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By Emmanuel Willams

My Sky Father,

If the universe is where greatest mysteries abound. If all I’ve been calling out to is the Universe, then there is a God and there is a Goddess.

Lord knows She is well aware of me by now…

Sky Father, Earth Mother.

About 7% of my blood is Native American. I don’t prefer the term indigenous since I am Black and though I was born in America, my people come from Cameroon, Africa. And once my grandfather took his land from his white slavemaster he sold it again to a Black Man even if they would strongly prefer he sell it to a white man. And yes, it was a plantation.

That 7% is strong with me. 

It came to me when I lived in this neighborhood last. 3 blocks up Colfax and to the right, on Beeler street.

Do not visit me, I will be in Capitol Hill by the time your flight arrives and I will not be divulging that address.

That said, Sky Father, Earth Mother is ancient. An archetype of the Navajo people most ardently. They call her Mother Earth instead.

And she has been as faithful to this literary artist as her counterpart. I don’t know why these two show up more than God Himself, or Christ, or Lucifer even…

I don’t know what it is I have done to have earned a place among their care, but no one has held me down more.

I simply owe Mother Earth the praise for coming to my aid when I have been desperate in alleys and passageways, corridors and cement carpets…

I owe my strength to Sky Father when I am tempted beyond my wildest dreams toward things that would never satiate me, yet are prevalent and dangerous to my path…

I know Sky Father. I know Mother Earth. And they are as real as the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, or the Holy Spirit, or the phase of the moon whence you can glimpse it for more nights than one…

I am convinced. 

Because when I am on my own… With no help, with no concern my way, with no human driving me crazy or needing my assistance, heroic or chorish…

I have Mother Earth. I have Sky Father.

THEY. FOUND. ME!

I have been chosen by these spirits!

I don’t know how else to express the relationship I have enjoyed with these dieties.

Maybe one day I will tell the world what they have done for me. But frankly, those tales are between me, earth, and sky.

I just wanted to let the world know that they are larger than American gods.

Just as my people are not of this place.

I am American and I take immense pride in my life here up to this point, but I am more… I am CONNECTED to more… I am STUCK with powers greater than Christ!!!

AND I WOULD HAVE IT NO OTHER WAY

BE ENCOURAGED!!!