CONVERSION
African Guardian of Souls,
Drunk with rum,
Feasting on a strange cassava,
Yielding to new words and a weak palabra
Of a white-faced sardonic god—
Grins, cries
Amen,
Shouts hosanna.
About This Book
The work assembles lyric sketches, poems, and short stories that move between the rural Black South and the urban North, rendering scenes of field labor, small-town intimacies, migration, and city struggle. Its language blends musical, imagistic poetry with prose vignettes, shifting tone from sensual celebration and folklore to psychological tension and spiritual searching. Structurally divided into three parts, it juxtaposes primitive southern evocations, a middle section of urban self-consciousness, and a return offering more meditative, symbolic pieces. Recurring themes include racial identity, desire, community, and the search for meaning through artistic and spiritual expression.