28/11/2016

Standing Rock


* Scroll down for my simple poem dedicated to all those at Standing Rock and written to Energy Transfer Partners.*

I am extremely moved by the grace and power of the Standing Rock action. As though Wakhán Thánka is channelling these traditions and people - reacting to humanity's destabilising presence by sustaining a resurgence of perennial wisdom. Highlighting how disconnected and blind the prevailing status quo in the West is. I am struck by the parallels with the international brigade's in the Spanish civil war, where people from all over the world journeyed to fight fascism. My hope is that Standing Rock is a peaceful and better version of that, a movement in tune with the environment, championing connection and oneness, one that fuses the best of now with the wisdom of ancient truths. The tone is set by the power, resilience and beauty of these people. I do not want to speak for them but I do want to stand with them.



.

Standing Rock Press Conference - 11/26/2016


These are not victims
These are rocks
These are water
Serenity's daughter combined with fires fury
This is a jury of beating hearts
Their same pulse permeates everything
for we are mud, all of us
nothing but mud
equally
As they school us in real learning
Everything that is earth Is Us
Not, an inanimate word for burning

These are not victims
They are power
Speak to aggressors with humility
You who stand there in the armour of the so called free
To protect a bourgeoisie economy
Sioux extend love to you
See you as them
True love drowns fear
Transcends selfhood
Makes individuality look small.
So Sioux find you as shadows and not remotely scary

These are not victims
They invite you to stand with them like rock
As they fearlessly champion sanctity
They have waited
Centuries of oppression to be fully seen
And we all need them not the other way round
The main narrative in world history is indelibly at Standing Rock
A story that cries out incredibly for redemption
A ballad broadcast from the very pores of this planet
What the west lost in all its getting
Is a debt that we will all pay
Even the stones cry out.

The earth is not a victim
She invites you to join a resurgence of power
To fight for justice is what collective love looks like
Longing for mindful action the earth channels the mud
Perennial wisdom does rise
Status quo is disconnected and blind
The Native Youth's pounding feet get louder
The growing beat taps out a message
Exploitation will never 'trump' integration
nor stewardship, nor oneness
True expansion is towards greater unity
Line your pockets temporarily
Only
For you are not separate
and growth not exponential.
GDP don't start from free,
Inevitably it is built on reality
not infinity
So strive for harmony
for equilibrium
and back off