THE ANCESTORS: INCANTATIONS

BY TRACY SCHLAPP, BRIDGEWORKS OREGON

Blood lines run through all of us that exact equal parts joy and pain, stories of war and famine, abundance, and inheritance. Calling to ancestors was the way the editors at Oregon State Penitentiary chose to lay the ground work for this first ponyXpress journal. The OSP writing group felt that the exercise of conjuring those who came before us would disappear the prison walls, wash away the recent past, and exact a measure of self on a larger continuum. Over the course of the summer, the journal will be released week by week with writing by people who are incarcerated in prisons: including Columbia River in Portland, Coffee Creek in Wilsonville, Eastern Oregon in Pendleton, Powder River in Baker City, Warner Creek in Lakeview, and the epicenter of this project the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. We hope to offer this opportunity to other facilities in the state next year.

In this first week we present two incantations written by Jimmy Kashi and Nolan James Briden who are founding members of the book project Prisons Have A Long Memory that Bridgeworks Oregon published fall 2022. Kashi’s “Tao Tao Mona” and Briden’s “Heartbeat-Speak” toggle between the ancestral messages transmitted to them through spiritual practices, and their personal responsibility to uphold those practices. They coax the ancestors to help define and strengthen their resolve to be better men each day. Briden’s ancestors provide him with the reminder:  “Value the cost of living, take apart the workings that taught the material how to be material, and re-learn your life.”

It strikes me that we all are re-learning our lives, whether it is at the cellular level when we weave new skin over a wound or from the opportunity to rework writing after receiving meaningful feedback. As this project grows and changes, we will try do our very best  as we bring the thoughtful voices of people writing while incarcerated in Oregon.  | TDS