Bay to Beale, IQ to Irma. (Hold on Mom, I’m coming home.)

My name is Benjamin Theolonius Sanders. I am a permanent resident of Australia and a native of Memphis, TN. Recently my mother and sister were assaulted in the USA by their former landlord. My 81 year-old mother was hospitalized with a bleed on the brain, and my sister was illegally evicted from their disability accomodation without any due process.

As two of my dearest family members are suffering from the trauma of this last month, I sincerely want to return to my hometown ahead of my birthday to see my mother on my 50th birthday. I want to give my sister assistance in caring for my mother for a fortnight before returning to Australia. She is in wheelchair herself and caring full-time for my Mother with little to zero support herself.

If I am not able to return by or before my birthday, I will endeavour to return to Memphis for Thanksgiving for the first time since 2007. At this time Freeworld will release their 8th studio album, More Love. I am featured on the track 11:11 Beale.

The funds requestef will be used for my return airfare, living expenses for a fortnight in US dollars, and for acquisition of select curriculum texts to be used teaching in classrooms throughout Victoria about Blues, poetry, and Mid-South history upon my return.

As the 6-time MC for the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival, as well as a published poet and professional arts educator for over 30 years, I look forward to sharing even more about the beautiful place that is Memphis and the Mid-South. During the fortnight I will be meeting with luminaries from the amazing history of Memphis music past as well as emerging literary, performing arts and visual artists. The slate of in-person meetings and rewording opportunities will engage a new generation of artists for upcoming international collaborations between the Greater Geelong area and the Greater Mid-South.

Between my duties as a father in Australia and the years of COVD lockdown, I’ve missed almost a decade with my mother. The onset of early dementia has been acutely challenging, because I can feel her slipping away. It will mean the world to me to be able to return, help her settle pre-burial plans (which she is stressing about) and to offer support for my full-time carer sibling while my mother’s memory is mostly here. While she is well enough to remember family lineage and history I wish to record anecdotes for my children who have only been able to meet her in person, once in 2013.

Lastly, I will be using a portion of the funds to pay for return luggage fees sufficient to transport my family albums for scanning and archiving (physical and digital) to preserve the memory of my late father who passed away 9 days before my oldest daughter was born.

While in Memphis I will be taking as many portraits of still surviving family from my father’s generation as well as my maternal family line as well. Multiple family members have passed within these past few years, and three are currently in hospital at this time of writing.

I am Memphis to my marrrow, and I am desperate to hold my Mother again. If not in my birthday, for Thanksgiving 2024. Any and all donations to this effort are graciously appreciated. Many Thanks to All.

Sincerely Yours,

Benjamin Theolonius Sanders (IQ)

Poet Laureate of the Center for Southern Folklore

Poet Laureate of Freeworld

paypal.me/poetiq

www.poetiq.com