Joy, a Jackhammer.
The unexpected force of freedom.
The art and liberation of Velma Middleton — a singer and dancer who took the stage beside Louis Armstrong — inspired this piece. At an event in NYC recently, I witnessed the joy radiating from within her being after and through oppression and felt the language of my own liberation speak to me. If you’d like, you too can watch her sing. Thank you, Velma, for the courage of your life, the commitment of your body, and the constancy of your voice.
No one ever told me
Just how destructive
Joy can be.
Like a jackhammer
Penetrating pavement.
Or the roots of trees
Cracking through cement
Blocks of sidewalks.
Joy says, I want to live deeply.
To be grounded.
Joy says, I want to breathe.
To be free.
No one ever told me
That freedom is a funeral.
A cemetery for those
Who cracked and crumbled
Permanence before me.
My roots are buried
In their legacies.
At the wake of
memories, I grieve.
While my body breathes
Stretched by sky.
I arrive, finally,
To a future full of
History’s daydreams.
I am joy.
I am free,
Violently.