{"id":501,"date":"2025-05-06T16:06:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=501"},"modified":"2025-05-06T16:06:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:06:04","slug":"fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=501","title":{"rendered":"Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackmanwrites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fire.webp?resize=512%2C512&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackmanwrites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fire.webp?w=512&amp;ssl=1 512w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackmanwrites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fire.webp?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackmanwrites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fire.webp?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackmanwrites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Fire.webp?resize=70%2C70&amp;ssl=1 70w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I rose this morning smelling like smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But last night, I\u2019d been cleansed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was the fire, you see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brothers around the flame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our ancestors\u2014Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, and many others\u2014shining through our lit faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Kings. Noblemen. Scholars. Griots.<br>Their blood in our rhythm. Their light in our eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baptized by the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baptized by fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Black Thought spitting embers of knowledge from the pit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fire. The light. Enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We spoke in wise council by the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We sought counsel by the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We moved to the rhythm in the background\u2014our ancestors on the drum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stories of the hunt\u2014not for wild game, but for birdies and eagles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The weapons now clubs\u2014precision over power, finesse over force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wisdom evoked by the spirits\u2014in this case, Weller\u2019s white label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collectively speaking things into existence\u2014incantations by the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Libations poured for our newest ancestors\u2014into the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basking in Blackness, around the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Men united and reunited at the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fire can cauterize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fire can burn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fire can heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iron sharpens iron\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>our collective swords forged here, in this fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where there is fire,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>there is Smoke, and Stack\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>and <em>Sinners<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I rose this morning smelling like smoke. But last night, I\u2019d been cleansed. It was the fire, you see. Brothers around the flame. Our&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blackness","category-inspirations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}