Sojourner describes so well here the multilayers of needs supermarkets satisfy in our community and why this mural matters. We are so honored to have our poem featured on this mural, on the wall of a market that means so much to our folks.
...by Sojourner Ahebee
In the Philly, where I'm from, supermarkets aren't just places to shop for food -- they're vibrant community spaces you come to catch up with neighbors and care for one another. And as a child growing up in Philly, I was lucky to be raised by a community of southern women (my grandmother Sallie and my great aunt Lillian to be exact) who only ate fruits and veggies in season, who could turn any plot of land into lush abundance, who crushed grapes in their backyard for wine, who canned their spring produce so as to live on spring forever... I come from Black women who held their labor close, who worked to make a garden out of their desire. In other words, the poem and the mural are for all the Black women we know who've taught us a thing or two about ABUNDANCE, about making something out of nothing.
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