Wednesday, July 22, 2020

We are old, Father William...

Issue #13, a zine, "No One Tells You When to Shout", has finally begun shipping. Which is to say, put in envelopes, sent to subscribers.


“The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.”

 Hannah Arendt, quoted by Lyndsey Stonebridge

 

“Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self: in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in one's nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one's robes.”

 James Baldwin, from The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction,

1948-1985

 

 

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

    When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

    But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,  

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—

I know why the caged bird sings!


from “Sympathy”, a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)

 

 

 

So, I say to you, as others have told to me, hold fast to what is good, and

seek to return no one evil for evil.

Strengthen the faint-hearted, support the weak, help the suffering.

Let each of us not be proud, but instead welcome help when

we are in need.

Let us always honor all people, tempering justice with mercy, as we

indeed desire for ourselves. Find something sacred in

the abstract nakedness of being human.

 

 

 

Lara Scott             metamer@protonmail.com

The Metamer Quarterly, Issue #13 “No One Tells You When To Shout”

https://themetamerquarterly.blogspot.com/