Poem by Imani West

Kitchen Echoes

Society calls it soul food
Laced in black excellence
Perfect healing
There is nothing like it
Birthed from the full belly of the south
Laughter and love
Woven into the scars of a history that they thought had been long forgotten
Turned into something beautiful
Recipes from our ancestors that we remember that are braided into our very existence
Nobody could cook like them
I can imagine the smell of love wafting from the kitchen on a Friday afternoon as the sounds of jazz spoke pigments into the ears of all who listened
It’s the magic of healing that brings us from yesterday to today
Helps the skies lighten up on our darkest days
Makes the pain fade away
Brings us to our own kind of promised land
Makes us heal
And smile