[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.16,0:00:06.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hello loved ones!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.82,0:00:14.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Welcome to Resurrection Sunday, \N#2 of our 21 week series
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.47,0:00:23.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in honour of black lesbian warrior poet icon exemplar, chosen ancestor, Audre Lorde.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.02,0:00:34.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, today we're gonna be working with a much less known poem by Audre Lorde about survival.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.93,0:00:37.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The poem is called "Prologue",
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.76,0:00:40.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in "Prologue", Audre Lorde is addressing
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.49,0:00:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some narrow definitions of blackness
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.96,0:00:47.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in her chosen community of black arts poets
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.02,0:00:50.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is so hard and so deep
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.03,0:00:54.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that she actually embodies \Nand takes on subjectivity of a vampire
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.80,0:00:57.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in order to say what she needs to say.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.62,0:01:02.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I think this poem is amazing \Nand strange and weird,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.34,0:01:04.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is probably why people don't read it so much;
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.64,0:01:08.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}and{\i0}, you can see how I think about this poem \Nand how I see it as a precedent
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.92,0:01:15.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and as sort of a foundation for black queer futurism \Nand black feminist vampire fiction
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.18,0:01:19.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in this book, "The Black Imagination". \NCheck it out.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.42,0:01:27.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK. So, here is "Prologue", from Audre Lorde's 1973 \Nbook "From A Land Where Other People Live".
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.65,0:01:36.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Haunted by poems beginning with I
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.57,0:01:41.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seek out those I love who are deaf
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.15,0:01:43.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to whatever does not destroy
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.81,0:01:48.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or curse the old ways that did not serve us
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.34,0:01:53.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while history falters and our poets are dying
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.41,0:01:57.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,choked into silence by icy distinction
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.12,0:02:00.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their death rattles blind curses
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.38,0:02:04.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I hear even my own voice becoming
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.34,0:02:08.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a pale strident whisper
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.02,0:02:13.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At night sleep locks me into an echoless coffin
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.10,0:02:16.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sometimes at noon I dream
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.25,0:02:18.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is nothing to fear
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.95,0:02:23.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now standing up in the light of my father sun
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.31,0:02:25.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without shadow
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.05,0:02:28.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I speak without concern for the accusations
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.78,0:02:32.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I am too much or too little woman
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.88,0:02:36.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I am too black or too white
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.28,0:02:39.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or too much myself
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.11,0:02:42.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and through my lips come the voices
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.58,0:02:45.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the ghosts of our ancestors
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.38,0:02:47.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,living and moving among us
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.41,0:02:51.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hear my heart's voice as it darkens
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.65,0:02:54.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pulling old rhythms out of the earth
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.55,0:02:57.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that will receive this piece of me
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.58,0:03:00.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a piece of each one of you
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.12,0:03:03.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when our part in history quickens again
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.22,0:03:04.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and is over:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.58,0:03:06.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hear
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.88,0:03:09.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the old ways are going away
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.31,0:03:12.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and coming back pretending change
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.71,0:03:15.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,masked as denunciation and lament
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.40,0:03:17.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,masked as a choice
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.01,0:03:20.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between eager mirrors that blur and distort us
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.41,0:03:22.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in easy definitions
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.41,0:03:23.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,until our image
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.78,0:03:26.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,shatters along its fault
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.60,0:03:28.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while the other half of that choice
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.98,0:03:32.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,speaks to our hidden fears with a promise
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.12,0:03:37.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that our eyes need not seek any truer shape--
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.45,0:03:42.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a face at high noon particular and unadorned--
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.39,0:03:44.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for we have learned to fear
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.82,0:03:48.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the light from clear water might destroy us
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.25,0:03:52.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with reflected emptiness or a face without tongue
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.28,0:03:55.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with no love or with terrible penalties
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.62,0:03:57.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for any difference
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.71,0:04:01.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even as I speak remembered pain is moving
