Warning: include_once(/var/www/web/sites/worldliteraturetoday.org/themes/custom/wltbootstrap/wltbootstrap.theme): Failed to open stream: Permission denied in include_once() (line 153 of core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/Extension.php).

include_once() (Line: 153)
Drupal\Core\Extension\Extension->load() (Line: 137)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeInitialization->loadActiveTheme() (Line: 74)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeInitialization->initTheme() (Line: 415)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeManager->initTheme() (Line: 95)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeManager->getActiveTheme() (Line: 230)
Drupal\Core\Theme\Registry->init() (Line: 317)
Drupal\Core\Theme\Registry->getRuntime() (Line: 194)
Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityViewBuilder->getBuildDefaults() (Line: 61)
Drupal\node\NodeViewBuilder->getBuildDefaults() (Line: 157)
Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityViewBuilder->viewMultiple() (Line: 123)
Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityViewBuilder->view() (Line: 134)
Drupal\Core\Entity\Controller\EntityViewController->view() (Line: 66)
Drupal\node\Controller\NodeViewController->view()
call_user_func_array() (Line: 123)
Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\EarlyRenderingControllerWrapperSubscriber->Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\{closure}() (Line: 637)
Drupal\Core\Render\Renderer->executeInRenderContext() (Line: 121)
Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\EarlyRenderingControllerWrapperSubscriber->wrapControllerExecutionInRenderContext() (Line: 97)
Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\EarlyRenderingControllerWrapperSubscriber->Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\{closure}() (Line: 181)
Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\HttpKernel->handleRaw() (Line: 76)
Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\HttpKernel->handle() (Line: 53)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\Session->handle() (Line: 48)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\KernelPreHandle->handle() (Line: 28)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\ContentLength->handle() (Line: 32)
Drupal\big_pipe\StackMiddleware\ContentLength->handle() (Line: 201)
Drupal\page_cache\StackMiddleware\PageCache->fetch() (Line: 138)
Drupal\page_cache\StackMiddleware\PageCache->lookup() (Line: 87)
Drupal\page_cache\StackMiddleware\PageCache->handle() (Line: 48)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\ReverseProxyMiddleware->handle() (Line: 51)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\NegotiationMiddleware->handle() (Line: 36)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\AjaxPageState->handle() (Line: 51)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\StackedHttpKernel->handle() (Line: 741)
Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel->handle() (Line: 19)

Warning: include_once(): Failed opening '/var/www/web/sites/worldliteraturetoday.org/themes/custom/wltbootstrap/wltbootstrap.theme' for inclusion (include_path='/var/www/vendor/pear/archive_tar:/var/www/vendor/pear/console_getopt:/var/www/vendor/pear/pear-core-minimal/src:/var/www/vendor/pear/pear_exception:.:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php') in include_once() (line 153 of core/lib/Drupal/Core/Extension/Extension.php).

include_once() (Line: 153)
Drupal\Core\Extension\Extension->load() (Line: 137)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeInitialization->loadActiveTheme() (Line: 74)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeInitialization->initTheme() (Line: 415)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeManager->initTheme() (Line: 95)
Drupal\Core\Theme\ThemeManager->getActiveTheme() (Line: 230)
Drupal\Core\Theme\Registry->init() (Line: 317)
Drupal\Core\Theme\Registry->getRuntime() (Line: 194)
Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityViewBuilder->getBuildDefaults() (Line: 61)
Drupal\node\NodeViewBuilder->getBuildDefaults() (Line: 157)
Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityViewBuilder->viewMultiple() (Line: 123)
Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityViewBuilder->view() (Line: 134)
Drupal\Core\Entity\Controller\EntityViewController->view() (Line: 66)
Drupal\node\Controller\NodeViewController->view()
call_user_func_array() (Line: 123)
Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\EarlyRenderingControllerWrapperSubscriber->Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\{closure}() (Line: 637)
Drupal\Core\Render\Renderer->executeInRenderContext() (Line: 121)
Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\EarlyRenderingControllerWrapperSubscriber->wrapControllerExecutionInRenderContext() (Line: 97)
Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\EarlyRenderingControllerWrapperSubscriber->Drupal\Core\EventSubscriber\{closure}() (Line: 181)
Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\HttpKernel->handleRaw() (Line: 76)
Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\HttpKernel->handle() (Line: 53)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\Session->handle() (Line: 48)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\KernelPreHandle->handle() (Line: 28)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\ContentLength->handle() (Line: 32)
Drupal\big_pipe\StackMiddleware\ContentLength->handle() (Line: 201)
Drupal\page_cache\StackMiddleware\PageCache->fetch() (Line: 138)
Drupal\page_cache\StackMiddleware\PageCache->lookup() (Line: 87)
Drupal\page_cache\StackMiddleware\PageCache->handle() (Line: 48)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\ReverseProxyMiddleware->handle() (Line: 51)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\NegotiationMiddleware->handle() (Line: 36)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\AjaxPageState->handle() (Line: 51)
Drupal\Core\StackMiddleware\StackedHttpKernel->handle() (Line: 741)
Drupal\Core\DrupalKernel->handle() (Line: 19)

Poetry

[Greenwood Ghosts Dress Their Sunday Best]

by Jasmine Elizabeth Smith

Yielbonzie Johnson, *Passages* (2020), 16 x 20 in., watercolor/acrylic mix on paper / Courtesy of the Artist

after Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool”

this no parade for your pleasure

no one winds up brass band
stand celebration

this no market we knife
melons sample
haggle down our price

aspirin, or the lady-hand
leather of Louise half heels,
some our bit-o-honey, salted seed

from Ferguson Drug Store
& Grier Shoemaker

no one here hunch their back,
low eyes, pantomime themselves
minstrel or maid

we don’t give—
we grand

stand our own
streets

headlining Tulsa
Star newspaper,

Attorneys Spears, Saddler, & Chappelle.

we call Lazarus up from the dead,
his bluebonnet gurney in
Frissell Hospital’s
basement

just seen to be seen we filled
out, we bright enough, we gold-

end weed, we oil reserve, we keep

no time, we Bunn’s Shoeshine
gospel. we holy

spirits
broken from the mouth
& matchsticks
of Bethel Adventist Church pews

past Abner & Hunter
Barbershop, Carter Billiards,

Hardy Furnished Rooms
Dixie Theater—

you mistake our procession for ghosts
envious, the figurative
you claim we isn’t

so why you stop and stare
is our beauty so vain it a form

of resistance?

Buy PRINT Issue Subscribe TO WLT

More by Jasmine Elizabeth Smith

More Poetry

Spring 2021

World Literature Today’s spring issue, “Redreaming Dreamland,” reflects on the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Also, a special section on Chinese migrant workers’ literature. Essays, poetry, fiction, & interviews + reviews of new books by Najwan Darwish, Cixin Liu, Olga Tokarczuk, and dozens more. Cover art by Greenwood Art Project artist Ebony Iman Dallas.