may we be reached
bell hooks went out in quite a moment. a tragic repeat, or an opening, a dispersion of earthseed?
may we listen to her now, may we be reached. may she rest in brilliant peace, brilliant power may we reach towards her understanding and may we be reached.
bell hooks went out in the midst of an awakening and she went out in the midst of a storm may the center hold as we cradle her in our full attention may our every center hold
We pray that she rest in peace the deep peace she had all along. “Healing is an act of communion.” She said. We break bread together. Everyone in refuge.
We are praying for the communion of healing, for fathomless space in the midst of the toil. May her deep peace break through to all of us now.
May we be reached.
She went out in the midst of what could be one of our truest moments yet, in the potency of reckoning in these States. States of disunion, States of discontent, States of disconnect.
She went out in the midst of grown ups trying to have conversations about change She also went out in the midst of enduring madness and child’s play,
People tryin to keep people alive.
Fed.
Taught.
It requires, maddeningly,
negotiations.
And in the midst of negotiations is an imbroglio on the threshing floor.
A great din of voices colliding, the loudest ones often the strangest,
desperate voices talking over each other,
and the algorithm making it so.
This part must be seen:
nobody is winning but the game itself.
Her game, meanwhile, was so much deeper.
bell hooks saw through every front line
saw love underneath
the blood spilled and the incomparable loss
surveyed the playground fight and saw children in need
saw grown adults acting like beasts,
breaking their own backs
pulling out each other’s hearts.
Her words came in like medicine
her words came in like light
she told us how to stop the bleeding
She showed us it was All about Love.
She understood the dead-end ladders that humans are climbing,
where contempt turns on a dime and every line
intersects with an infinity of lines.
She understood
how enduring the pain
and how temporary the victories on platforms of discontent
She understood like nobody
hooks had the wisdom of the margins.
She saw through the blunt hand of abuse
She didn’t look for redemption for unbidden suffering
She didn’t look to the dream.
She looked to the pen.
Redemption was the song that came to her
in words upon words,
in reams of wisdom.
She saw everything.
She saw what was happening in the haggling, the enemy-making, the oneupmanship
She saw that even the ones on top feel alone.
She saw how a culture of dominance makes sure nobody ever wins.
She saw it was all about love,
All about Love.
And now she’s gone out in a moment of reckoning.
She’s gone out in the moment we need her light the most.
She gone, and not gone.
For so many years she’s been reaching a hand to us from the wholeness, pulling us all through with her. May we hear her now. May we be reached.
