Celebrating , remembering and knowing this empire is dying ♥️

The Poetry of Resitance

Shock and Awe by Jeanie Tomanek

On this auspicious day when celebrations, parties and fireworks will abound. I am remembering all those who did the unsung work of Empire Building. I am remembering those who were slaves and those who still are .

I am remembering all the people who lived on the lands mostly peaceably for thousands of years. I am remembering all those who died and still die because they were in the way.

I am remembering ancestors who left the oppression of the British Empire to start another one. I am remembering the days of Empire are numbered , not in days, perhaps it will be generations but change is underway.

I am remembering how much has already changed. I am remembering how much has been revealed and how many more are seeing through the veils.

I am remembering the young, the neighbours, the service people and all who are saying I will no longer believe your lies and ignore what is happening.

I am remembering the power of poetry, the power of words. I am remembering our power as together we are creating better ways of living. I am remembering this will not come through hope it will come through our actions , our creations and our love for the flourishing of life . I am remembering all of this is what I am celebrating today.

This is why I have chosen this poem to share with you ♥️

A New National Anthem by Ada Limon from the Hurting Kind

The truth is, I’ve never cared for the National

Anthem. If you think about it, it’s not a good

song. Too high for most of us with “the rockets

red glare” and then there are the bombs.

(Always, always, there is war and bombs.)

Once, I sang it at homecoming and threw

even the tenacious high school band off key.

But the song didn’t mean anything, just a call

to the field, something to get through before

the pummeling of youth. And what of the stanzas

we never sing, the third that mentions “no refuge

could save the hireling and the slave”?

Perhaps, the truth is, every song of this country

has an unsung third stanza, something brutal

snaking underneath us as we blindly sing

the high notes with a beer sloshing in the stands

hoping our team wins.

Don’t get me wrong, I do

like the flag, how it undulates in the wind

like water, elemental, and best when it’s humbled,

brought to its knees, clung to by someone who

has lost everything, when it’s not a weapon,

when it flickers, when it folds up so perfectly

you can keep it until it’s needed, until you can

love it again, until the song in your mouth feels

like sustenance, a song where the notes are sung

by even the ageless woods, the short-grass plains,

the Red River Gorge, the fistful of land left

unpoisoned, that song that’s our birthright,

that’s sung in silence when it’s too hard to go on,

that sounds like someone’s rough fingers weaving

into another’s, that sounds like a match being lit

in an endless cave, the song that says my bones

are your bones, and your bones are my bones,

and isn’t that enough ?

I wish you joy in your day and whatever you are remembering and celebrating,

Be truth, be powerful,

What’s coming next :-

With the 4th July and all that entails BOOK CHAT is having a Summer detour to watch a film Idiocracy Film free link

We thought it would be fun to watch a satire of the future, that has insights into the present. Do watch, it’s silly and funny with some very acute observations given it was made over 20 years ago. Do join us Sunday 5th at 17.30 UK

I will be sharing my experiences of the Spiritual Ecology Retreat with Robin Motzer of Wildlands on Wednesday the 8th July 9.am Central and 3pm UK

Margaret Anna Alice in Courageous Conversation about The Climate Change Story on Friday 17th July at 17.30 UK and 09.30 PST

Sarah Wilson is coming on BOOK CHAT 19th July to talk about her new book ‘I Eat The Stars’ We start talking about this book on the 12th July in preparation.