Revolutionary Letters
By Diane di Prima
Revolutionary Letter #71
For Bella Akhmadulina
Note: In her great poem, “I Swear,” written for her forerunner, the poet Marian Tsvetaeva, Bella Akhmadulina vows to “kill Yelabung,” the town in which Tsvetaeva hanged herself in 1941. Akhmadulina addresses the town as if it were some kind of malevolent entity or demon.
A life for a life, a young black
woman’s voice said to me on the
phone the day George
Jackson died in prison and I
said even twenty, a hundred for that
one would be cheap. Even a thousand.
And if I claimed a million
lives for each of my lost, like some
superHitler out to depopulate
the earth, and cd drink, somehow
that blood : this one’s
for you, Freddie, and this for you,
Lee Probst, Genevieve, Gloria still
alive but dead and you, Little One
we called you & this immensity
of gore I drink to you, Jimmy, teacher
and friend. O lost mad Mike, killed brain of Timothy, palsy
in Allen’s face, this one’s
for Warren Miller, nobody knows
they killed. Fred Hampton in his bed, asleep
in blood. Emmett who told us
it sen’t be “overdose” that got him
a million lives for each,
so what, it wd take four thousand only
to finish us all then & I alone
cd probably name four thousand.
Listen.
There’s got to be another way, we can’t
just kill yelabuya or be killed. Or both.
There’s
anyway here, the ghost dance, or tin
floating as gold in the vessel. I know it’s nonsense
but is it worse nonsense than drinking yourself to death
tonight in some Russian suburb? Here
we’ve got Black Elk’s four horses in the sky
to replace the ones in Revelations. What
have you got? You must have something
I won’t be “translated”
alone, or at least w/out female
buddies. I know some of the men will “buy” the ideal
but they don’t count, they never carried their flesh
grave as lead, there must be a peasant whisper
the shape of a hill, or a sneaky look
in the eyes of an ancient icon – give me a hint
don’t hide
& die.
there isn’t enough blood on earth
to buy our losses. And blood is salt, it will never
quench my thirst. Do we kill,
or split
or kill and split
..... or translate this shit
to a paradise omtting nothing taking nothing
w/us. Gravid, full
of the squirming seeds of our dread
can we
sow the wind?
can we
condense fury till it is
flame
can we use this fuel
to move us out of here
a flying leap
to another “plane” or “sphere”
& I don’t know into what, don’t ask, only
I know it won’t be worse.
#71 was first printed in the most recent edition of Diane di Prima’s Revolutionary Letters (Last Gasp Press).
HAITI, CHILE, TIBET
LET'S STOP FOR A MOMENT TO REMEMBER WHAT WE ARE
a handful of tribes on a rather small rock
where water streams over arable earth
into larger, living waters we call "ocean"
a rock that has clothed itself in an ocean of air
and we walk on that ocean floor and look out
at a vast soup of consciousness we call "empty space:"
and all is not well with our rock, it might even
come apart
could be it will soon be another asteroid belt
or meteors—
just a bunch of meteors
While our rock is shaking, and water pours from the skies
and the winds have turned demonic
could be it's time...maybe it's really time
to rewrite
the Social Contract
or at least change the rules that apply in catastrophe:
& that might soon be every day - there are lots of us & we swarm like bees)
Just a few suggestions:
1. ALL HANDS ON DECK
means just that
it's a really small boat
2. ANYONE BRINGING HELP ANYWHERE IT'S NEEDED
BRINGING...FOOD...BLANKETS
WATER...MEDICINE
IS WELCOME (obviously)
don't ask where they're from—
just say Thank You
& we'd better learn to say Thank You
in hundreds of languages)
3. ALL BORDERS DISAPPEAR
in catastrophe
they are stupid & irrelevant anyway
4. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS LOOTING IN A DISASTER
think about it—
after Katrina, Rita, all the others
after the quakes in Chile, Haiti, Kobe, Managua—look back a bit
can you call it looting when anyone breaks plate glass
comes out with food & water...medicine
camping supplies....................whatever
is that looting or just plain sanity?
keeping your family, keeping each other, alive
5. THERE IS NO PLACE FOR POLICE OR ARMY IN TRAGEDY
except as facilitators,
distributors
UNARMED they should walk the streets, bringing food
putting out fires, digging people out
rescuing those stranded on rooftops or bridges
fleeing the waters
they shd be digging latrines
putting up shelters, helping families find each other
6. EVERY BUILDING STILL INTACT SHD OPEN ITS DOORS
to everyone
what else are guest rooms for?
whoever comes to your door should be taken in
I learned when I was four
she's your guest—should be given the best
of what you've got
even if you thought she had been your enemy.
Not special. It's a universal law—
& why we're still around at all.
7. GIVE UP CONFUSING YR PROPERTY WITH YOUR LIFE
This will save a lot of problems. Stuff comes & goes
& holding on is like holding back a river
with your hands
8. STOP ASKING WHAT OTHERS "BELIEVE"
just look in their eyes
& see we are the same, they are the same
as your most beloved, be it
yr child, yr lover, dog
no child is hungry who is not your grandchild
HOW LONG WILL YOU LET HER WAIT?
no child is orphaned who is not your son
& WHAT WILL IT TAKE
to make us remember our own?
Walpurgis, 2010, San Francisco
From July, 2010
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