K
aranga created Kwanzaa in California
in ’66;
seven candles on the kinara
for seven principles in Swahili,
seven days
after Christmas and overlapping Hanukkah;
red, green and black:
noble blood from the lush continent and people dark
reconnecting back to African roots ancestral—
light the candles on the mkeka,
lay out the corn,
join hands around karamu and
bless the extra “a”;
celebrate community and the bonds of culture.