Quinzee The Artist
Untitled Pencil Drawing
Response
15 Horizons in Ultra Space
By Darice Jones
Inspiration piece
These two beautiful beings prefer to be called my daughters
In all their manifold non-binary glory
I named them Kenya and Cameroon in honor of two countries on the origin lands
My other three daughters are Benin, Niger, and Ghana
My 2 sons are Medu Netur and Haiti
All of my children carry with them the languages associated with their names
They all dress in bright colors, like me, and love singing and dancing in the roads
They all look just like each other and you have to engage them to know who they are, how they are, what they want, and what they can do
We left assumptions and short-hand on the dying planet Earth
One of the gifts of this current move to the far reaches of space is that humanity gave up gender and race as ways of identifying each other
So my children are free from the burden of prescribed lives in ways I’ve only just begun to get used to for myself
I am Alkebulan, named for the original land of humankind, the largest land mass on Earth from which Kem or Black people spread out to populate the earth
We traveled to all the lands of the earth and developed different physical features, shades, and cultural practices depending on where we landed
We understood ourselves as a part of nature, so we lived in harmony with life in most places on earth even after the lands broke apart
Then, some of the more immature souls on Earth spiraled into a consciousness of scarcity and became obsessed with controlling others and amassing more resources than they needed
They rejected the core principles of sharing and taking care of everyone
They rejected the knowledge that we all came from the same source
They killed, pillaged, and hoarded for generations using the technology they learned from Kem to exact violence upon their siblings around the world
They retold histories and erased their teachers, making themselves the only curators of knowledge
They rejected spiritual knowledge and replaced it with absolutes, rules, and rewritten texts to subdue people everywhere under the lore of an invisible god who judged, punished, and hated
Their plans worked for them for a long time
But ultimately created an uninhabitable planet
And an illness swept the places where the hoarders and power-obsessed lived
Suddenly, within a week of its onset, they were all gone
And only we, those with average resources who still felt connected to nature and each other, remained
We immediately banned together with the ethical scientists, healers, and light workers
Incredibly it only took one year to develop the migration plans from Earth to Zumi
When we moved to the 23rd planet from the Sun, where hilariously, it was little green beings who welcomed us there
Just like in the old American fairytales about what people on other planets were like “little green men”
These beings were not men, more like a combination between humans and glowing green fish
They moved easily between the lush green lands and the sparkling green waters on Zumi
Since they only practiced naming very few things, they allowed us, the earthlings to name the planet
We voted to call it Zumi, because that’s what the majority of the children wanted
And one of our new core tenets by which to live is “Listen well to the children.”
Our new way of being brings forward the best of what Kem had created with their Black skin and brilliant minds all along the Nile river which once stretched from the top to the bottom of the continent, connecting all of the peoples to the source of life
As we prepare our new home on Zumi with the help of the Fro (that’s what we call our green hosts)
I have invited all my children into a process of visualization
We will consider what ways we will engage in our family, our communities, and as stewards of the bountiful resources of Zumi in order to expand life and leave beautiful things for future generations to enjoy
They are very excited to do this as a family, and then to do it again with their friend groups, then again with the Fro
“Visualize and embody beauty” is another core tenet the remaining people of Earth decided on before our migration
We were all stunned to realize that without the power brokers, global thieves, hoarders, and killers, the rest of humanity fell quite easily into reason
We moved quickly from reason to curiosity
Then, from curiosity to visualization
Collective visualization led to collective action
And now here we are on new, lush planet, joined in permanent family with our green hosts and with each other
Enjoying 15 daily horizons in ultra space as the suns move around, each with its own color scheme and its own impact on human emotions
There is one that puts you in mind of the Arora Borealis
Another that looks like the red rose petals blowing in the wind
There is a horizon that resembles the water rushing in on a west coast beach from the Pacific ocean
And yet another that looks like rainfall in the lush green hills of Thailand
We have grown as a species and shed so many of the petty things from before
There is beauty created and exchanged without commerce
There is connection without competition
There is building without individual ownership
There is collaboration without the exercise of power
So, we live a lot longer and get to see no less than 18 generations do their thing
We are so much stronger and healthier because we now study sciences, land-based healing, and spirituality all under the same umbrella
We’ve released the density of the way we thought and moved on Earth and, because of that we have healed ourselves and each other
I can hear my children coming now and I can’t help but giggle
They could never sneak up on anyone because they are so often in collective song
The call and response traditions from Kem
I hear Kenya, Cameroon, Benin, Niger, Ghana, Medu Netur, and Haiti
Singing in perfect harmony
I can feel the many colors they wear and the warmth of their hearts
Their liberated living is a dream my ancestor Nalo had many millennia ago – and I laugh out loud, here and now, on her behalf
Written By Darice Marcella Jones
In the Year of Octavia Butler 2023
©2023
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