Note
This is a transcript of the the podcast post of the same name. You can listen to the post (and others) on your preferred podcast platform (hopefully). You can find a complete list on my Link Tree:
WARNING!
This recording contains explicit language. Get your headphones out and spare the bystanders my obscenities. Also: it is a literary exploration of “—isms".” It's not for everyone and that's alright. I hope you'll consider listening. If not, that's fine, too.
Good evening. I'm Lune and I like to tell stories. Some days, that task is heavier than others. Some days, the word 'like' doesn't really apply. These stories are called:
“—ism”
How do I get you to see?
The wall that's between you and me?
A lie that you want to believe.
The story to set yourself free.
I hold up a mirror. You flee.
How do I get you to see?
She who has the least?
Is given the least?
Will know the least?
Will see the least?
Will drink and wash and eat the least.
She'll live a life you never know.
In a place you'll never go.
With a name you can't pronounce, oh no.
She's tangled in your daily life.
In your sound bites.
In your cupboards.
In your stereo.
On your nails.
On your flags.
On your momma's grave, God rest her.
On your... pancakes?
How do I get you to see?
The invisible lie that defies the eye
But you can see it through the corner if you try
How do I get you to see?
We're killing her with fucking pancakes.
Every chocolate chip cookie at the International House of Consumerism
The equivalent of a cocoa nib chipping away at humanity's potential.
Fuck humanity's potential.
Where is its common decency?
Our potential can wait until we are operating at minimum capacity.
If capitalism taught me anything it's this:
you are the sum of your weakest parts.
Since none of us can get off the human race,
the greedy fuckers up front can wait until we get everyone caught up.
If they cause a ruckus I'll pitch a middle aged white woman fit to buy us time.
Is it the best use of my privilege?
Fuck no, but if I get the chance I'll take it.
Is that self-aware or fake woke?
I don’t know—
What was that?
You want to know what happened to She who has the least?
She died.
As is often the case with stars
It takes brilliant human minds a very long time to see the light.
By the time they see it The source of that light has already ceased.
But She was not lightyears away.
She was standing right here.
How do I get you to see?
I want no savior.
I am no savior.
You need no savior.
You are no savior.
How do I get you to see?
Our children are undereducated.
Our communities are underfunded.
Our governments are deceiving us.
Our advertisers are manipulating us.
Our histories are edited.
Our economies are soaked in blood.
Our hands are dirty from scraping by.
And somehow the dirt under our nails is our fault?
That if we simply open our eyes,
or get off our ass,
or try a little harder,
then we'll "get it"?
And you think I'm blind…
How do I get you to see?
All the words you don't say.
Hiding between the ones you do.
Amplified so violently by their silence.
Ear splitting decibel levels of inference.
Klaxons of duplicity not happenstance.
Who taught you the words you won't say?
Who showed you that's what to do?
A lifetime bloated by consumption.
Too thick to question the weekly bruncheon.
Weighed down by the mechanisms function.
So proud of the words you don't say.
And the things you'd never do.
Yet for every word omitted.
Another's soul becomes committed.
Every sentence you contort.
Is a future you abort.
I wonder, for each word you've lost.
Do you care who pays cost?
How do I get you to see?
(please read in Missy Elliot's voice)
Headlines peddling greed
Tax dollars funnel to police
Brown babies gonna get beat
News lady lying through her teeth
POTUS won't do shit
Two hundred eighty words quick
Outrage flooding your feed
Twitter makes tragedy a mint
How do I get you to see?
A world that words cannot express
It is a choice
A choice you make
To shake the lies off
Turn away
To ask the question
Why not today?
How do I get you to see?
How close we stand together
Our burdens tied forever
To the economic lever
But if not now then, when?
The alternative was never an option.
How do I get you to see?
She's realer in your mind than in reality
The most dangerous place for her to be
How do I get you to see?
The words are the same
We define them different
Point of view needs to change
New perspective, position
Just turn your head slightly
Just step to the side
Reframe your thinking
Then take one more stride...
How do I get you to see?
Do you need me to spell it out for you?
How do I get you to see?
Me?
Those are all the tales I have to tell today. You can reach me via email, thoseindarkness (at) gmail (dot) com. No other socials for the moment…
Thank you for listening. I hope you felt something.
I'm Lune and remember: You have two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, two chambers in your heart, and only one mouth. Use them proportionally.