The Alchemy of You...

While I was working on this second and final tribute to E.M.P.ress' lost locs, my favorite poet was busy creating verse for one image that had inspired her from a previous posting that just happened to be a part of this set. Coincidence? Fate? I don't know. But it made for an interesting entry.


This lifetime you've warmed
no one's feet but idly tend
your tresses, instead of rice.
Yours is the patois
of cowboy and cowry.
You cast yourself from
swings with the planter's
daughter. Later taught her the
letters and sounds. A thing
of light and shadow
you are what the Lady
dreams, in spite of herself.


Kansas straw crowns
a head fit only, some
would have claimed,
for the noose. Yet
that gold Cape, that
outpost of haints is ever
in your rear, if only in a
peeling motif of mud, the
skin of a rail-burdened wall.



Those rails stretch then
pull, stretch and pull
like irons hitching con
to coolie to coon. Like
you, each had his own
passage. Like you, none
allowed his lead body to
plumb Atlantic's abyss, but
crossed. And the alchemy
of that crossing is the
alchemy of you.

LeiCole

a tribute to lost locs, part 1

At various times in our lives we all have to shed the baggage of the past and move forward to a positive destiny much lighter than we were before.

So was the case with the Garden's future Interviewer, EMPress. My favorite awkwardly, graceful amazon steps a bit more lightly now but no less beautiful and still full of humble pride. These images are part 1 of a 2 part retrospective of former tresses.

Captures from a walk in a park.

Headshots...locs & ideas...

As I've worked on my images, I have been tossing around the idea of building a portal for the images and the influences...something that reflects the beauty and sensuality of the aesthetic and the cultural influences that it affects and that, in turn, affect it.


It would be a place for forums, maybe some interviews, beautiful photos and art. It could feature gear and products that are important to the look. I've talked to a few friends who are excited about what we could do with it. Some want to really push the envelope a bit more on the images and I have to admit I am interested in that myself. Others are really full of ideas on who we could interview for the site and some of the models, here, really want their products included in the gear talked about. I am interested creating forums for discussion too.


But what about you? Do you have any ideas on what you might want to see? Any ideas on what you might want to see in the blog, here?


I am also looking for more models. For the portal and the blog; Earth Sistas who are natural and sensual. Are you interested? Or do you know a woman who might be?

Empress Fiyah, the gracious amazon

Nobody's smarter because nobody's mind works as hard...



You might not see that right off. Right off, what you see is a the dredloc amazon beauty who's effervescence, charisma and pride all own the room that she walks in. She is pure grace that moves like the awkward queen. She can't help but to be a muse to any creative she meets.

And then this modest diva of an Atlanta underground Caribbean radio station has the nerve to talk and share her brilliant intelligence and broad awareness with you. Always fair and humble with no 'tude, she keeps you on your toes. You can't help but to admire her. Without ever trying, she makes you want to come correct. And we all love her for it