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Hello, loved ones!

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It's me, Sister Doctor Alexis Pauline Gumbs,

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and today is 21 years from the day

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that the great poet warrior mother black lesbian icon[br]Audre Lorde transitioned to become an ancestor.

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So to honour Audre Lorde

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and the fact that she is eternally with us

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this is the 1st edition of a 21 week series

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called Resurrection Sunday.

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Bringing us from Audre Lorde's death date, [br]back around through her re-birth.

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And we are going to bring Audre Lorde's work

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robustly into our lives

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through an examination of her poetry on survival.

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I feel especially excited about survival today,

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because I just completed a full circle doula training

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with the International Centre [br]for Traditional Childbirth...

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yaaaaaaay!

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And I'm so excited to support us all in birthing the next warrior poet geniuses onto the planet,

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and welcoming them with love.

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So, today we're gonna hear Audre Lorde's most famous poem on survival, A Litany For Survival.

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<i>"A Litany For Survival</i>

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<i>For those of us who live at the shoreline,</i>

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<i>standing upon the constant edges of decision[br]crucial and alone,</i>

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<i>for those of us who cannot indulge[br]the passing dreams of choice,</i>

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<i>who love in doorways coming and going[br]in the hours between dawns,</i>

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<i>looking inward and outward</i>

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<i>at once before and after,</i>

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<i>seeking a now that can breed futures</i>

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<i>like bread in our children's mouths,</i>

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<i>so their dreams will not reflect[br]the death of ours:</i>

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<i>For those of us[br]who were imprinted with fear</i>

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<i>like a faint line in the center of our foreheads,</i>

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<i>learning to be afraid with our mother's milk,</i>

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<i>for by this weapon,</i>

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<i>this illusion of some safety to be found,</i>

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<i>the heavy-footed hoped to silence us.</i>

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<i>For all of us,</i>

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<i>this instant and this triumph</i>

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<i>we were never meant to survive.</i>

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<i>And when the sun rises [br]we are afraid it might not remain,</i>

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<i>when the sun sets we are afraid[br]it might not rise in the morning,</i>

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<i>when our stomachs are full we are afraid [br]of indigestion,</i>

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<i>when our stomachs are empty we are afraid[br]we may never eat again,</i>

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<i>when we are loved we are afraid[br]love will vanish,</i>

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<i>when we are alone we are afraid[br]love will never return,</i>

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<i>and when we speak we are afraid[br]our words will not be heard</i>

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<i>nor welcomed.</i>

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<i>But when we are silent[br]we are still afraid,</i>

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<i>so it is better to speak,</i>

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<i>remembering</i>

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<i>we were never meant to survive."</i>

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So Audre Lorde famously wrote [br]in the Cancer Journals

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that if she did not speak her truth [br]every time she was afraid,

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she would be trying to speak her realness [br]from a ouija board from the beyond.

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She really encouraged us to speak our truth [br]despite our fear.

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And when I think about A Litany For Survival <i>today</i>,

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after being immersed in a beautiful, [br]African centred context

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of what it means to support the practice of birth,

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what it means to support the breakthrough,[br]of allowing life to happen,

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I think about what we want to give birth to,

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that we are now ready to claim, and push past our fear to achieve and bring into the world.

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So, I want to invite you to journal about that,

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to write about that, to name that and claim that:

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What is it that you are birthing into the world?

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You -never meant to survive- that is already a triumph because <i>you</i> can imagine it.

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And I would love it, love it, love it even more

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if you cuold share in the comments [br]that which you are birthing into the world,

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so everyone can see.

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And, if you want, I'll be making an oracle this week from A Litany For Survival,

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and you can check out the School of Our Lorde website at the link below

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to find out how you can get a custom email,[br]poem, blessing, one on one conversation,

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blessing, oracle, poem from Audre Lorde [br]for that project, that adventure, that reality

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that you are ready to birth.

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So excited to doula you into your dreams!

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Hope to hear from you soon,

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happy Resurrection Sunday.