The Somatic Experience of Reading Black Girl Call Home
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by Dani Scott
“I think you would like and appreciate this” was the phrase I heard when my neighbor handed me the book Black Girl Call Home. I was excited to see it was a book of poems because I love the dance, rhythm, flow, and unfolding that poems have given me when reading and writing them. I was also curious as to why this book landed in my sphere. I sometimes ask myself these whys or dig for deeper meanings and other times, like this one, I allow the adventure of exploration to reveal it’s meaning in my now. So, I lit an incense, I got a blanket from the basket, and I curled up on my couch to start my adventure through the pages of Black Girl Call Home.
The adventure…..
This book was very somatic for me as I read. Jasmine Mans’ words not only felt like things I had experienced personally, energetically, and through ancestral bonding, but the fragrant presence of smell from the burning incense while I journeyed through each page provided another level of connection and pleasure to reading. This was huge for me, because I am not a bookworm and reading for pleasure is a newly developed practice.
I love lighting candles and do this as a daily ritual post-entering my home and, yes sometimes, I intentionally light them when I am about to read or write, but incense is not a common burning in my home and hadn’t ever been apart of my reading and writing routine until that moment...during my first reading of Black Girl Call Home and now as I am writing this. Here is why.
As I continued to read, the smell of the incense lingered, making space for me to dive beyond the words written and read and be with them. The smell invited in memories. It was woodsy: allowing me to lean into the adventure of life’s unfolding with myself and with others like my family, friends, and strangers. It was nurturing: allowing me to appreciate the moments I have shared with my mom. It was smoky: reminding me of a house fire our family had that shaped my view of the gift of living. It was strong and lingered even after burning, much like that of a love story, like ones I have experienced. It reminded me of the smell from a flower in bloom showing me how far I have come in my evolution of my identity, beliefs, morals, and values. Lastly, but certain not least, it smelled like home, an environment lived in and through both pain and beauty.
Before this moment, I had never experienced a somatic unfolding as I read, but the entirety of the experience allowed me to be present in my personal black girl call home. It awakened memories that allowed me to witness the poems on each page, but also be with each word, each poem, and to dance alongside Jasmine. I am grateful and will continue to allow my adventures in this lifetime to be without limits and allow myself to experience other never before moments. I hope and know you will too.