Our joy can be summoned sometimes. At other times it can remain a distant stranger, far from us.
For the in-between times, rituals can call us home.
—–
I open my phone and scroll until I get to my favorite selfie. A selfie. I take in the screen.
Surely I am no accident. Look at me. Good-Just How I am. Who I am.
I look at my favorite pictures of my family. I soak them all in.
Phone down now I turn on some of my favorite music.
Sometimes I dance and at other times…like now I sit and let the music wash over me.
Digable Planets floats on melodic wings all around me
and enough tension is relieved so that I can…smile.
Looking at photos. Listening to my favorite music intentionally,
these are just two on-ramps in this ritual that honors Black Joy.
I massage my neck and take it all in.
Robert Monson