Celebrating you for sharing your gift with us, and giving voice to all of us who are straddling between worlds, entangled in extractive structures, while dreaming and birthing new possibilities.
Vikki, thank you <3 It was definitely one that needed writing to metabolise / alchemise the feelings; naming the systems and 'wounds' that impact these personal moments!
The last three lines of brown's poem (and the bits in your article regarding the exhausting travails of modern tech) -
"and i am already free
and we all are, and when we realize it
we cannot be contained"
- remind me of something David Graeber said in his book Possibilities, that: "Revolutionary action is not a form of self-sacrifice, a grim dedication to doing whatever it takes to achieve a future world of freedom. It is the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free".
Maggie Nelson, in fact, quotes this line from Graeber (*which is where I first saw it) and speaks about freedom not as a Luther King-esque "promised land" - a utopia - but as a practice in the now.
In coming to the end of your piece here (albeit you say "The ancient, rusted hook with its line of bloodied ribbons and papers remains embedded within this flesh") it seems to me you already move more freely than that aged, hooked self, and that you inspire a great many people around you (as Carina pointed out, more beautifully/poetically, when she noted those already swimming your way!).
***Note: I should say, also, not to disparage Martin Luther King (never)! His invocation is clearly of a different time, place, and context, and useful therein.
How do we practice the worlds we wish to be living in, in the here and now, even when its hard. Finding the 'cracks', the 'flickers' where those worlds already exists, and bathing within them, widening the cracks, the moments, the people linked within them. Without also ignoring the world beyond.
And not being purist or beating ourselves (or others up) when the practice falters. But being curious about those moments, learning, understanding the dance between individual and relational and systemic impacts, influences, causes.
And we still need the pull of the 'promised land', I think! Even, as Luther Kings says, if we ourselves never reach it – but that intergenerational being, remembering ourselves as ancestors with duty to future generations, too. Planting the trees we may never rest beneath.
Sending you so, so, so much love. The silence is not a reflection of your brilliance and how much people are drawn - and need - what you have to offer. 💜 Always a message away if you need anything 💌
Celebrating you for sharing your gift with us, and giving voice to all of us who are straddling between worlds, entangled in extractive structures, while dreaming and birthing new possibilities.
I think your lantern is amazing!
You are always a light in the darkness and I hope you know you can always seek light from me too.
Ahhh Annie, thank you!! ❤️🔥 And yes, I definitely know :)
You and your words are a blessing ❤️
Janey, thank you 🥰 ❤️
Such a powerful, brave and beautiful post. You write exquisitely too.
Vikki, thank you <3 It was definitely one that needed writing to metabolise / alchemise the feelings; naming the systems and 'wounds' that impact these personal moments!
Beautiful, Shim!
The last three lines of brown's poem (and the bits in your article regarding the exhausting travails of modern tech) -
"and i am already free
and we all are, and when we realize it
we cannot be contained"
- remind me of something David Graeber said in his book Possibilities, that: "Revolutionary action is not a form of self-sacrifice, a grim dedication to doing whatever it takes to achieve a future world of freedom. It is the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free".
Maggie Nelson, in fact, quotes this line from Graeber (*which is where I first saw it) and speaks about freedom not as a Luther King-esque "promised land" - a utopia - but as a practice in the now.
In coming to the end of your piece here (albeit you say "The ancient, rusted hook with its line of bloodied ribbons and papers remains embedded within this flesh") it seems to me you already move more freely than that aged, hooked self, and that you inspire a great many people around you (as Carina pointed out, more beautifully/poetically, when she noted those already swimming your way!).
***Note: I should say, also, not to disparage Martin Luther King (never)! His invocation is clearly of a different time, place, and context, and useful therein.
Thank you :)
The word 'practice' is definitely the invitation.
How do we practice the worlds we wish to be living in, in the here and now, even when its hard. Finding the 'cracks', the 'flickers' where those worlds already exists, and bathing within them, widening the cracks, the moments, the people linked within them. Without also ignoring the world beyond.
And not being purist or beating ourselves (or others up) when the practice falters. But being curious about those moments, learning, understanding the dance between individual and relational and systemic impacts, influences, causes.
And we still need the pull of the 'promised land', I think! Even, as Luther Kings says, if we ourselves never reach it – but that intergenerational being, remembering ourselves as ancestors with duty to future generations, too. Planting the trees we may never rest beneath.
Sending you so, so, so much love. The silence is not a reflection of your brilliance and how much people are drawn - and need - what you have to offer. 💜 Always a message away if you need anything 💌
Ahhhh thank you, Laurie! <3 <3 I'm so grateful for you :)
Celebrating you and what you are sending out into the world!!!! <3
Carina ♥️♥️♥️ :) <3