Photo Credit: Milada Vigerova
I express gratitude for the original peoples of this place and space,
who lived in symbiotic relationship with the land,
so we may be here in present day to queue.
There is uncomfortable comfort in…
standing here at this mic in front of all of you;
however aware that my voice,
the vibrations of my words,
will energize ears true.
There is uncomfortable comfort in…
The judgement made for naturally letting hair gray and grow long, seemingly wise,
but cast out as old, used up despite that facial wrinkles, sagging flesh and body parts tell honest tales of ones life of love, laughter and joyful sighs,
the fashionable stares while dawning and styling natural fabrics and dyes,
a sense of a unique human, a rooted being, rather than thrall to fast fashion,
excessively consuming water and other vital resources, as synthetic materials and chemicals coat our eyes and thighs.
There is uncomfortable comfort in…
Driving physically abled kids to school as empty school buses are in route,
while teachers educate climate science only for valuable lessons to be too easily lost in reliance,
realizing that each of us ingest the plastic weight of a credit card per week to boot,
young adults and the retired who cannot afford to live in the community where they were grown,
as they are developed over by McMassive square footage and postage stamp carnage riddled with excessive fertilizers and pesticides,
now in the foods we eat and water we drink,
choking out fish in the streams with algae blooms,
and flooding their neighbors on the brink.
There is uncomfortable comfort in…
Phat possessions of battery operated items like Teslas and Apple products while Indigenous people plead yet again to save their homelands and sacred spaces from mining,
raping Mother Earth for a one to one exchange, just another extractive method labeled, called “green,”
turbulent technologies of pseudo advancement that are disposable and as efficient as a smokescreen,
witnessing excessive amounts of trash carried to the curb,
waiting to be buried in the Earth,
the act of domineering existence -repeated extraction for consumerism feeding the scene,
with no one on her behalf to intervene.
There is uncomfortable comfort in…
The old “sustainability” cliche when we treat our home, Turtle Island like a machine,
keep take, take, taking -acting like we aren’t on the cusp of a catastrophe,
being numb to what Mother Earth is asking while she unconditionally sustains,
preaching rights rather than practicing our responsibilities,
have you forgotten your healer, your ancestors, your connection to culture and land,
lost your way, your interconnectedness to all living entities -including each other,
embracing wounded systems of settler colonialism, and prescriptive systems of control,
while natural systems, cycles and rhythms are gifts from our Mother.
There is uncomfortable comfort in…
Knowing all of this and in spite residing in the comfort for the sake of comfort alone,
as we are addicted to consuming Mother Earth herself,
afflicted for the sake of comfort,
and for the sake of comfort we give up knowing our Mother, our home,
for the false-hearted purpose of preserving comfort that is like a throne,
can someone throw me a bone?
while I stand here in my bare feet,
while I stand here in the heat!
Spoken on 18 April 2024 at Story & Verse: Spoken Word Event at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts in Princeton, NJ.
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