{"id":24791,"date":"2021-04-05T06:58:04","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T13:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/?p=24791"},"modified":"2022-04-05T04:19:30","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T11:19:30","slug":"elegy-for-george-floyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/?p=24791","title":{"rendered":"Elegy for George Floyd"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Elegy for Georg<\/em>e Floyd<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Take a deep breath and sally forth<\/em><\/strong>
When taking three steps beyond your front door<\/em><\/strong>
If the breath flows predominantly through one nostril<\/em><\/strong>
Then take your first step with the corresponding foot<\/em><\/strong>
Your luck might be better\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
If you believe in the old teachings<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Because a human Life can be taken because of a pack of menthols\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
And a counterfeit $20 bill<\/em><\/strong>
In god we trust still printed on its ersatz face<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is big face paper and poisonous tobacco more valuable\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Than a Human Life?<\/em><\/strong>
A Black Life?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Inhale, exhale\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Breath in, breath out<\/em><\/strong>
The whole world is watching\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Waiting\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Breathlessly<\/em><\/strong>
For a verdict.<\/em><\/strong>
How many camera angles does it take to get justice?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Breath entering our dust and we become living souls<\/em><\/strong>
Hong Sau,\u00a0Hong Sau,\u00a0Hong Sau,\u00a0Hong Sau, So \u2018ham<\/em><\/strong>
21,600 times a day\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Everyday<\/em><\/strong>
For 100 years<\/em><\/strong>
Or, until the day we die<\/em><\/strong>
And for every breath the heart Lub Dubs four times<\/em><\/strong>
How long can you effortlessly hold your breath?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

8 minutes 46 seconds?<\/em><\/strong>
9 minutes 29 seconds?<\/em><\/strong>
Or until we are Genesis 7:22\u2019ed?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Taking away what they could not give<\/em><\/strong>
George, You came \u00a0in like a Lion\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
And went out like a lamb<\/em><\/strong>
To the slaughter\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Blue clad knee on a brown skinned neck<\/em><\/strong>
A perverse imitation of a vengeful god
Who was tired of all the rowdiness<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A scapegoat baring all of our cultural sins<\/em><\/strong>
Lamb of god show us the sins of our world<\/em><\/strong>
Show us the of our world<\/em><\/strong>
Show us the sins of our world\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
(I say beating my heart with my fist)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH take a deep breath<\/em><\/strong>
Ujj\u0101y\u012b \u2014 the breath of victory\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
A baby\u2019s first inhalation\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Before its first scream\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Before it can even know its \u00a0mother\u2019s face\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Breath, stamp my story onto my spine\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
And let me live it until it\u2019s end!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mother: first Guru and first lived embodied archetypical experience<\/em><\/strong>
Madonna and child<\/em><\/strong>
Being born\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Collecting the winds of the four cardinal directions\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Into the center of my being<\/em><\/strong>
My navel<\/em><\/strong>
Let crying out to you be my last earthly act, too,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Mother<\/em><\/strong>
Whether I die with steel in my hand\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Or even under the knee of cowards\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Juxtapose the children baring the weight\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Of testifying on behalf of their Elder<\/em><\/strong>
Too young to appear in court\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
But old enough to have witnessed atrocity<\/em><\/strong>
Sobs<\/em><\/strong>
Breaths of sadness
Breaths of tears<\/em><\/strong>
And 46 other types of breathing that typify our human existence\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
All snuffed out as\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Your breath left your dust, George.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
The last exhalation and the breath of leaving<\/em><\/strong>
George, Let your breath merge with all breaths<\/em><\/strong>
All breaths that have ever been sighed into the atmosphere\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Merge with hurricanes wrecking trailer parks<\/em><\/strong>
And Santa Anna winds feeding California fires,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Merge with the tornado so that the world will notice your passing<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Let\u00a0\u1eccya\u2018s\u00a0arms embrace you so that your face can be seen in the storm clouds<\/em><\/strong>
Your voice be heard in the thundering<\/em><\/strong>
And your eyes be seen in lightning flashing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Blend with the sirocco<\/em><\/strong>
Zephyr<\/em><\/strong>
Pneuma<\/em><\/strong>
pr\u0101\u1e47a\u00a0with\u00a0its five divisions<\/em><\/strong>
And the air that feeds household and sacrificial fires<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Merge with Shekhinah<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Blend with caressive springtime winds inciting\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
The Johnny Jump Ups<\/em><\/strong>
Tulips<\/em><\/strong>
Hyacinths\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Crocus and cherry blossoms<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Be the life of another\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
And another<\/em><\/strong>
And another<\/em><\/strong>
A portion of you part of the first breath\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Of those newly born as you died<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What is immortality if not this?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Be \u00a1presente! in the revolutionary voices of people crying out for justice<\/em><\/strong>
Who and what do they think they were trying to kill?<\/em><\/strong>
You would be seen see everywhere if people had hearts<\/em><\/strong>
Thousands of eyes<\/em><\/strong>
Thousands of heads arms and legs<\/em><\/strong>
And a spark from the light of one thousand suns.<\/em><\/strong>
Not other than that spark<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But a blue clad knee controlled by cultural impurities saw you \u00a0as Other<\/em><\/strong>
Other than themselves\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Other than America<\/em><\/strong>
Other than one man one vote<\/em><\/strong>
Other than fully human<\/em><\/strong>
Beloved on sports fields\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
And reviled on American city streets<\/em><\/strong>
Made menacing by your strength and size<\/em><\/strong>
A product of late 17th century plantation genetic engineering\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
Frankenstein wasn\u2019t the monster<\/em><\/strong>
He was the man who created the monster<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But your promethean flame was not initially stolen<\/em><\/strong>
You were not a perverse imitation of life<\/em><\/strong>
And you weren\u2019t a monster either<\/em><\/strong>
Your Flame stolen after the fact\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
I take a spark of you and blow on it\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
To bring a little light into this darkened world.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

(By Heidi Lindemann and Michael Perry)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

(Image Credit: Saatchi Art<\/a> \/ Miguel Amortegui)<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elegy for George Floyd Take a deep breath and sally forthWhen taking three steps beyond your front doorIf the breath flows predominantly through one nostrilThen take your first step with the corresponding footYour luck might be better\u00a0If you believe in the old teachings Because a human Life can be taken because of a pack of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4738,6588,6520,6336,6337],"class_list":["post-24791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-blacklivesmatter","tag-icantbreathe","tag-george-floyd","tag-heidi-lindemann","tag-michael-perry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24791"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25851,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24791\/revisions\/25851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}