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.47,0:04:05.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,shadows over my face, my own voice fades and
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.94,0:04:08.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my brothers and sisters are leaving;
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.79,0:04:13.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet when I was a child
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.05,0:04:16.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whatever my mother thought would mean survival
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.90,0:04:20.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made her try to beat me whiter every day
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.90,0:04:25.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even now the colour of her bleached ambition
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.09,0:04:27.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,still forks throughout my words
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.80,0:04:29.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I survived
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.77,0:04:31.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and didn't I survive confirmed
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.94,0:04:34.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to teach my children where her errors lay
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.94,0:04:37.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,etched across their faces between the kisses
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.90,0:04:40.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that she pinned me with asleep
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.57,0:04:42.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my mother beating me
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.87,0:04:45.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as white as snow melts in the sunlight
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.97,0:04:50.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,loving me into her bloods black bone--
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.97,0:04:54.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the home of all her secret hopes and fears
Dialogue: 0,0:04:54.96,0:04:57.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my dead father whose great hands
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.93,0:05:00.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,weakened in my judgement
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.14,0:05:02.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose image broke inside of me
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.60,0:05:05.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beneath the weight of failure
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.13,0:05:09.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,helps me to know who I am not
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.58,0:05:11.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,weak or mistaken
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.60,0:05:13.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my father loved me alive
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.55,0:05:15.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to grow and hate him
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.98,0:05:19.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and now his grave voice joins hers
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.70,0:05:23.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,within my words rising and falling
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.64,0:05:26.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are my sisters and brothers listening?
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.15,0:05:31.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The children remain
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.30,0:05:34.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like blades of grass over the earth and
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.05,0:05:36.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all the children are singing
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.36,0:05:38.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,louder than mourning
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.19,0:05:42.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all their different voices \Nsound like a raucous question
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.31,0:05:45.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but they do not fear the blank and empty mirrors
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.87,0:05:50.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they have seen their faces \Ndefined in a hydrants' puddle
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.34,0:05:54.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before the rainbows of oil obscured them.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:54.38,0:05:59.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The time of lamentation and curses is passing.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:59.65,0:06:02.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My mother survives now
Dialogue: 0,0:06:02.71,0:06:05.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through more than chance or token.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.40,0:06:08.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Although she will read what I write \Nwith embarrassment
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.49,0:06:09.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or anger
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.82,0:06:12.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a small understanding
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.46,0:06:16.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my children do not need to relive my past
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.46,0:06:19.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in strength nor in confusion
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.18,0:06:21.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nor care that their holy fires
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.79,0:06:22.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,may destroy
Dialogue: 0,0:06:22.71,0:06:25.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more than my failures
Dialogue: 0,0:06:25.85,0:06:29.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Somewhere in the landscape past noon
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.31,0:06:31.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I shall leave a dark print
Dialogue: 0,0:06:31.88,0:06:33.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the me that I am
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.95,0:06:36.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and who I am not
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.58,0:06:41.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,etched in the shadow of \Nangry and remembered loving
Dialogue: 0,0:06:41.06,0:06:43.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and their ghosts will move
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.43,0:06:45.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whispering through them
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.10,0:06:47.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with me none the wiser
Dialogue: 0,0:06:47.26,0:06:49.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for they will have buried me
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.05,0:06:50.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,either in shame
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.63,0:06:52.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or in peace.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.32,0:06:55.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the grasses will still be
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.23,0:06:56.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Singing."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:59.06,0:07:01.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, there is so much in that poem,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.78,0:07:04.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it is amazing to work with that poem,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.72,0:07:08.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and its vampire queerness, this weekend,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:08.35,0:07:13.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after an amazing Octavia Butler \NParable of The Sower potluck this weekend,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.90,0:07:17.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and after our all day poetry retreat here in Durham,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:17.64,0:07:21.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,working with some of Lucille Clifton's \Nmost mystical poems.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.50,0:07:26.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But for me, what is so brave \Nand incredible about this poem,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.37,0:07:31.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that there is this challenge of: \Nwhat does it mean to be alive?
