redefining power
This weekend while thousands gathered to protest in Washington DC, 25 people gathered online to redefine power in the face of fascism guided by Audre Lorde’s poem “Dreams Bite.” “Dreams Bite” is one of Audre Lorde’s responses to the murder of MLK Jr. and a testament to her consistent plea for our communities to practice love beyond the scale of one nation and its political ego.
During “Power is Spoken”: Audre Lorde at the Edge of Purpose, we explored political ego death and planetary transformation. The vulnerability and brilliance was palpable. Our group poem is below. May it provide a space of grounding and possibility in this moment and whenever you need it. If you missed the workshop, the replay is available here: https://sangodare.podia.com/power-is-spoken-audre-lorde-at-the-edge-of-purpose
“When I am absolute
at once with the black earth
fire
I make my now
and power is spoken
peace”
-from “Dreams Bite” by Audre Lorde
speak power
by the participants in “Power is Spoken”: Audre Lorde at the “Edge of Purpose”
power is now
power is ours
power is love actualized
power is love quantumly resourced
power is now
power is teaching us something now
power is practiced in circles
power is here
power is now
power is our refusal of false limitations
power is no capital
power is our rejection of myths that don’t serve us.
power is now
power is weaving
power is decentralized
power is in the flow
power is now
power is promise
power is embodied presence in the present
power is joy even in sorrow
power is now
power is connection to self and possibility
power is community and in knowing we KNOW what we know.
agency is power rooted in truth
power is now
power is choosing where to direct my attention
power is loving myself
power is being able to return to myselves
power is now
power is an invitation to merge our mightiness with one another
power is beyond validation, beyond approval, beyond vocabulary, beyond capture.
power is humble
power is now
power is what comes around and within and despite and because of surrendering
power is obsolescence
power is being willing to break apart and reconstitute to meet the NOW.
power is the capacity to vision and dream and act
despite and in spite of all of the intentional and unintentional circumstances
that make us feel incapacitated
power is now
power is radical hope
we may not know what our future will be exactly - our survival or our humanity.
but we know that we will be here. in the now.
power is now
power is now
power is now
Participate and add to the group poem here: https://sangodare.podia.com/power-is-spoken-audre-lorde-at-the-edge-of-purpose