"It's in Me" by Cheryl Johnson
Editor's note: On Thursday, February 11, UTO family member Cheryl Johnson recited an original poem titled "It's in Me" to over 300 UTO family members at the monthly virtual Town Hall. Together, UTO explored the powerful symbiotic relationship between culture and innovation, celebrated Black History Month and heard from guest speaker Larry Irving, originator of the term “digital divide."
It's in Me
by Cheryl Johnson
One day I remembered, I am in Creation; Creation is in me
Unrestrained by time, Creation is awesome, powerful, mighty
Reaching through ages of time and embers of mystery
Creation beckoned, I was awakened by its urgency
What have you learned, what do you see?
Do you accept it is I reaching for thee?
Believe you are not forgotten, relegated to the past; of antiquity
As you live, as you breathe, inwardly hear your mothers’ and fathers’ jubilee
Rejoice! I recall they shouted, at last she feels her heritage, our ancestry
Oh, the stories they could tell of woe and misery
But since you asked daughter, today we will speak instead on Life’s symphony
They say, in our arrogance of many things we claim mastery
We have forgotten, the beauty of sound existed before humanity
There, the sound of love fills the world, words cannot explain such majesty
Every living thing makes sound, roar of waves, buzz of bee
In this place, it takes no ears to hear, no eyes to see
Love, the essence of all there is; woven into earth’s tapestry
To take part for a moment, fills me with joy unimaginable; I am reduced humbly
Stop! The land commands before you speak more of our history
Child, it is not etiquette but respect to greet elders, First People, who for me, make melody
Rhythmic chants, pounding feet, drumming beats, sounds of celebrations, gloriously
With permission I move on to music enslaved people used to be free
Music of love is creation; it cannot be chained, caged; told where it can live; or who it can
and cannot be
Music, like love, is not murdered in the street, confined by age, gender, race or nationality
This explains how all around the world we translate notes and measures into harmony
Elements of sound played on trumpets of Louis Armstrong and Dizzie Gillespie
Evoke memories, emotions, spaces of the imaginary
To hear Etta James and Muddy Waters sing the blues, magically
Music transports you; moves you to laughter or melancholy
Bittersweet thoughts of my Momma playing Marvin Gaye, Helen Reddy, Dionne Warwick; a
grand variety
Sweeps in smiles and tears, as I hold music close; savor its role in my family
To celebrate our history is to pause, reflect, remember to feel Creation’s magnificent rhapsody
I have learned; I know with absolute certainty
It lives in you; it lives in me.
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Watch Cheryl recite the poem during UTO Family Town hall on February 11: