A poetic musing by Sun Ra

Yes, Sun Ra wrote poems and published some with Amiri Baraka, when he was writing and living as LeRoi Jones. And for the record, Amiri/LeRoi was brilliant writing as both. I was so honored when he agreed to let me publish his short story, “Rhythm Travel” in my first anthology, Dark Matter. Mr. Baraka sent it to me with a hand illustrated letter! Here is one of Sun Ra’s poems. You can read more in his books, This Planet is Doomed: The Collected Poetry of Sun Ra and Sun Ra: The Immeasurable Equation – Collected Poetry and Prose.

 

There is a land

Whose being is almost unimaginable to the

Human mind.

On a clear day,

We stand there and look farther than the

ordinary eye can see.

Far above the roof of the world,

We can encompass vistas of the worlds.

There is a land

Where the sun shines eternally …

Eternally eternal:

Out in outer space

A living blazing fire,

So vital and alive …

There is no need to describe its splendor.

***

For me, Afrofuturism, Afrosurrealism is a creative force powered by exile, by displacement, by invisibility and erasure — and all the contradictory emotions that live within. But if Afrofuturism is conceived in exile, its birth evokes a reclamation, a reinvention of the past. It is a strange and wondrous futuristic hoodoo. It can be joyful and cunning, its wit sharp as Shango’s axe, its reach wide as Olurun’s arms. Afrofuturism is alternately angry and awe-inspiring, deferential and defiant. Boldly irreverant, built on the past, it stakes its claim on our future.

Dream well, walk good.

Sheree Renée Thomas