Studio Magazine

mystical black bird

Tadáskía

Tadáskía reads aloud her poem, ave preta mística mystical black bird

I dedicate it to black sisters and black brothers
de fora

to black women and black trans people
to people who care about children
and to people who are equally children at heart


in the dream I meet all the mystical birds
of the other worlds
together
at the same time
we’re black old and young


we are born every night
and at dawn
according to our drawing
which extends and modifies itself


we spread out
and the water splashes our body
we are ready
towards a journey
of freedom


our arc of sense
forming
the horizon line
I closed my eyes
made a happy wish
my mind was silent


from the Mystical Black Birds family
we are also known as
the Enchanted Hens
inspired by Sankofa
friends of the magic


we look to see if our sisters, the black ones,
are trapped or flying


in our prayers
we adorn
of colors and sparkles


our beaks harvest delights


and by the grace of the nights
they kiss the stars


cosmic malleable force
within us


will there be anyone who recognizes us?


slipping in the mountains
stained with pigments
colorful
many clouds and lands pass through my feathers


I’m a ballerina, I’m an enchanted powder


there’s no reason to get stuck here or there
there’s no reason to hold me anywhere


I spin I spin on a party day I spin
free black
mystical


I carry my colored necklace and my mirror


cowries, feathers, paws


saints, witches, fairies


from the divine plane
we walk on the earthly plane


gorgeous in our shifting garments


plan yes plan no


my beak is a flower


no fear
my plumages shivered
I hand over me to the change


day yes day yes


insights in my flights, I sleep and wake up;
from the darkness
multiform
sparks guide me


modulating the flight lines
my beak is an adventurer


crooked, spaced colors, being born
– our winged transformation –,
I know when I’m not on the right lines


I admit the constituent error of every flight:
I redraw the routes of my sensitivity over again

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