Recovery Series//ep. 3.1//why we dance//why they banned

Because you can’t tell me this is it. 

I don’t believe you.

You won’t tell me this is it. You won’t fix me to a reality where I am oppressed, where my gifts are suppressed.

I don’t believe you.

I dance with the unknown the unnamed the unseen the undocumented the unwritten the underworld the undead the undone. The feared.

I question this reality. And I make this reality.

I can’t believe I thought this was it. I can’t believe I believed this was it.

I’m escaping. 

I’m getting fucked up. I’m transcending. High.

I’m dancing in other worlds

You cannot tell me this is it.

I dance. In other worlds. That change your world. I live. And I’m live. I won’t be lied to.

I remember when I dance. I danced with the unknown the unnamed the unseen the undocumented the unwritten the underworld the unsung the undone the undead the feared the myself the my people the sky the sun the trees the stars the soil the dirt the moon

Now I saw. I see. 

There is Much More Than this, Now. Here. There’s much more.

You can’t tell me this is it. Like come on. I remember. 

And now that I remember, no one can sit and look me in my face and tell me some shit they made up, tell me some shit they believe that just so happens to affect my entire role on this planet? that just so happens to have me playing a part, a part that. has me fucked. up. That has me completely fucked up.

I don’t believe you. And, I’m not playing.

And I forgive you. Marguerite Angelica Monique Hemmings. I forgive you.

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This poem was inspired by a dream I had that featured and explained the secret to —i can’t say here– in August 2018. while part of an artist fellowship at ASU. This was also inspired by the class I taught during the fellowship, where we asked the question ‘why do we dance?” and “why has dance, dances, dance forms, dance gatherings, been banned in so many instances, in so many cultures, throughout history?” “why is banning dance a tool used by oppressive forces?” we then decided dance must be a tool of liberation. a practice, a state of liberation.