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• 1 2022-12-07T18:56:29-08:00 Ekphrasis 12 Lyric Histories: An Investigation of Early Black (and) Native America through Poetic Vignettes plain 2022-12-08T01:28:25-08:00           Mardi Gras - Louisiana, 1903
  
  As grainy as my view of them
  in history’s record, still, the photo
  shows at least eleven faces,
  most half-masked by sun
  if not by makeup or elaborate
  crowns they must have painted 
  brighter than Louisiana sunrise.
  Which route do they march, retreading
  the peace pipe procession’s path nearly
  two centuries prior? They are frozen
  in high contrast to the tales of Choctaw
  and Yoruba hidden from the streets
  of Newest Orleans, of maroon 
  communities seeking shelter 
  together, or of locals later kept 
  from public traditions by force
  of law. The eleven revelers’ regalia
  adorns them in mystery: whose tribe
  do their bright smiles comprise?
  Have they, with moccasined feet, stood
  among the ghosts of Congo Square? 
  Only the power tower appears clear
  behind them, less clear is what it means
  to squint at Yellow Pocahontas but strain
  less at the sight of Black Cherokee.
  Did the youngest among them lose
  the tongues of Bulbancha? Will they
  still be Indian after the second line
  comes home? Who do they become
  in this photo, fading already
  as it was taken—who, if not more 
  themselves?