This was a song
April's theme for Soul Food Sundays is Lineage is Not Linear
A Still from Lineage is Not Linear, my upcoming poetry & dance short film
What is the scale of breathing? You put your hand on your individual chest as it rises and falters all day. But is that the scale of breathing? You share air and chemical exchange with everyone in the room, everyone you pass by today. Is the scale of breathing within one species? All animals participate in this exchange of release for continued life. But not without the plants. The plants in their inverse process, release what we need, take what we give without being asked. And the planet, wrapped in ocean breathing, breathing into sky. What is the scale of breathing? You are part of it now. You are not alone.
- Alexis Pauline Gumbs, opening words of her book Undrowned.
What is the rhythm of our lives? The soundtrack of our societies, countries, families, relationships, environment. The hum of cars in the distance. Undercurrent of wind during the coolnights of an already hot hot spring. The roaring of a blender in the mornings, breaking and combining fruits and water and ginger. The clickclacking of a keyboard. The first word uttered once you exit the Zoom Lobby. The birds, the songs they leave and the leaves they scutter through. The sizzling of salmon skin on the canola oil coated cast iron skillet. The satisfied mmm's of a meal, the sound of seasonings tap dancing on our tongues. Prayers, from the mouths of mothers and from the TV screen. The many types of laughters --collective, lonely, split across phone. The laptop wheezing –it's been running and running and running. All the devices and the carrying of our vices. The news, old oppression, and new ancestors forced out of their bodies. The closeness and farness of death. The breath, constant and quiet, almost not there. But very much here, here, here. What is the rhythm of our lives?
The interlude between moods. The here/there. The song change. Beautiful Rains by The Cavemen. And the rains that come from my eyes. Suddenly, but also not. Delayed libations poured from the fallen, for the falling. For the fear and its abundance. For the psychological violence that is coupled with the physical. Are we not the vessels for the sea. Face salted, armpits moist. Breath into broken breath, still complete.
You share air and chemical exchange with everyone in the room, everyone you pass by today. Is the scale of breathing within one species? All animals participate in this exchange of release for continued life (Alexis Pauline Gumbs).
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