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| Art: Joni Mitchell by Jay Blakesberg Photography |
By Chelan Harkin
God stages sit ins
in your body
on a regular basis—
It’s very inconvenient
to law and order.
She says,
“Every time
there’s even a micro-judgement
an othering, a subjugation,
a hierarchical belittlement,
a domination
I sit. And stay.”
We beg Her to be reasonable—
“Get over it, God!
These infractions happened
in the past.
Grow up.
Let bygones be bygones.”
“Nope.”
She says, in that unshakably
subversive way of Hers.
“Until you find a framework
of profound care, respect
and reverence
for those who have been
systematically wounded
by arrogance
I will not give up my protest.
Your happiness
will have to be detoured,
your life force
held up,
your wisdom stalled,
your progress stunted
until it becomes such an inner upset
that you have to give these matters
attention.
Until on all levels
of your mind, nervous system,
and operating patterns
you fully value
as much as anyone else
the immigrant,
the Black man,
the fat, impoverished mother,
the old people who can provide nothing
for you,
the toothless, back-alley drunk
My sit in will continue
as stuck energy
inside of you
and the suffering therein
will grow and rise
until you topple
these old structures
of ignorance.
My sit ins are always
eventually effective
because the longer
I hold Myself hostage
inside of you
the more desperate
you will be for Me
which will make you look
more and more
like those other folks
you’ve so judged.
I am The Great Nuisance,
The Insatiable Menace,
The Radical One.
I am The Crazy Bitch,
Society’s Holy Wreckage.
I am She Who Must Have Anger Problems,
She Who Can’t “Just Get Over It,”
And She Who “Must Be Coming From Victim Consciousness”
For caring all the way
to the core
about the plight
of the disenfranchised
and about your liberation
from idiocy.
Call Me what you will
and ignore Me
as long as you like
but I promise
that until I become so miserable
to contend with
that you finally become brave enough
to change
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