The Role Of The Artist Is To Load The Gun
Inspired by Ismatu Gwendolyn’s post entitled ‘The role of the artist is to load the gun’ from her Threadings newsletter
Choose your weapon
and as you weep,
pick each bullet carefully.
Load the gun with your anger
and feel the rush as you pass the gun
to the masses.
Shoot with the precision
of your ancestors.
As they remember the taste
of their blood in the coloniser’s mouth.
Smile as you hear the Empire’s last breath. Bow down after and
pray to the Divine.
Giving thanks for the
taste of victory on each tooth.
True freedom is upon us.
Worship freedom like she deserves.
Say her name in each breath.
Feel her kindness every time you smile.
Venerate the martyrs that will come.
Bury your current pleasures
next to the promise of death.
Reserve the sorrow in between
your legs that will come when
it starts to smell like rotten flesh.
The suffering will feel eternal.
As death waves at you, learn to
hug the love in between your community’s lungs.
Refuse to let go. Attach your soul
to it every time you taste
the weight of the sadness in your tears.
The worse part is yet to come.
Not everyone will survive.
You may soon join the ancestors.
But if you endure,
the streets will be coated in love
and the gates of heaven will
suddenly become earthly.
Each step will lighten
as the world’s joy returns
& the Divine smiles at us.
So tonight make sure you say a prayer.
and tomorrow
Load the gun.
I love your writing so much, it's literally making me obsessed ;.; "As they remember the taste of their blood in the coloniser’s mouth." "Worship freedom like she deserves." I'm so in love <3
Also, we have such similar taste in reads, and Ismatsu's post really resonated with me as well !!