THE GRIOT
NOTES: Ìtánforitì - esoteric history. Ìrókò - a majestic tree (Chlorophora excelsa) in Yorùbá culture, symbolizing strength and spirits. Yorùbá is a prominent nation in Africa. Olúwéré - the spirit dwelling within the Ìrókò tree. Abass Fárẹ̀mi - a notorious slave trader in West Africa's Dahomey Republic. Àrọ̀nì - a mythical figure of immense power, master of charms and African sciences.
Long ago, our ancestors whispered, frenemies sailed from distant coasts, luring pure hearts with iron chains.
In scornful glee, they shattered our lands, silencing our tongues with their own. Across the chasm, they reveled in our folly's spoils:
by sword, they estranged our sacred rites, dethroned our kings for hollow dogmas, and chanted their creed—"touch not my anointed!"
Posing as saints, they stole the suckling babes, seized youths by rushing streams, conquered adults in brutal raids— even those bartered for fleeting trinkets, scarred across vast oceans by these hypocrites, pots calling kettles black.
Ìtánforítì, like ancient seers, witnessed farewells at the Well and Door of No Return, the transatlantic barter of Abass Fárẹ̀mi, the horrors of the Middle Passage.
A child mocks the Ìrókò and flees; Olúwéré lingers, exacting revenge. The blood of slain kin haunts Bermuda still, demanding restitution for yesterday's sins.
Only Àrọ̀nì, whose tormented offspring were ferried to their fate, could unveil to Juan de Bermúdez the enigma of those depths.
Tosin writes under the name Ajekunrin of Africa — poems, plays, and essays about home, distance, and what gets left behind.
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