Toni Morrison - Akua Naru

My favorite novel by Toni Morrison is «Sula», 'cause I feel like—

I remember, in the book «Song of Solomon», one of my favorite books,

there was a group of vigilantes called Seven Days, I believe they were called,

and they—

My favorite Toni Morrison book is still «The Bluest Eyes».

every time I read

this book—

My favorite for Toni Morrison is —

«Beloved»

My favorite by her would have to «Beloved" —

book and «The Mercy" —

My favorite Toni Morrison book is «The Bluest Eye" —

«Beloved»

Used to wonder «Whose little girl am I?»

The fifth woman inside, bangin' Simona, Mama’s old 45s

score for «The Bluest Eye»

Kept they yearnin' low tide until Pecola bought that bird in the mine

Most vulnerable kind, black girl, lost and could find

In that double conscious outlined by Du Bois in his prime

Who heard us cry when the dawn told us black was a crime?

Arrest your walk with that sword in your spine

, tragic victim of time, rewind the memory

Collective genetics took you to write that simile

Inscribe the cage, find joy through the pain

And Frankie Beverly, trapped in the maze, made niggas and slaves

and maids made to lay a made bed

Spread legs, master’s entertainment

Prescribed invisible lives till you reframed it

Denied the white gaze, another brush to paint with

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

One hand hold the pen (Uh)

One pen hold the people (One hand, one pen, uh)

How can one hand hold the pen (Uh, one hand)

One pen hold the people?

(One pen, uh)

One hand hold the pen (Uh)

One pen hold the people (Uh, yo, uh, yo) (Toni Morrison)

Now, though the world was three-fifths and fractured

We whole and main characters

Female protagonists, centralized blackness

That «Tar Baby», that «Jazz» riff that came after

That Shadrack horror when war left us shattered

A literary photograph capture born

Before the wounded, was you who knew the magic from the rain

The thunder, the blood, the delightful compassion

Showed us that bottom was the top, re-imagine, yes

See how you write with the hands of God

Layers, facades, calm, poised, Phylicia Rashad

Reading your storm over us all

Mother and daughter bonds, braided and torn

All the chaos, Sula watched the bird from the front yard

Mother of metaphor, the height of Zeus be your lexicon

«Song of Solomon» songs go on

A Pulitzer, Nobel Prize in human form

The livin', the dead, you honored us all

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

(Toni, huh)

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people (Uh)

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people (Toni Morrison)

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

(Uh)

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people (Toni Morrison)

Toni Morrison

One hand, one pen, Toni Morrison, uh

One hand, one pen, the people (Toni Morrison)

Toni Morrison is so important because her writing is a visualization into the

depth of meaning of the black experience.

She uses the rich mythology and

metaphors of the African-American experience to anchor and enrich her personal

imagery in the book.

Her work demonstrates both the uniqueness and the

universality of African-American life.

Her work heals the disrupted ancestral

energies, heals the torn ancestral soul, and reveals the beauty, vigor, pathos,

and durability of African-American life and culture

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

(Uh)

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people (Toni Morrison)

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

(Toni Morrison)

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people (Toni Morrison)

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people (Uh)

How can one hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people?

(Uh)

One hand hold the pen

One pen hold the people (Toni Morrison)

Toni Morrison

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you

Toni Morrison

Thank you