinity that was so significant during the rise of the Black power movement.

Strange begins the poem by immediately dismissing any notions that there's anything trivial or vapid about Black traditions.

the proper title given to the position tragically received "before his time" punctuates the sad and unnecessary violence that happens around young Black boys.

Strange acknowledges gang violence with sardonically lofty titles like, "battles" and "claim turf," to later subvert it by capitalizing the title "'Man of the House.'"

God is mentioned again. This is an allusion to Genesis: "then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." This line is this biblical image in reverse, with breath being sucked back in and life being sucked out. This could represent her father's death, the opposite of creating life and beginning (Genesis).

"Ritual" implies a long history and lends a sense of dignity to the ties between Blackness and the "Barbershop."

Rice is cooked in salty water, but also represents the tears after waking up from the dream. To begin again represents the continuation of a dream or the continuation of her life without her father. In context to the previous line in the stanza that alludes to Genesis, it could be suggesting a new genesis or beginning after her father's death.

Once again establishes her need to serve. Filling the pot is a sort of suspenseful building, suggesting a slow death when contextualized with the ending of the previous stanza ("Will I die").

Rice is a very mundane dish and could represent the monotony of a recurring dream and the need to come to terms with the death of her father.

This line continues the magery of a wedding with a bride's veil. However, the veil could have a double meaning with W.E.B. DuBois' Souls of Black Folk, where the veil represents the process of racialization or being seen through stereotypes. This could represent the intersectionality of black women. She has to suffer another veil even within her own family as a woman, and is subject to both racism and sexism.

Refers to the feeling of being submerged in a dream. Could hint at the feelings of grief, which is often described as being in a haze, much like in a dream.

She has a repeated dream.

When Sharan Strange read this poem in 2005 for NPR Poet's Moment, she had this to say about the poem:

"I wrote the poem 'Offering' upon waking up from a dream. And the poem deals with the complicated relationship that I had with my father and the imagery in the poem concerns the series of nightmares that I had following my father's death. In a way, I defied my father by leaving home early and striking out and seeking my own independence. Ultimately, I became something that my father never imagined me being, and that's an artist. So I think of the poem as a tribute to the creative process. But I also feel that the poem was a step towards forgiving my father and healing that disconnection that we had."

The speaker continues to do domestic work for the man, fulfilling traditional gender roles.

Here, the speaker’s father is equated with God. This could represent both how she idolizes or views her father and her father’s power over her. Notably, she is cooking, a domestic duty traditionally viewed as the woman’s responsibility. This represents the patriarchal relationship of this family.

Strange explained that she wrote this poem from repeated dreams after her father's death, who she did not get to say goodbye to before he died.

The motif of rice continues. In wedding tradition, rice is thrown at the bride and groom when they leave the wedding reception.

The speaker ends with the same italicized question that she posed near the beginning of the poem, asking if they will remember her showing appreciation for nature, but without an engaged or impressive audience. The speaker seems equate their life with their ancestors’ lives for some of the poem, but then time splits at the end and the speaker is back to the reality of being more carefree and privileged, but on the outskirts of people’s minds and out of the spotlight. The speaker seems to feel a sense of inadequacy and compared to her ancestors' experiences. She appears to be seeking audience approval and confirmation that she will be remembered and admired for her actions as well.

The speaker claims that many of the actions of black people are viewed and interpreted through the memories of other people. This line appears to reflect a tradition in black poetry, especially the Black Arts Movement, in which poets felt as if their experience was interpreted by others, especially white writers.

Piracy is the practice of robbing or stealing, typically in a violent manner. The practice of piracy is easily related to the kidnapping of Africans to be enslaved in the Americas.

The speaker speakers in a dialect by saying “wid” instead of “with.” These three lines seemingly describe a purification process, with the speaker releasing the tension from being pirated, which may be a reference to ancestors being kidnapped from Africa and discarding gelatin from their mouth.

This line could relate to another Sonia Sanchez poem called "Poem at Thirty," in which the speaker claims that she is constantly traveling and moving.

