Small-small [Ńtàkị́rị́]

Knowledge of self is like life after death
With that, you never worry about your last breath

—Talib Kweli [Black Star] - K.O.S. (Determination)

I reckon — when I count it all —
First — Poets — Then the Sun —
Then Summer — Then the Heaven of God —
And then — the List is done

—Emily Dickinson

I've been fighting what feels like a bit of flu this week, and haven't really the energy for a full post, but I had a few things to note, so what came to my mind is one of my wife's favorite Nigerianisms. No big ting dis time oh! Na just small-small! Pretty straightforward translation from ńtàkị́rị́ in Igbo, which is a further diminutive of ńtà—small; meager.

I do have a video of the extended mix from the  last post. A few original tracks & demos, and of course poetry—my own, some from Seamus Heaney, Dylan Thomas & Laurie James, whom I mentioned in that post.

Laurie was a friend of mine whom I'd often meet when I went to the western slope of Colorado for poetry events, especially in her home Salida. She died this September, and I went briefly to Salida a couple of weeks ago for a memorial where I ran into many other friends on the poetry scene. One of them, Danny Rosen, has already produced a posthumous collection of her work through his Lithic Press. I don't actually find it in their catalog, but here's a photo of the front cover.

2.
I often feel like an eagle
but I am really a sparrow.
These mornings of sun
drip bright wonder
then at night, I hang with spiders
on their chaotic webs.

3.
Maybe I am just an old crow
who wants to flap around the field
or that old song repeating in my head.
Really, I am only the grass
that keeps waving goodbye.

4.
Perhaps I am the song,
but I want to be the wind.

—laurie James - from Wednesday Woe, First Thought Last Thought

Alright; that will do [Ńgwá; Ozùgó]

Just a couple of quick song recommendations, this time. I happened to watch an odd little documentary on Afrofuturism, and in it heard music by MovaKween, which immediately tripped my fly sensors. Here's a track from earlier this year.

Also, digging this jam and video from Marlowe, their track My People.

Please do consider sharing this newsletter with others, and subscribing, if you haven't (button in the lower right). No new music mix or tech section in this post (small-small oh!) but back the the usual in a fortnight: something new to listen to, some new play on words, a fresh take for tech's sake, with the side sauce of odd juxtapositions. Dá àlụ́-nu!

❧ Égwú 🪘 Ókwú ✍🏿 Ígwè 📡 Ńdụ̀ ❣️