Listen to: Voyage of Kianda (from Angola to the Caribbean)
(Art Formerly Known As The Sable Venus Speaks Back)" by Sherese Francis

"Now

I hold onto memory any way I can


:Kipula and n’golo
                   

:capoeira::


taste of leafy greens, okra, fish in calulu

:caruru and callaloo.


Laveau
knew it :: gumbo.And she held her
 

snake Zombi high.


:I hold on closer with Nzambi and Evambi,

but you whipped them

into Delphi. Think dolphins



are close enough approximations


for what they are.

But in the roar of waves below I hear



them telling me that it isn’t so."


                     
                     ---------


ALTeks Field Notes #1: Unidentified Submerged Objects


This month I saw an episode from Forbidden History on the Science Channel about the Bermuda Triangle and the mysterious disappearances around that area. Through that episode I learned a new term, USOs — Unidentified Submerged Objects -- objects seen over, on or under water that witnesses were unable to recognize. Some associated these objects with UFOs and aliens, which they claimed were the cause of the extreme energies around the Bermuda Triangle. Others said it was associated with the Navy and its project Autec (Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center). But it is interesting how none of the theories in the show ever mention a connection to the history of slavery.

Why wasn't it a possibility that the vortex of energy around the Bermuda Triangle could be caused by those who were thrown overboard from slave ships? The shape of which mimics the trade routes of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade?


I did some research to look further into it. One of the sources I found was from Face2Face Africa talks about how the drowned spirits may be a theory behind it. According to a psychiatrist named Dr. Kenneth McAll, allegedly he could hear haunting sounds while traveling across the waters around Bermuda and believed it was from those who were drowned. Since water is a storer of energy, what would it mean to explore how the energies of those who were drowned in the Atlantic still remain there and are affecting the physical materiality and realities of the Earth?

In the same episode, I learned about how those who lived on the island of Bermuda would take part in wrecking, which was the act of salvaging materials from the shipwrecks that would happen near the island. What if we did a similar kind of wrecking process in which we begin to salvage the lost histories and voices of those in the Atlantic?


Earlier this month, I attended a dance/performance art project called underCURRENTS curated by Nia Love in which she explored the haunting histories found in water and what does it mean to return to a "door of no return," something I've been thinking about as I prepare for my trip to Senegal next year. What does it mean to return? And as a student of language, it is also synchronous that the letter D's origin was a delta (triangle) sign. All of this has me thinking more about Black people, sea diving and the action of wrecking. I found this video called, “Black scuba divers explore the wreckage of slave ships and the 'untold American story’” where this group of Black divers, Diving with a Purpose, search for shipwrecks of slave ships for the purpose of maritime archeology. What if return isn't only about land, but also about water, too? I hope to continue exploring these ideas throughout the rest of the year and continuing on my trip to Senegal next year. This is the first of my field notes which I will continue on my Patreon page if you would like to support.

Abstract Thought (one of the electronic music Drexciya’s side projects and the comic book about it) — Bermuda Triangle from album Hypothetical Situations 



LISTEN TO:Abstract Thought-Bermuda Triangle 

from Sherese:


I saw these public art pieces at the Governors Island Ferry today; the artist is Duke Riley.



Sherese Francis (she/they) describes themselves as an Alkymist of the I-Magination, finding expression through poetry, interdisciplinary arts, workshop facilitation, editing, and literary curation. Her(e) work takes inspiration from her(e) Afro-Caribbean heritage (Barbados and Dominica), and studies in Afrofuturism and Black Speculative Arts, mythology and etymology.

Some of their work has been published in Furious Flower, Obsidian, Rootwork Journal, The Caribbean Writer, The Operating System, Cosmonauts Avenue, No Dear, Apex Magazine, Bone Bouquet, African Voices, Newtown Literary, and Free Verse. Additionally, Sherese has published four chapbooks, Lucy’s Bone Scrolls (Three Legged Elephant, 2017), Variations on Sett/ling Seed/ling (Harlequin Creature, 2018), Recycling a Why That Rules Over My Sacred Sight (DoubleCross Press, 2021) and Lady Liberty Smashing Stones (THRASH Press, 2022). Sherese was a finalist for the Furious Flower poetry prize ( 2020 ) and CAAPP Book Prize (2021), and won The Caribbean Writer’s Vincent Cooper Literary Prize (2021) for the poem, "SomNuh/Mbulist (Patois Possession)."

Sherese also has received grant awards from Queens Council on the Arts, NYFA and NYSCA and residencies from WorksonWater and LMCC. Besides publications, Sherese has had her(e) work featured in various exhibitions and showcases from The Lit Exhibit, NY Live Arts, Queens Public Library, York College Arts Gallery, King Manor Museum, WorksOnWater, Flushing Town Hall, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, Jamaica Flux, Baxter St Camera Club, Bliss On Bliss, Maleza Proyectos, The Rubenstein Art Center and Ely Center for Contemporary Art.

For more info:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/sheresefrancis 
IG: @afutureancient.

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