For T.D.
Ashanti Princess!—words roll off the tongue
Like melody, and yet, precisely fit
Our Tyra. Sturdy, tall, strong, serene—sprung
From disheveled family, her sharp wit,
Blunt bone (ripened Ghanaian fruit), deep delve,
Within arcane string theory, to point out
(Gently correcting me) it needed twelve,
Not ten dimensions, and, further, account
For precise, two-handed, wicked, backhand
Strokes—the envy of the courts! Beautiful
Is too bland, too thin a word—her grandeur
Thunders majesty; grace displays her cool.
When I sought in ancients—Nefertiti,
Cleopatra—those cheekbone origins,
Others set me straight (with arch, knowing grins)—
Her high cheeks bloomed from native Cherokee!
Who better fit to sit on King Tutu’s
Divine, enchanted, potent Golden Stool?1
(7/21/08)
1 “Essential to Ashanti nationhood is the legend of the ‘Golden Stool’ (sika ‘dwa); the legend actually tells of the birth of the Ashanti kingdom itself. In the seventeenth century, in order for the Ashanti to win their independence from Denkyira, then another powerful Akan state, a meeting of all the clan heads of each of the Ashanti settlements was called. In this meeting, the Golden Stool was commanded down from the heavens by Okomfo Anokye, the Priest, or sage advisor, to the very first Asantehene (Ashanti king), Osei Tutu I. The Golden Stool floated down from the heavens straight into the lap of Osei Tutu I. Okomfo Anokye declared the stool to be the symbol of the new Ashanti union (‘Asanteman’), and allegiance was sworn to the Golden Stool and to Osei Tutu as the Asantehene. The newly founded Ashanti union went to war with Denkyira and defeated it.” [Wikipedia]