before the poem enters,
a word of honoring.

Àṣẹ.

pronounced {ah-SHAY}.

from the Yorùbá people of West Africa,
and the wisdom stream of Ifá ~
where word and world are not yet separated.

it does not mean so be it.

it means
what has been spoken
is already moving...
already alive...
already taking form.

it is the force given to everything ~
breath, water, stone,
the song that finds you,
the prayer you did not know
you were praying.

so when a poem
closes with Àṣẹ
the poem does not end.

it enters the room.
it enters the moment.
it enters the one
who has been listening.

may what arrives here
arrive cleanly

word into living
experience.

Àṣẹ.

sk

~ PoetSK™