We talked to writer and founder of all of her words, Eniafe Isis
From all her words
INTERVIEW
Eniafe is not someone to put in a box. She writes (a lot), inspires and created all her words, a platform for women to share their stories, journeys, reflections in the realest way it can get.
With Eniafe, we talked about Juneteenth, the power of words and of course music. Check this out.
koladapina : How are you doing especially with everything going on following the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor ?
Eniafe : My new word for how I am has been “leveled”. The feelings are high, low, deep; feelings beyond my usual and normal spectrum of feelings. The deeper feelings are fluctuating every minute of everyday because it depends on what I’m doing, who I’m talking to, what I’m looking at. Like this morning, I woke up, did my morning rituals but then I got on Instagram and a girl friend posted about a series of deaths of Black young men in America shot by the police, all under the age of 18 years old. The thought of these young men as someone’s children, someone’s brother, someone’s friend, as vital, and essential pieces of this world and life was heartbreaking. They were so easily removed by a group of people that we are now seeing have no regard for life, in general. Yes, it’s about Black lives but we are now seeing how the police are treating people in America and abroad.
But I think in all of this we are being called to do something and this is powerful. Any book that you read about life, about journeys talks about “calling”. So, there is a universal calling right now which is a powerful thing to be happening. There’s no person that is not being called right now to do something. So I’d say that I’m leveled but I’m also continuously grateful and blessed that I’m able, and I’m here to answer a calling.
koladapina : Here’s an extract from the song “UMI Says” by Mos Def that is on our playlist for Juneteenth.
“Black people unite and let’s all get down
Gotta have what,
Gotta have that love
Peace and understanding
One God, one light
One man, one voice, one mic
Black people unite come on and do it right”
The song was released in 1999, so about 20 years ago and when I read that I was like I can believe that in 2020 it is still so true. There are a lot of voices that were raised through music, activism, poetry, movies, why do you think these voices are still not heard to a point that we have to give the same messages 20 years later ?
Eniafe : I think that in general messages and lessons that repeat are repeated because the message has not been received and the lessons have not been learned. And maybe it was not the time. I do believe in divine timing, so maybe it was not the time but that’s also the essence of art, awakening us to things that we do not see, are not able to hear, are not understanding. And I also think in the scope of the social and political movements that are happening right now, there’s been a long gap between the extensive work that was done during the civil right movement and, we as the generation that followed and benefited from this work. The work was not done but we stopped doing it because of things that were happening and also because we were enjoying the rights and privileges gained. So now, that work that was not done is being talked about in art, in music. It’s almost as if over this last 20, 30 years it was a constant reminder of “this is still the work, this is still the message”. And now we’re being called again because, again, the work is not done.
That’s also the essence of art, awakening us to things that we do not see, are not able to hear, are not understanding.
koladapina : Our playlist for Juneteenth is a commemoration of the day former slaves learned about their liberation and it was in 1865. We are in 2020 and we see that the liberation is not complete yet. Today, people from all over the world are marching to fight both racism and police brutality. Do you celebrate Juneteenth and how this day will look like for you knowing the current circumstances?
Eniafe : I’ve known about Juneteenth, I believe it was something my mother taught me growing up. It definitely was not something we learned in school. As far as an active celebration, I’ve not done anything previously. The day is always a reminder to remember its relevance, so there is always that, going back and looking it up and just remembering. But this year is definitely going to be different. I have a couple of close friends who have launched an initiative called “Bye Covid” and they are launching it on Juneteenth. Through the initiative, they will be offering free testing to residents of Compton and will also provide care packages. It is something they started working on when the pandemic first hit. I’m giving lending my support through monetary donation and am also calling on different friends and families to donate as well. This, action, is the celebration. And I’m learning, I’m taking this time to learn (or re-learn) the history that I’ve forgotten.
you can find our playlist dedicated to Juneteenth here
koladapina : Let’s talk a little bit more about you. In your Instagram bio, you crossed the sentence “I am not a poet”, but you mentioned that you write a lot, so how do you describe yourself and what you are doing?
Eniafe : There are few ways I’m describing myself. I’m a woman who’s coming undone, I am a woman who is shooting all the shots with herself (betting on myself). I’m a woman in process. I am a writer. I came into this understanding and agreement a couple of years ago because previously I didn’t feel I had done enough or had the right to this title “writer” because I have a high regard for writers. But I came into the understanding that, yes, I’m a writer. I still have so many more things to learn so much time to perfect my craft but I am a writer. I cannot not write, I have to write. It’s how I get my emotions out, it’s how I process my understandings, and questions and knowings. But, then because of what I share on Instagram and because I take pieces of longer reflections and share, it appears as poetry. And so people starting referring to me as a poet. Again, that was not an understanding of myself because I have a very high regard for poets and I think that to be a poet is an intentional act. I feel like a poet sits down and writes poetry and I wasn’t sitting down and writing poetry. I was sitting down and writing reflections and taking pieces of those and that’s what I shared. So it wasn’t again a title that I felt I had the right to. But then, something happened and it made me changed my mind. And I say ok, I concede, I am a poet. But I also wrote a piece about why I did not call myself a poet and it has more to do with labels and how labels can sometimes be constricting because then we feel that we owe that label our work and our words and it can become like a weight. I hesitate to attach myself to labels. So I crossed that out. I chose to cross it out and not totally eliminate it because my story is still being written. But what is still true is that I write a lot. So I may or may not be a poet, we’ll leave that up to the receiver (laughs).
