Rowing Chants
7 poems in response to climate concern, bodies dissapearing and the need for more folk knowledge.
la medida
moon, to measure
Sorrow grief or cares for
Absentia.
depression, a star passing by an angle that is lower from the horizon
melancholia desire to go back home
Af.ra.ka flesh and soul of the hidden sun
Ama.ra.ka place where the high sun blooms
Abyayala this place.
-The outline of my body is always the inline of nature
la medida
moon, to measure
Sorrow grief or cares for
Absentia.
depression, a star passing by an angle that is lower from
the horizon
melancholia desire to go back home
Af.ra.ka flesh and soul of the hidden sun
Ama.ra.ka place where the high sun blooms
Abyayala this place.
-The outline of my body is always the inline of nature
El Puerto
There are places in the body that protects inner power
this is how I was taught to bless newborns and made relations,
standing behind them
moving the hair that covers their neck
kiss the back of their neck
and there,
whistle life into them
love into them
strength into them
and say
may your breath be sovereignty
may your mind be the lowest voice
may your heart be a home for those who seek.
El Puerto
There are places in the body that protects inner power
this is how I was taught to bless newborns
and made relations:
standing behind them
moving the hair that covers their neck
kiss the back of their neck
and there,
whistle life into them
love into them
strength into them
and say
may your breath be sovereignty
may your mind be the lowest voice
may your heart be a home for those who seek.
la voz del rio
Every thing is urgent,
climate change is
Urgent
Death of our kin is
Urgent
The forgetting of ancient languages is
Urgent
Motion is urgent
Sex is urgent
Yet
I want to take it slow,
Breathe, and remember my breath
Grief slowly and openly
I want to sing, slow songs to the earth
Praise her,
And ask her how she wants to be touched
And listen.
13:42
I will not desecrate holy places.
I will not abuse my sexuality.
I will not sow seeds of regret.
I will not pollute myself.
I will not be an aggressor.
I will not lay waste the plowed land.
I will not bear false witness.
I will not commit treason against my Ancestors.
I will not waste water.
I will not mistreat animals.
I will not defraud temple offerings.
I will not be wrathful and angry except for a just cause.
I will not pollute the earth.
-from the forty two laws of Maat
Poner aceite
put oil in the eyes
put oil in the lips
put oil in the nose
put oil in the ears
so vision becomes important
so eyes light up the fire
fire that stimulates the cells in the brain
fire that talks to the people and all of the sudden
this pain is not so scary anymore.
-carrying a wound is like carrying wonder
More folk
“common people” stories
“common people” glaciologies
“common people” reclamation
“common people” mythologies
“common people” peace
“common people” conversions
“common people” ecologies
“common people” vision
“common people” queerness
“common people” movements
“common people” songs
“common people” potions aka medicine
“common people” tree conversations
“common people” speech
“common people” pageantries
common people
dwelling place
and
Battlefield
-More folk.
Formula
Formula to honor a missing sister;
ground yourself
call in all your sisters, (all your love ones)
create a circle
and bring in a native, brown, black sister in the center,
known or unknown
moving your arms front and back as to create a wave
move this wave towards her
down to up
make your hands become feathers to surround her in peace and protection
make your hands become claws so she can always have strength and fight
make them into sweetgrass so she becomes grace.
Smudge yourself with copal, so you don’t forget
Close the circle
Stay with it.
Formula
Formula to honor a missing sister;
ground yourself
call in all your sisters, (all your love ones)
create a circle
and bring in a native, brown, black sister in the center,
known or unknown
moving your arms front and back as to create a wave
move this wave towards her
down to up
make your hands become feathers to surround her
in peace and
protection
make your hands become claws so she can always
have strength
and fight
make them into sweetgrass so she becomes grace.
Smudge yourself with copal, so you don’t forget
Close the circle
Stay with it.
Installation view