Bloody Kente is bloody

black solid and strong and old 

rivers sometimes lead home and sometimes far far away 

a spring feeding the earth birthing bloody

green like bloody kente.

 

mother, my Kente is bloody 

blue like the evening sun sky

with streaks of dark and bloody

orange on my bloody kente.

the middle of the day bloody

orange as the sun is, warm and bearable

it is not like

when I am stopped in thermal freeze

when it is too hot to move about

with mother bearing down 

in startling intensity.

Bloody Kente is bloody

gold royal gold kunta kinte gold 

like a king!

full like a fishmarket boiling with masses bloody

white and other bloody colors 

and seething in plentifulness. 

bloody gold and plenty is good 

and royal bloody

purple I thought? 

bloody kente, mother, is bloody

purple, mother, like earth and home

you would have thought it

more the royal prince than its forebearer

but no just home and health 

(ebibibiri) shut out your eye

it is fine here

that your bloody kente is all these colors.

It is beautiful, but it looks bloody?

Bloody colorful you say?

Ah well, you must be dripping 

from jumping into the world headfirst?

dinner is on the table, 

and mother is waiting.