024. the collection plate

emotional landslide.

question: why do you write?

answer: to remember the wisdoms that i know.

words, from the archives:

if we could go back in time, and tell our teachers what we want to be when we grow up we would name more than the titles they named for us.

we would say we want to be homes. we want to be sanctuaries. we want to be peaces. we want to be wholes.

we would say we want to to be waves, and shores. we want to be healers; roots, soil and seed. we want to be living legs that become legacies.

we would say we want to be home bodies so that when the world succeeds at pulling us away from ourselves, we embody what we need to find our ways back to we.

we would say we want to be the light that remind us, we are not just the products we produce, the money we make, the jobs we do or the titles we hold.

this is what most teachers did not teach us. and so we must to learn for ourselves.

and so we must show each other.

and so we must remember.

and so we must carry the memory in our bones so our bloodlines know.

and so we must not forget the wisdom in our knowing.

- ẹniafẹ isis, All Her Words

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wednesday, july 10, 2024

yesterday was one of those days. an emotional landslide. the kind the makes you contemplate disconnecting, from feeling in a dissociative way. so i cussed and cried, moved furniture around, cleaned, moved some more furniture around, read, slept and read some more. tears, words and Love brought me back.

today is a new day. for me, dissociation is not an option, or an answer. we cannot feel that way.

and, we are made to feel.

“I have been made tender by life.” —

Jamal Robinson

Loveless Games.

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The Collection Plate #24

1. Notes on Dua (Arabic, also written duʿāʾ)

noun. Supplication

definition: the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.

synonyms: appeal, invocation, petition, prayer, request

invoke (verb): call forth, evoke, conjure (synonyms: pray, supplicate, worship)

2. “And if hardship approached you, then say: You are what I will use to blossom.” — Hashim Y. A. ‘Hardships’

3. “dedication is a kind of devotion. devotion is a kind of prayer. and praying with ambiguity is ill form. pray like a knife.” — @_i__ca (Twitter)

3. “Freedom is an honest place…” —

   Nadia Meli

The weight of clouds

5. “If you are free, you are not predictable and you are not controllable.” — June Jordan

6. “Our words are our instruments. We ought to make noise, use language as a medium for restoration and for change. We ought to be concerned enough to bear witness to each other.

   How concerned are you?” —

   Mariah Maddox

The Dissonance

7. The vibe for 2024…