1 00:00:04,955 --> 00:00:06,963 Hello, loved ones! 2 00:00:06,963 --> 00:00:10,865 It's me, Sister Doctor Alexis Pauline Gumbs, 3 00:00:10,865 --> 00:00:16,858 and today is 21 years from the day 4 00:00:16,858 --> 00:00:26,540 that the great poet warrior mother black lesbian icon Audre Lorde transitioned to become an ancestor. 5 00:00:31,779 --> 00:00:33,907 So to honour Audre Lorde 6 00:00:33,907 --> 00:00:38,801 and the fact that she is eternally with us 7 00:00:38,801 --> 00:00:44,433 this is the 1st edition of a 21 week series 8 00:00:44,433 --> 00:00:46,975 called Resurrection Sunday. 9 00:00:46,975 --> 00:00:52,946 Bringing us from Audre Lorde's death date, back around through her re-birth. 10 00:00:52,946 --> 00:00:55,805 And we are going to bring Audre Lorde's work 11 00:00:55,805 --> 00:00:58,308 robustly into our lives 12 00:00:58,308 --> 00:01:03,331 through an examination of her poetry on survival. 13 00:01:03,331 --> 00:01:06,543 I feel especially excited about survival today, 14 00:01:06,543 --> 00:01:11,664 because I just completed a full circle doula training 15 00:01:11,664 --> 00:01:15,517 with the International Centre for Traditional Childbirth... 16 00:01:17,291 --> 00:01:18,793 yaaaaaaay! 17 00:01:19,783 --> 00:01:27,947 And I'm so excited to support us all in birthing the next warrior poet geniuses onto the planet, 18 00:01:27,947 --> 00:01:31,203 and welcoming them with love. 19 00:01:31,968 --> 00:01:39,748 So, today we're gonna hear Audre Lorde's most famous poem on survival, A Litany For Survival. 20 00:01:45,103 --> 00:01:48,532 "A Litany For Survival 21 00:01:49,974 --> 00:01:54,467 For those of us who live at the shoreline, 22 00:01:54,467 --> 00:02:01,104 standing upon the constant edges of decision crucial and alone, 23 00:02:01,104 --> 00:02:06,467 for those of us who cannot indulge the passing dreams of choice, 24 00:02:06,467 --> 00:02:12,031 who love in doorways coming and going in the hours between dawns, 25 00:02:12,031 --> 00:02:14,500 looking inward and outward 26 00:02:14,500 --> 00:02:17,333 at once before and after, 27 00:02:17,333 --> 00:02:20,595 seeking a now that can breed futures 28 00:02:20,595 --> 00:02:23,064 like bread in our children's mouths, 29 00:02:23,064 --> 00:02:27,885 so their dreams will not reflect the death of ours: 30 00:02:29,153 --> 00:02:34,357 For those of us who were imprinted with fear 31 00:02:34,357 --> 00:02:38,057 like a faint line in the center of our foreheads, 32 00:02:38,057 --> 00:02:42,247 learning to be afraid with our mother's milk, 33 00:02:42,247 --> 00:02:44,161 for by this weapon, 34 00:02:44,161 --> 00:02:47,487 this illusion of some safety to be found, 35 00:02:47,487 --> 00:02:51,352 the heavy-footed hoped to silence us. 36 00:02:51,352 --> 00:02:54,092 For all of us, 37 00:02:54,092 --> 00:02:57,890 this instant and this triumph 38 00:02:57,890 --> 00:03:02,637 we were never meant to survive. 39 00:03:04,826 --> 00:03:10,749 And when the sun rises we are afraid it might not remain, 40 00:03:10,749 --> 00:03:17,422 when the sun sets we are afraid it might not rise in the morning, 41 00:03:17,422 --> 00:03:22,854 when our stomachs are full we are afraid of indigestion, 42 00:03:22,854 --> 00:03:28,921 when our stomachs are empty we are afraid we may never eat again, 43 00:03:28,921 --> 00:03:34,314 when we are loved we are afraid love will vanish, 44 00:03:34,314 --> 00:03:40,377 when we are alone we are afraid love will never return, 45 00:03:40,377 --> 00:03:47,964 and when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard 46 00:03:47,964 --> 00:03:50,118 nor welcomed. 47 00:03:50,118 --> 00:03:56,290 But when we are silent we are still afraid, 48 00:03:57,086 --> 00:04:01,829 so it is better to speak, 49 00:04:01,829 --> 00:04:03,950 remembering 50 00:04:03,950 --> 00:04:07,355 we were never meant to survive." 51 00:04:07,766 --> 00:04:11,568 So Audre Lorde famously wrote in the Cancer Journals 52 00:04:11,568 --> 00:04:16,931 that if she did not speak her truth every time she was afraid, 53 00:04:16,931 --> 00:04:23,372 she would be trying to speak her realness from a ouija board from the beyond. 54 00:04:23,372 --> 00:04:28,367 She really encouraged us to speak our truth despite our fear. 55 00:04:28,367 --> 00:04:31,825 And when I think about A Litany For Survival today, 56 00:04:31,825 --> 00:04:36,435 after being immersed in a beautiful, African centred context 57 00:04:36,435 --> 00:04:40,686 of what it means to support the practice of birth, 58 00:04:40,686 --> 00:04:45,469 what it means to support the breakthrough, of allowing life to happen, 59 00:04:45,469 --> 00:04:48,495 I think about what we want to give birth to, 60 00:04:48,495 --> 00:04:56,092 that we are now ready to claim, and push past our fear to achieve and bring into the world. 61 00:04:56,092 --> 00:04:59,935 So, I want to invite you to journal about that, 62 00:04:59,935 --> 00:05:03,076 to write about that, to name that and claim that: 63 00:05:03,076 --> 00:05:06,534 What is it that you are birthing into the world? 64 00:05:06,534 --> 00:05:13,265 You -never meant to survive- that is already a triumph because you can imagine it. 65 00:05:13,265 --> 00:05:16,050 And I would love it, love it, love it even more 66 00:05:16,050 --> 00:05:21,090 if you cuold share in the comments that which you are birthing into the world, 67 00:05:21,090 --> 00:05:23,550 so everyone can see. 68 00:05:24,773 --> 00:05:30,557 And, if you want, I'll be making an oracle this week from A Litany For Survival, 69 00:05:30,557 --> 00:05:35,365 and you can check out the School of Our Lorde website at the link below 70 00:05:37,455 --> 00:05:41,518 to find out how you can get a custom email, poem, blessing, one on one conversation, 71 00:05:41,518 --> 00:05:47,852 blessing, oracle, poem from Audre Lorde for that project, that adventure, that reality 72 00:05:47,852 --> 00:05:50,042 that you are ready to birth. 73 00:05:50,042 --> 00:05:53,413 So excited to doula you into your dreams! 74 00:05:53,413 --> 00:05:55,288 Hope to hear from you soon, 75 00:05:55,288 --> 00:05:56,828 happy Resurrection Sunday.