When I first gauged the reading, it was certainly confusing. The formatting of the text, usage of complex diction, and unending verses, make the content itself difficult. However, that difficulty makes the reading and its message on Afrofuturism more palpable.
Particularly I like how the beginning is in a question and answer segment about what is, Liberia. The text repeats the phrase, “you are” until line 53. This juxtaposes a concept of what Liberia, the subject in question, is to what I perceive as the Western audience sees as Liberia. So it appeals to the binary of Afrocentrism in contrast to Eurocentric views of Liberia.
My main struggle with the passage is the number of times it switches into an entirely new language or goes a while without pausing. For example, “Where sun and fever, brute and vulture, spelled/ The idioms of their faith in whited bones,/ No linguist of the Braille of prophecy ventured” is a confusing verse that doesn’t make much sense even after reading it multiple times (118-120). However, I do believe it is getting at the culture of Liberia and their want to preserve their community.