![\"skye_sina_08.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/skye_sina_08.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nSkye & Sina<\/p>\n—-<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0from “Alchemies of Distance”<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0MAY YOUR SLEEP BE BLESSED
\n\u00a0\u00a0(for Ria & the Afro-German sisterhood)<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0may your sleep be blessed
\n\u00a0\u00a0with fragrance: ginger blossoms, white, gold
\n\u00a0\u00a0& pink\/ in the garden where one day we will
\n\u00a0\u00a0work & play together\/ where i will make a bed
\n\u00a0\u00a0of rainbow petals for your back, & a pillow
\n\u00a0\u00a0of blue cloud for your head, may your sleep
\n\u00a0\u00a0be blessed\/ with the shade of mango & coconut
\n\u00a0\u00a0leaves\/ where i will hold you & watch\/ over your dreaming.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0may your sleep be blessed\/ with birds nesting in tall
\n\u00a0\u00a0trees\/ their naked, spindly arms flung out\/ in
\n\u00a0\u00a0wintry benediction\/ over all spirits at rest on
\n\u00a0\u00a0welfenstrasse, in gesing, in heidhausen\/ in
\n\u00a0\u00a0muenchen, in deutschland, in europa, where
\n\u00a0\u00a0you lie down with your brave heart this night.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0may the sleep of our sisters be blessed
\n\u00a0\u00a0this night. black daughters\/ in the cell block\/
\n\u00a0\u00a0in the crazy house\/ in the hospital\/ on the sidewalk
\n\u00a0\u00a0in the rain\/ in the snow\/ in the dirt\/ in the camp
\n\u00a0\u00a0in the barracks\/ on the border\/ on the road\/ black
\n\u00a0\u00a0sisters\/ with your sons\/ with your daughters\/ with
\n\u00a0\u00a0your fine beauty, the colors of earth & sun & shade\/<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0may your sleep bring strength.
\n\u00a0\u00a0may the sleep of our sisters be blessed
\n\u00a0\u00a0this night. & their children, & their lovers
\n\u00a0\u00a0& their brothers. & their loved ones\/ lost
\n\u00a0\u00a0in burning houses\/ spirits leaping out
\n\u00a0\u00a0of flames\/ into black nights of diamond stars
\n\u00a0\u00a0out of burning rooms where the door stuck
\n\u00a0\u00a0shut, where the window stuck shut, where
\n\u00a0\u00a0bright threads of smoke laced the eyes shut.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0may their sleep be blessed\/ with cool breezes\/ &
\n\u00a0\u00a0streams of clear water dancing over deep forest stone.
\n\u00a0\u00a0may the sleep of our sisters be blessed
\n\u00a0\u00a0this night. warrior sisters\/ armed with
\n\u00a0\u00a0broken hearts & spirit medicine\/ warrior
\n\u00a0\u00a0sisters\/ armed by spirit guardians riding
\n\u00a0\u00a0horses of wind\/ warrior sisters\/ armed
\n\u00a0\u00a0with shields of ancestor wisdom & street
\n\u00a0\u00a0wisdom\/ with mother wisdom\/ & baby wisdom,
\n\u00a0\u00a0with girlfriend wisdom & grandma wisdom,
\n\u00a0\u00a0with hip-hop\/ be-bop\/ & boogie-woogie wisdom
\n\u00a0\u00a0with\/ audre lorde, billie holiday & bessie smith
\n\u00a0\u00a0wisdom\/ with sojourner truth, rosa parks &
\n\u00a0\u00a0aretha franklin wisdom\/ with tap-dancing,
\n\u00a0\u00a0sashaying, wide-hipped, brazen hussy wisdom\/ warrior
\n\u00a0\u00a0sisters\/ may your sleep be blessed
\n\u00a0\u00a0on this night\/ on all nights\/ forever
\n\u00a0\u00a0& ever, amen.<\/p>\n
—-
\nCaroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard was born in Utulei village, Tutuila, Samoa.\u00a0 Her poetry and scholarship have appeared in national and international journals, and current projects include co-editing a mixed-genre collection of indigenous writing by Pacific women.\u00a0 She teaches literature and writing at the University of Hawai`i and lives in Manoa Valley.\u00a0 She is the mother of two, and grandmother of Gian Kaur, whose name in Punjabi means “one having knowledge of the divine.”<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.english.hawaii.edu\/tinfish\/sina.html<\/a>
\nExcerpt from
\nA L C H E M I E S _ O F _ D I S T A N C E
\nBy Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard 2002 $12
\nsubpress\/Tinfish\/Institute of Pacific Studies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had the immense pleasure of attending a welcome dinner this week for Samoan poet and scholar Sinavaiana hailing from Oahu’s Manoa Valley, Haiwai’i. I found her poetry in Alchemies of Distance to be powerfully evocative and meditative as is the poetess herself. She is definitely a conjuring woman. I feel fortunate to have experienced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[12,11],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-sisterhood","tag-poetry","tag-sinavaiana"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1c8Xx-58","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"4448.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.kuma2.net\/skyeview\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/4448.jpg\")
<\/p>\n