Category Archives: Culture

Acute Strangeness

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I received a Letter from Him,
in His own handwriting.

Somehow, he is so deserving of my Love?

Hmmmmm. Mmmmmm.
Let me think about that.

4:44, Less than 90 Degrees

ShiLa Iris
P.S. My present temper…

this is not just a faLse pretense.
There is so much more to this story.
Years of respect and patience surface.

He asks questions that matter.
Even those that don’t.

I excavate, I dig.

I’m Listening. Becuz such simpLe things Leave imprints.
He is the most gaLLant Man I know. With the most integrity.
He has moraLs and exercises his wiLL with exceLLent discrimination.

As I change, as I fLow.

I am teLLing you how to save her.
How to save YOU.
PLease do.

A Healing Elixir: the Sound of You

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Walk towards the Dark and into the Light.

Liquid love energy flowing like a run-on sentence, an infinite sentence, words that never stop, but sound so sweet … keep going …

… the sound of you flowing through me ...

You feel like something that has been buried deep

down inside of me that I’ve been wanting to show for so long, so
when I saw you, I knew exactly who you were

I had dreamt about you many many times before, felt you in my core

When I laid across your solar plexus,
felt the pulse in your Kemetic Black skin

When I saw you up against the Sun, I remembered

I knew I would grow to be as strong as you, my light would shine as bright

I only just had to wake up and embrace the strength, the power

When I heard your voice,
water ran down my legs like I was giving birth

I was born in this water

When you touched me,

I was burned with the lava of your movement, tattooed

your energy fused with mine to form the nectar of the divine,
you made my pituitary gland itch,
my seventh cervical vertebrae derailed
an osmosis of a matrix, I developed a twitch

Something started and something ended
It all happened so suddenly…
                                                                               …but gradually, yet fast enough and slow enough for me to be at peace with it, to enjoy it…

______________________________________

This is what it felt like when I remembered a part of myself that was lost.
I wanted to grasp it, while letting it be free,

while watching it grow, while nurturing it.
This is what friendship is,
a remembering of who I was in another life.
That’s you.

Come home.

For all the black, brown, yellow, and red people around the world.
This is where you come from. Wake up.
Walk into Oneness.

Walk towards the Dark and into the Light. 

8/13/20 7:59 pm Franklin Park
poetry by Shila Iris ♥

KWANZAA AFTER DARK: DAY 4

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Reflecting on the days of Kwanzaa…

Kwanzaa After Dark is about reflection.  After you’ve spent the day doing the Afrikan rituals within your community, go home and think about how you, as an individual can change.

We all come from the cradle of civilization.  We all can support Kwanzaa.  Why don’t we?  Think about that.

Thank you for visiting.

Shila Iris,

KWANZAA AFTER DARK: DAY 3

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Habari gani?  This is the question you ask your family, friends, and community at the beginning of each day of Kwanzaa.  In the language kiswahili, it translates to “What’s the news?” 

Your response is simply whatever day of Kwanzaa it is.  So this morning, you responded: “Ujima!”  Tomorrow you respond “Ujamaa!”

DAY 3 – UJIMA:  COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY

*Note:  If the images above appear blurry, please visit my previous post for a clearer view.

Peace and blessings manifest with every lesson learned,

Shila Iris ♥

P.S. Divide and conquer has been a very useful tactic in taking from people of Afrikan descent.  We can fight this!  Let the circle be unbroken.  Fix yourself, so that we can all be together.  I’m in my healing flow, you know?

KWANZAA AFTER DARK: DAYS 1 & 2

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I love to say kujichagulia (koo-jee-chah-goo-lee-yuh). ♥ ♥  It rolls off my tongue very nicely.  So, here I am, Shila Iris, hey ya’ll!!!!  You know I rocks with Kwanzaa on this blog.  Check it out.

DAY 1 – UMOJA: UNITY

DAY 2 – KUJICHAGULIA:  SELF-DETERMINATION

I am Shila Iris.  I should name myself! 🙂

 

UP LATE: All you gotta do is call me

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AL Green – Simply Beautiful

I remember my mother’s love for the music of AL Green.  In fact, she had so much love for this man, she kept a crumbled rose that he had given to her at the Ohio State Fair during the 70s.  I was born in 1984.  She still had that rose wrapped in a plastic bag until the mid-90s!  She had shown up alone, hours early for his concert so that she could get a seat in the front row.  Sitting there, waiting, she didn’t realize that during his soundcheck, he had seen her from behind the curtain.  During the show, he came down off the stage and announced to the crowd that he wanted my mother to have that rose, his leather jacket and scarf for showing such commitment.  I’m sure her ♥ heart ♥ fluttered big time!  What an exciting moment.  I always loved hearing this story.  I too, enjoy AL Green.  I am pleased to share him.

P.S. A rose for Rosemary!  That’s her name.  And as you can imagine, he surely did say, “here’s a rose for Rosemary.” 

I’m up late, listening to these soft words.

Thank you for coming here,

Shila Iris ♥

Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)

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I met him when I was a,
a little girl, he gave me
He gave me poetry
He was my first
But in my heart, I knew I
wasn’t the only one
cause when the tables turned
He had to break up

Do you have a relationship with hip hop?
I do ya’ll and it’s so beautiful.

Let’s go waaaayyyy back.

Learn from the past, always.

Thank you for visiting,

Shila Iris

P.S. Go outside, in the rain.

6 Fantastically Appealing Women 2019

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These days I am very mindful of the things I consume.  I have sensitive eyes, ears, and tastes.  My heart is seeking purity at the highest level.  With an open spirit, I attract great energy and truth.  In my world, this intelligence knows no boundaries.  With each person I come into contact with, I find a positive vibration, even in the darkest of hearts and even when it’s hard to see from behind the masks that we all wear.  I find the duality in all things.  There are lessons to be learned.  Everyone is a teacher.  Allow the light into your life!

Meditate (to think, to ponder, to fix attention) on this powerful feminine persuasion…


United States Representative Ilhan Omar

Activist Tamika Mallory 

Academic Kaouthar Darmoni 

Spiritual Scholar Kamil Oshundara 

Entrepreneur Dawn Dickson 

Gender Activist & Author Samina Ali 

Stay tuned… I have my eyes fixed on 6 wonderfully appealing men as well.

Thank you for visiting.

I am Shila (shy-lah) Iris

To suffer a death-like experience and be reborn, a beautiful mind forms…

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A continuous process of spontaneous growth

My thoughts unfold
revealing stories
knowing of enemies
knowing of friends

Having neither,
I abandon the trend of opinion

Throw caution to the wind
for an intimate experience

These mysteries are taboo
I find the voodoo that renews, the truth

is simple when observed from a safe distance
in close quarters, it is hard to define

Possibilities from a point of view
active forces shaping reality

I stare,
into your eye

Choosing life is sometimes goodbye

Walking along the lines of a beautiful mind,
my heart is as light as a feather

I see numbers, red dots and patterns
deciphering while I’m cyphering

I subtract, then add, instead
having nothing, I have it all

This little light of mine, it shines
I praise dance with my hands in the sky

Summoning, the sum total
the evenness of the odds

The electricity, the heartbeat, I am
one plus one, you, two plus two
Six times, I’ve
chosen this life, this form,
the dark heart of a panther
illuminating when penetrated

Indigo golden rod in the hands of, the
magician disappears
a dying god,
brings peace of mind,
eleven times, I’ve
known for two thousand seasons

Through several lives, I’ve
seen the best when it was the worst
is one in the same
The energy can be

can flow

through me, let go
come to, come be

open your eyes and

breathe me.

Thank you for coming!  I am grateful. 

Creation Myth: Egyptian Goddess Bastet

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If you could morph into a Kemetic Goddess, which one would empower you?
Embracing the allegory of my Ancestors…

Transform into Bastet

Bastet, also known as Bast, was an ancient Egyptian goddess who originally had the role of protecting the Pharaohs. The inhabitants of the lower Nile depicted Bastet as a savage, lion-headed deity. After 1000 BCE, the Egyptians altered her image to the body of a woman and the head of a cat. Along with her change in appearance, she was also transformed into a peaceful and approachable deity. Instead of Bastet protecting Pharaohs, she was now a nurturer and protector of all households. Families soon began to invite cats inside their homes, thinking that they brought with them the spirit of Bastet. They worshiped these cats because they also hunted mice, snakes, and other pests that ruined their crops and their perishable goods. Bastet’s role as a goddess was further altered when she acquired the trait of fertility. Women would purchase pendants with Bastet and multiple kittens to enhance their fertility.1

Statues and depictions of Bastet vary. She transforms from a beast with a female lion’s head, to a woman with the head of a cat, to a regular black cat with kittens who sometimes held a rattle. Some thought the rattle was actually a musical instrument called a sistrum. Because of this, Bastet was also associated with music and dance. Soon after the sistrum was added to Bastet’s image, the Egyptians used the instrument at festivals where they would worship Bastet. Then, Bastet was depicted wearing a decorative dress, carrying the sistrum in her right hand and a shield in her left, with a bag over her arm.2

 

The Egyptians had an explanation for why she was transformed from a savage beast to a fertility and music goddess. Bastet was the daughter of Ra, the sun god who was vengeful. From him she got her aggressiveness. Her mother is unknown, but the Egyptians suspect that Ra sent young Bastet to Nubia as a lioness in isolation. There she was able to let out her rage, and then wander back to Egypt as a docile cat. Later an unknown king proclaimed that Bastet was his mother. Egyptian women then believed worshiping her would provide them with many children, as house cats would typically have up to twelve kittens; and one of her sons became king. Experts believe that the baby rattle was mistakenly interpreted as a sistrum, which led to her being known as a music and dance goddess… this is just one story, do your own research.  

Adapting with the times, enjoying my undomesticated, domesticated life.
Peace and blessings to you.

Shila Iris

After the Solstice…

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“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain…”

-Shila Iris w/ Bob Marley

Everything I Need

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I’d love to have you join me next Saturday for a unique Wine Tasting!  Everyone is welcome!
Dress in your Afrikan garb so we can take some fine family pictures.  If you don’t have any, please, come as you are.  Peace and Joy!

Purchase tickets here or pay at the door.

Shila Iris aka Honey

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April 20

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Be at peace. Be humble.

Live in the Light.

Shila Iris ♥

Throwback Tonight: Happy Kwanzaa!

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Tonight we dance!

The symbols of a culture, a heritage of humanity, mean a lot.  When they begin to disappear, be very concerned.  So, the moral of the story is:  wear your color, wear your art, wear your culture to remind you of where we been and we’re going.  Don’t give up.  Sankofa!

Besides, color is so dope!

I stay woke,
Shila Iris aka Honey

!

The Water

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The water heals
so, I swim deep

the depth of it all
just seems so out of reach

so I fetch, dig deep in my memory
the spirits rise, so again I can see

at the bottom of the ocean
in Labadi beach
The horses, they come for me

I am the master of this ceremony
new life, new mind
3 dollars and 6 dimes
Cause the woman that knows something,
knows that she knows nothing at all
Change

-by Shila Iris