koladapina : I found it interesting that you talked about yourself as a “woman not becoming” because there’s a lot around becoming, finding yourself like an ultimate goal and there’s not a lot of people that say “I’m still undone”, so I’m curious to know do you think that we ever “become”, like there’s some kind of…
Eniafe : …completion ?
koladapina : Yes.
Eniafe : No. (laughs)
It’s as the elders say, if you are always growing and always changing that means you’re doing life right. If you stop growing, what is the opposite of growth ? It is death. So, in that way, no. But I think somehow in some way throughout our education, our conditioning and upbringing we are taught that there is a destination which has translated into this idea of completion, but there is no end. So,in this way I will always be becoming and undone. It is both relieving and also stressful because this means that we will forever be working. The self-work does not end.
The self-work does not end.
koladapina : Can you tell me a bit more about what you are doing with all her words ?
Eniafe : I think all her words was a vision planted in me a long long time ago but I had to grow into seeing it. This idea took on many manifestations throughout my young adulthood. There were so many iterations of the same intentions. But all her words was it. I wanted to speak to and read about and hear about our journey in a different kind of way. In a way that was tender, slightly uncomfortable and talk about our brokenness, and our pieces, and our shadows and our darkness in an honest way but not in a way that left us feeling like there was no way out, but a way that left us feeling like, “this is where I am but this is not where I’ll stay”. The words that I wrote that most speak to what all her words is, is, “we speak of the valleys, like we speak of the peaks to remind our bloodlines that how we unravel is just as powerful as how we become”. Because I think often when we are consuming stories and telling stories about women we’re talking about the pinnacle of a woman’s life. We do talk about how she gets there, but it usually and always end up at a peak and that is the art of storytelling. But our stories and process as they actually happen in life, are different and varied and unfinished and in process. Also I wanted to hear from women that were like me. I think it’s great that we hear the stories of these women of influence, celebrities and notable figures. But that also, I believe causes us to always be looking outside of ourselves for direction and information and wisdom. And we forget that we contain the same knowledge from our own journeys.
all her words is to remind her that she, I, we are the ones, we are the story, we are the influence.
koladapina : So the texts we can find there, some are from you and some from other women right ?
Eniafe : It is a combination. I’m very sensitive to the fact that all her words is not about me. It is for us to see other women. I’ll have another space for my words. I am the curator , but the words that are featured on the site will be from women within the all her words community. I will be uploading more stories, journeys, in the coming weeks.
koladapina : That’s cool, I can’t wait to read that.
You really highlight the power and the importance of speaking up, raising a voice as opposed to silence. To draw a parallel with music, I really think that it can be a weapon through the melody and sounds that create emotion that you can’t control but also and above all through the messages given by the artist so I was wondering if there’s any song whose words resonate with you, help you grow and brought you some wisdom ?
Eniafe : Oh my, there are so many songs. And I think as you’re growing, you begin to hear music differently. It’s almost like for me when I’m reading, I’m searching for those words to be a voice for the parts of me that are voiceless. So when I’m listening to music I’m listening to the music to hear the things that I’ve not found the words to say. One artist that I’ve been listening to recently is Lianne La Havas. Her Blood solo EP, I keep replaying it over and over again because I’m trying to catch the meaning of all the words. I’m hearing them but I’m also trying to understand why I’m connecting to them, what is she saying that I’m feeling. Her song Fairytale is one that always gets me.
I’ve also been listening again to Alice Smith, I mean her voice is amazing. Lemonade as an album, I know everybody is a fan of Beyoncé but the thing that gets me about that album is her coming undone. She’s going through, in music and lyrics, this ocean of emotional waves and, also, let’s not forget that artists are not the only writers of their music, so she’s singing words that were written by other women. So not only are we being taken through the emotional waves of her life, we’re being taken through the emotional waves of someone else’s life because these lyrics were inspired by more than just Beyoncé, they were inspired by other writers. One of which is Diana Gordon, an amazingly talented artists and writer that has been on the scene for a long time. I’ve known about her since the early 2000s and I know a little bit of her story so I connect with that too, in this album. And then I just finally recently watched the visual album…
koladapina : Really ?
Eniafe : Right?! So then hearing the poetry, written by Warsan Shire, that adds a whole different layer. I’ve been listening too to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and also Maya Andrade. She speaks another language, but you feel her. Just like Les Nubians, I love them. Their first album was fully french, but you feel them, there’s something that you understand about what they’re saying.
