No One Way Works
Learning from Diane di Prima
Hi Consumers!
I’ve missed you. Thanks for bearing with me as I missed a few Friday Fives, given… (imagine me pointing into the void) everything going on. Between my family in Iran and Minneapolis, this start to the year has felt lengthy, wicked, and very tiring.
I recently saw this pin on Instagram (thank you Ashley Eva Brock for showing up on my discover page!). This quote has been consuming me for weeks:
In typical Consumed fashion, I started digging into the quote and its brilliant author. Diane di Prima was Brooklyn-born and raised, the granddaughter of anarchists. She attended Hunter College High School with none other than Audre Lorde, and together they formed a kind of dead poets society—skipping class to hold seances for their beloved writers. She was part of the Beat movement, a mother to five children, and a dedicated practitioner of Zen Buddhism.
I’m obsessed with this quote from her: “I wanted everything—very earnestly and totally—I wanted to have every experience I could have, I wanted everything that was possible to a person in a female body, and that meant that I wanted to be mother.… So my feeling was, ‘Well’—as I had many times had the feeling—‘Well, nobody’s done it quite this way before but fuck it, that’s what I’m doing, I’m going to risk it.’”
Back to the pin: I wanted to share the full poem that that quote comes from—one of many revolutionary letters she wrote until her passing.
Revolutionary Letter #8
Everytime you pick the spot for a be-in
a demonstration, a march, a rally, you are choosing the ground
for a potential battle.
You are still calling these shots.
Pick your terrain with that in mind.
Remember the old gang rules:
stick to your neighborhood, don’t let them lure you
to Central Park everytime, I would hate
to stumble bloody out of that park to find help:
Central Park West, or Fifth Avenue, which would you
choose?
//
go to love-ins
with incense, flowers, food, and a plastic bag
with a damp cloth in it, for tear gas, wear no jewelry
wear clothes you can move in easily, wear no glasses
contact lenses
earrings for pierced ears are especially hazardous
//
try to be clear
in front, what you will do if it comes
to trouble
if you’re going to try to split stay out of the center
don’t stampede or panic others
don’t waver between active and passive resistance
know your limitations, bear contempt
neither for yourself, nor any of your brothers
//
NO ONE WAY WORKS, it will take all of us
shoving at the thing from all sides
to bring it down.
If you’re looking for something practical: I’m grateful for this post from Reimagined News detailing many ways to take action against ICE, from mobilizing your neighbors to protesting to creating a personal safety plan. There will also be some protests this weekend across the US in solidarity with Iranians, if you’re looking for communal resistance.
I’ll leave you with this… I’ll be back later this week!
so grateful for your words on any cadence they appear