i am accused of tending to the past
as if i made it,
as if i sculpted it
with my own hands. i did not.
this past was waiting for me
when i came,
a monstrous unnamed baby,
and i with my mother’s itch
took it to breast
and named it
History.
she is more human now,
learning languages everyday,
remembering faces, names and dates.
when she is strong enough to travel
on her own, beware, she will.
Painting: “Still On My Mind” by Kevin WAK Williams
I Am Accused Of Tending To The Past is one of my favourite poems. It sums up who I am and all that I do, especially here on Kentake Page. I first encountered Lucille Clifton in Saundra Sharp’s Black Women For Beginners. Clifton’s poem, Listen was featured on the very last page of the book. At the time, I was a performance poet, and history was the theme of most of my poems. This poem sparked my curiosity about Lucille Clifton, and it led me to I Am Accused. I immediately fell in love with the poem. History was always my favourite subject in high school. I grew up in Kinston, Jamaica, and now live in London, England. Moving to London at 21 and reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X marked a turning point—this was when I truly embraced the past that had been waiting for me. Today, I proudly see myself as a Pan-African history blogger.
Acknowledgement: Lucille Clifton, “i am accused of tending to the past” from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010. Copyright © 1991 by Lucille Clifton. Featured artworks are by Kevin WAK Williams. Visit his website.