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.75,0:07:34.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What does it mean for our words to survive,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.83,0:07:41.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we launch our words into a community\Nthat may or may not be ready to hear them?
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.92,0:07:46.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we feel that we may be excluded \Nfrom the communities we love.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.28,0:07:51.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We feel like we may die\Nif we speak the truth that we need to speak.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.89,0:07:58.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so Audre Lorde becomes un-dead,\Nbecomes vampire,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.06,0:08:01.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,speaking about this fear of reflection,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:01.12,0:08:04.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fear of the abundance of our \Nreflection of each other.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:04.59,0:08:06.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think it's incredible
Dialogue: 0,0:08:06.79,0:08:11.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that she makes that space through \Nthe use of the vampire and the un-dead,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:11.49,0:08:14.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the multiple generations,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:14.03,0:08:19.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to do the work of healing the \Ninternalized racism within her own family.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.99,0:08:22.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Her mother survives in her poem.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:22.49,0:08:25.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}She{\i0} projects that {\i1}she{\i0} will survive,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:25.68,0:08:31.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into this moment past whatever \Nwe are projecting onto her.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.33,0:08:35.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She leaves a dark print of who she is,\Nand who she is not.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:35.45,0:08:36.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Whooo!
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.80,0:08:37.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I love it!
Dialogue: 0,0:08:37.80,0:08:39.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's Sunday, I could talk about this all day.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:39.54,0:08:42.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what I want to assign us to do
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.10,0:08:47.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to speak that truth\Nthat we are afraid to speak.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:47.41,0:08:55.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, that we really feel that we will be rejected \Nunto death if we share in the communities we love,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:55.45,0:08:58.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to share it, to make the space to share it,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.65,0:09:04.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we know that the future deserves a present \Nwhere our truths were spoken.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:04.41,0:09:08.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where our reflection was brave.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.54,0:09:13.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ah! Hmm! Mmm! Praise the lord!
Dialogue: 0,0:09:13.58,0:09:15.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,{\i1}And{\i0}, because it's Resurrection Sunday,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:15.94,0:09:18.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I read this poem 26 times today,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:18.79,0:09:21.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really reflecting and meditating
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.31,0:09:25.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on what were the words that Audre Lorde used\Nthat started with the letter "A",
Dialogue: 0,0:09:25.01,0:09:26.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or started with the letter "B",
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.78,0:09:31.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I pulled out a new poem from the words \Nthat she used starting with the letter "R",
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.24,0:09:34.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially as a blessing for us\Non Resurrection Sunday.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.62,0:09:36.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And... here it is:
Dialogue: 0,0:09:38.53,0:09:43.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So these are the words in the order that they appear \Nin the poem that start with the letter "R".
Dialogue: 0,0:09:45.56,0:09:52.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"rattles, rhythms, receive, reflected, remembered,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:52.40,0:09:57.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rising, remain, remain, raucous,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.86,0:10:03.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rainbows, read, relive, remember."
Dialogue: 0,0:10:05.19,0:10:09.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even the mini-poems inside her poems\Nare like the best poems ever.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:09.72,0:10:16.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, if you want a special poem from Prologue \Ndedicated to you or someone that you love,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:16.65,0:10:21.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a School of Our Lorde blessing to you\Nand the truth that you need to speak,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.32,0:10:24.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,check us out on the School of Our Lorde website:
Dialogue: 0,0:10:27.83,0:10:30.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that can happen! That can happen.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.34,0:10:34.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And until next time, \Nhappy Resurrection Sunday.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:34.74,0:10:39.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,May Audre Lorde live on, through our actions,\Nthrough our boldness, through our braveness,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:39.43,0:10:40.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through our love.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:40.80,0:10:41.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mwah!