The speaker claims that time splits, sending the speaker on a different path than the ones that they have been describing. The speaker seems to feel as if they were separated from the experiences of their ancestors that she just finished describing.

The speaker also seems to assert that the soul controls the body, by saying that unconscious desires are “unbridled” or unrestrained, and control the “flesh knots,” or body of a person. The assertion that the body’s action impact the soul, but the unconscious, spiritual part of a person controls the body creates a cyclical claim about life experiences.

This could be a reference to growing and planting crops, which black people were forced to do within slavery, but it could also refer to offspring as the seed. This could be referencing the suffering that black children had to inherit for their race.

The speaker seems to assert that every action someone takes has an impact on their mental state.

Swallows are a type of small bird and are usually used to symbolize joy and hope. The use of these birds in the poem may suggest the extent of protection that the speaker feels as if she experiences, especially when it is paired with the idea of dancing far away from the world's problems.

"Alien” is usually used to refer to a foreigner that is not a naturalized citizen in the country in which they reside. The poem seems to be using this phrase to refer to a person that feels like an outsider in their own life experience. As the poem continues, the speaker appears to feel as if their own experience is inferior to that her black ancestors'.

The italics in this stanza suggest either a second stanza or an emphasis or shift in audience. The speaker seems to be addressing the reader more directly and asking if they will remember and miss her, even though she lived a more sheltered life.

The phrase “I have not loved always” is broken up into two lines, emphasizing the journey that they speaker has taken to be able to love. When a reader sees the first line “I have not loved, “ the poem takes on a suddenly negative tone, but the next line saves the intention of the poem by clarifying with “always.” These lines also seem to portray a shift in the poem. The speaker appears to change from talking about her own experiences to adopting all of the experiences and tribulations of her ancestors.

Sanchez switches to all caps here, recording orality and adding performance to the written form of the poem.

Wite” is seen as a misspelling of “white,” which could be the speaker not wanting so use the actual color name, since it is racially charged. However, “wite” is also a more outdated word to describe guilt, blaming, or accusing. This use of the word may relate to the speaker's guilt or fear about her own experience being unimpressive.

Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.

The speaker uses what could be considered an accent or a dialect, primarily on words that end in “ing.” The speaker replaces the “ing” ending with “en,” which makes the word bringing sound like bringin’, for example.

An illusive remark that is typically suggestive in nature.

Malcolm X, American Muslim minister and human rights activist known for his work during the Civil Rights Movement, a popular, if controversial, figure. Malcolm X served as an inspirational figure for many writers of the Black Arts Movement, including Sanchez.

In this line, Sanchez employs vernacular and uses slashes, a device often used by Black Arts Movement artists to disrupt traditional poetic verse forms and traditional spelling.

Martin Luther King Jr., American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1954 until his assassination in 1968.

Marcus Garvey; political leader from Jamaica who was the first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, commonly considered the father of the "Back to Africa" movement.

African-American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, writer and editor, as well as a founding member of the NCAAP. Known for his writings on race in America, including the foundational Souls of Black Folk (1903).

Women's and voting rights activist, co-founder and vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party, organized Mississippi's Freedom Summer along with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus.

This may reference the hip-hop writer and producer Imhotep, who took his stage name from an Egyptian historical figure.

The 17th-century queen of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in Angola, commonly referred to as the great queen of Africa.

Enslaved preacher known for organizing a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831.

This line references the multiple forms of protest utilized during the Civil Rights Movement.

This is a reference to surviving The Middle Passage, the part of the triangular trade where millions of Africans were packed into ships as part of the slave trade with extremely high death rates.

Jazz as a music genre that originated in African American communities in New Orleans. It was inspired by roots in Blues, a genre that came from African musical traditions, African American work songs, and spirituals.

This line references the Egyptian pyramids as a sign of great African civilization preceding Western civilizations, emblematic of the poem's Afrocentric themes.

This may be a reference to what Bill Cosby was assuming about Black youth.

