Ayo's Poem

1. • 
     

     the fig tree is still

     no birdsong silent

     Sitting Bull & I know

     
     

     it knows I am leaving
     landless me in conversation
     with Oya who tells me
     change is on the wind
     so I have packed my bags
     I am once again on the
     path rocks and all traveling
     forward, sword at my side,
     wind at my back
     searching for light
     looking for ink cups
     on the sills of windows
     to write down my
     dreams in indigo

      

     —Ayodele Nzinga
     
     Ayodele, now Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, PhD, is Marvin X's top student, since she enrolled in his drama class at Laney College, 1981. She has directed several of his play, including In the Name of Love, Laney College Theatre, 1981, One Day in the Life, Malonga Center, 1996, Flowers for the Trashman, 2009. Dr. Nzinga is founder and director of the Lower Bottom Playaz in West Oakland. There she has produced the works of August Wilson (working on the complete cycle), Opal Palmer Adisa and her own. She has turned her six children into thespians.