Kima Jones's work "Homegoing, AD" can be confusing at first glance, so let me try to break it down for you. Kima Jones is an African American poet and writer. She writes to amplify Black voices and black experiences. This text specifically could fall into many different literature categories like poetry, prose, or short story. I feel as though it is a mix of all three. I am not familiar with a text that I have read that is similar to this one, but I do like this style of writing. This text gives off a family, looking back on a past memory vibe. I feel like this text was meant for me as a young African American girl who grew up in the South. I feel like the intended audience for this text is African Americans who have Southern ties and identify with Southern experiences. This text could leave out people of a different race, or from a different area who do not understand the Southern experience. The speaker of this text is unnamed and it describes a family funeral. The text itself can be interpreted as bringing up a memory from a past family funeral, or a past "down south story". It talks about the death of the narrator's grandfather and the aftermath of that. I think that a funeral definitely spurred the writing of this text, whether it be the funeral that is being written about or a more recent funeral. I think that the unnamed narrator is the author's younger self. If I could summarize this text in just a sentence, I would say this text is about the Black experience in the South. The text goes in to the details of a family funeral, the repast, and a run in with an alligator. A "homegoing" service is an African-American Christian funeral tradition marking the going home of the deceased to the Lord or to heaven. Jones titled her writing "Homegoing, AD" to talk about that going home experience, but tie in the Black experiences with family by detailing the funeral. I feel an important message that emerges from this text is the struggle to properly bury the dead. Throughout the retelling of the funeral, the narrator details all of the other things going on (getting lost on the way there, all of the food to prepare, not everyone being able to make it because it fell on the wrong day) that make it hard to focus on the fact that a loved one has died. I know for me personally, I have related to this in the past because of all of the repast preparations and things. I really loved Kima Jones work "Homegoing, AD" and would love to dive deeper in to it in the future.
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