Greg Kimura [dedicated](https://www.ravensunpoetry.com/new-page#:~:text=Cargo%20was%20dedicated) Cargo to our shared teacher, Malidoma Somé. Malidoma’s—the Dagara teaching—about the contract we each make with Spirit before our birth rings loudly in this poem. I have been unable to track down an original publication citation for Cargo. Greg passed away in 2017, and the loves he left behind can be seen clearly in [this heritage](https://www.forevermissed.com/the-bad-poet/about) website dedicated to him. In your wandering, may you linger there a moment. I did now know nor did I ever meet Greg. I heard Cargo at a grief ceremony in Washington Sate in early 2025 from the Queen of Pleasure herself, Tere Carranza. I’ve seen the poem reprinted several times missing the final stanza, which I did not discover until I found it reprinted on the heritage site I listed above. Seeing as that listing comes from someone who shared his name, I trust it as original. ### The Poem: _(for Malidoma Some)_ You enter life a ship laden with meaning, purpose and gifts sent to be delivered to this hungry world, and as much as the world needs your cargo, you need to give it away. Everything depends on this. But the world forgets its needs, and you forget your mission, and the ancestral maps used to guide you have become faded scrawls on the parchment of dead Pharaohs. The cargo weighs you heavy the longer it is held. Spoilage becomes a risk. Your ship sputters from port to port and at each you ask: "Is this the way?" But the way cannot be found without knowing the cargo, and the cargo cannot be known without recongizing that there is a way, It is simply this: You have gifts. The world needs your gifts. You must deliver them. The world may not know it is starving, but the hungry know, and they will find you when you deliver your cargo and start to give it away. ### Read aloud: ![[Cargo.m4a]]