Prepared food made out of the less desirable parts of stock animals, originally created from the ears, feet, and neck bones given to enslaved peoples for food after slaughter.

In her reading at the Furious Flower 1994 Conference, Sanchez stated that this poem came from a phone conversation with Bill Cosby in which he was asking Sanchez "where's the fire of these young people?" and she replied "Bill, they have a lot of fire, sometimes it gets misdirected."

In this stanza, Sanchez uses repetition and variation to illustrate the importance of passing the fight for freedom and equality through generations.

Literary scholar Yoshinobu Hakutani describes this poem as a rejoinder to Brooks's poem "the mother," which is about the ways in which poverty makes it impossible to bring children into the world--to be a mother--whereas this poem is all about creation, sisterhood, and life.

While Gwendolyn Brooks, whom the poem is dedicated to, grew up in Chicago and was dedicated to her community, her work attracted national acclaim and she taught and spoke across the country, hence restringing her words from city to city.

In several African religions, Olukun (often spelled Olokun) is the orisha (meaning God) of great wealth and of the bottom of the ocean. Olukun is revered as the ruler of all bodies of water and for the authority over other water deities.

This poem might be inspired by or working within the genre of African praise poetry. Praise-Poems exist in many different parts of Africa and are intended to praise the character and achievements of an individual.

Literary scholar Yoshinobu Hakutani argues that the use of this line as a refrain suggests Brooks as a symbol universal motherhood. Sanchez's use of motherhood is rooted in African tradition, likely talking back to western patriarchal christianity's view of Mary as a symbol of universal motherhood.

A type of necklace.

At the Furious Flower 1994 Conference, Furious Flower founder Dr. Joanne Gabbin asked Sonia Sanchez to say something regarding Gwendolyn Brooks and Sanchez wrote this poem right then and there at the conference to honor Brooks.

Gwendolyn Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher. Already a prolific and nationally-acclaimed poet of the mid-twentieth century, in the late 1960s Gwendolyn Brooks would become a central figure in the Black Arts Movement and an inspiration to younger poets such as Sonia Sanchez. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950, making her the first African American to receive the Pulitzer, with the name of the conference--Furious Flower--coming from a line in Brooks's poem "The Second Sermon on the Warpland."

This poem seems to be talking about two different men. There is a black man who is singing the blues that we see in the first stanza, but there is also a white man who is causing the blues, that we see in the second and third stanza.

The "cool breeze" is a reference to the zephyr in the title. This could suggest the the man being called a cool breeze is a symbol of oppression, much like the zephyr.

Doo-wop is a specific type of blues music.

The Walter in this poem is unclear, but it is possibly referring to Little Walter who was an American blues musician.

"Shoo-bee-do" is a phrase used in blues music. This may be a reference to "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day", a 1968 single released by African American recording artist Stevie Wonder.

Blues is a type of African American music that originated in the deep south in the late 19th/early 20th century. Blues often expresses a longing for justice and a better life.

"Blk" is a shortened form of "black". Shortening words this way was common during the Black Arts Movement. The Black Arts Movement was a time for breaking away from standards and ideas about what it meant to be Black. There was a focus on the Black community and African roots.

This is a reference to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Genesis is the creation of life. This may suggest that poetry creates life and is elevated to a godly level.

A wolf whistle is a whistle that implies sexual attraction to someone.

Zephyr can mean a variety of things. It can mean a fine cotton gin, a gentle breeze, or the Greek god of the west wind. This word may suggest the duality between the wind that is mentioned later in this poem and the oppression that the cotton gin symbolizes for African Americans.

This may suggest that poetry is all inclusive and does not conform to any sexual orientations or expectations.

Monosexual means to be attracted to only people of a single gender. Homosexual means to be attracted to people of the same gender. Heterosexual means to be attracted to people of the opposite gender. Bisexual means to be attracted to people of both the same and opposite gender. Asexual means to be not sexually atracted to anyone.

This line could be read as having a sexual connotation, which is a connection to the net stanza.