Beginning of Birth Pains: Nation Against Nation

Birth pangs send shooting pain that explodes in the mind, an explosion that begins and ends in the darkness of the womb. New life will overcome it. 

Shots fired from police guns send pangs of death that explode on the bodies of the innocent, the oppressed of the nations, the light of our nation. The light begins and ends in the bodies of the oppressed, and the darkness will not overcome it. 

The surge always begins like this, like a warning or a sign of what is to come. More of this is to come...

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I-in-You and You-in-Me. The child in the mother, the mother in the child. The mother’s blood poured out, her body broken, for you, new soul, wrapped in the warmth of the womb, waiting. 

I-in-You and You-in-Me, the immigrant child in our nation, the dream of our nation in the immigrant child. The blood of a nation’s promise, the very soul of a nation poured out, broken for you, innocent child, wrapped in a brittle foil blanket surrounded by the cold walls of a cage, waiting.

But, this was only the beginning…

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“You have to breathe,” the midwife says as unwilling lungs clench tight in the breathless chest with tears streaming down cheeks. The heart rate rises.

“I can’t breathe!” say the victims of state violence with tears streaming down cheeks pressed against pavement. The heart rate rises.

“We can’t breathe!” say our elders and the most vulnerable with tears soaking face masks as a deadly virus spreads among doubters, revelers, and individualists. The heart rate rises.

“They can’t breathe!” we see as they speak out for justice, for peace, as they suffocate on tear gas released for a presidential photo op and $2 dollar toys at Target. We don’t realize that “they” are the heartbeat of us, rising and falling and ever rising again, as our unwilling lungs clench tight in the breathless chest, unwilling to cry or mourn or repent or breathe justice or breathe in peace. 

Tears streaming: no justice, no peace. The heart rate rises... 

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The surges are coming stronger now so that every thought disappears and there is only an overwhelming, unbearable sensation that seems to last forever. Grab anything--a helpful hand, the bars, the bed sheets. But then the sensation fades and passes, forgotten--until the next surge comes. The doctor sees and says, “There’s still a long way to go.”

They surged against our governor without a thought, calling her, “That woman.” They surged against our state capitol building overwhelming and unbearable, grabbing anything--guns, automatic weapons, flags. But, the sensation of the moment faded and passed, forgotten...until the next surge came.

They stormed the United State’s Capitol without a thought in their minds as the world watched. Overwhelming, unbearable, it seemed to last forever. Grab anything--a hand-held weapon, a Jesus flag, Confederate Trump flag, “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, so as to tread on life-breath-heart beating-bodies and desecrate democracy. But, the sensation, the siege, faded and passed, almost forgotten--until the next surge comes.

The prophets see and say, “The time is near.”