If the Moon is in Flower...

By Nzingha Hazelton in Full Moon — May 4, 2023

shot with telescope by @johnofalltrades, April 2023

May the Flower be the Moon.

[twin.cafe]

Dear Friends, Family & Community,

A phrase from a poem I wrote a few years ago came back to me this morning:

a type of mill where contemplation took place

It has come back to me as I consider satisfaction and struggle, wrestling and gain, pain. As I consider spaces of contemplation, and moments of retreat, spaces for me which have included long-distance running or walking.

Maybe, in this case Harriet Jacobs' loophole of retreat is more apropos as it is not escape that I seek but the regular exercise of retreat, the practice of repose.

I have been thinking today of labor, and pain, and struggle and the fruits of those types of things. Is it because the harvest of summer and fall is near? Am I simply hungry for an August peach? Or, is it that I do not know or am not sure what my struggle will look like in the future months, years. What is it, NZ, that you will commit to? Lay down and fall for. Wake up and fight for. What is it, NZ, that you are willing to die for.

I think it was mama, Mama Nonkululeko, that used to ask my brothers and sisters occasionally this question, or at least posed us the memory and recollection of freedom fighters who laid down their bodies in the face of struggle, for the liberation, for the freedom of black people. This is a question I am asking this May. A question, that I once posed in the poem below.

As the May Flower Moon approaches, we offer you an array of events, services, exhibits & showings blooming mostly in the city of New York, but as far as Kerala. And, also a book recommendation.

We wish you well this May and will be back closer to the end of month.

With Love,