By Button Poetry
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Zach Goldberg, performing at Rustbelt 2019 in St. Louis, MO.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
0:06
A contrapuntal is a poem in two columns.
0:09
They can be read separately or brought together
0:13
to be read as a single poem.
0:14
This is a contrapuntal for the crossing of the Red Sea.
0:20
Red.
0:21
This is what you might call a miracle.
0:24
God cut through the world’s belly to drive our people into it,
0:28
the angel of death hovering above us as we left our enemies behind.
0:33
How did we outrun the salt
0:34
but hold this steady march through the eye of death’s needle?
0:37
There’s always another villain, more pain,
0:41
more crimson passing through our doors,
0:43
framed with lamb’s blood,
0:44
a carnal ribbon of tongues.
0:46
That was the night we became so many different deaths.
0:49
Don’t ask why God has done this.
0:52
God didn’t split open like a wound.
0:54
God never condemned innocents to die.
0:56
Diaspora was not a force of nature;
0:59
it was human violence.
1:00
And as long as that legacy follows us,
1:03
we will never know true liberation.
1:06
Sea.
1:07
First, there was an ocean
1:10
and then a path to walk our long history across,
1:13
like a road for the chosen.
1:15
This story is about a means of survival.
1:18
We escaped drowning in so many floods.
1:21
Ask not the reason for the salt.
1:23
The only route to life will lead across river after river.
1:27
Luckily, we heard you can heal pain with water.
1:29
So one night we soaked our feet
1:31
in order to evade a bright phalanx of raving murderers.
1:34
Now we fit safely between the pages of your holy books.
1:38
Every place we’ve called home abolished the ocean.
1:41
We did that because it was deemed holy.
1:43
We built a nation from this salt water,
1:45
and we will continue to hold back the tide,
1:47
even if it comes crashing to our feet.
1:51
Red Sea.
1:53
This is what you might call a miracle.
1:56
First, there was an ocean
1:58
and then a path God cut through the world’s belly
2:00
to walk our long history across,
2:03
to drive our people into it, like a road for the chosen.
2:06
This story is about the angel of death, hovering above us as a means of survival.
2:11
We escaped, we left our enemies behind, drowning in so many floods.
2:16
Ask: how did we outrun the salt, but not the reason for the salt?
2:20
Hold this steady route.
2:22
The only road to life will lead through the eye of death’s needle,
2:25
across river after river.
2:27
Luckily, there’s always another villain.
2:29
We heard you can heal pain with more pain,
2:31
more crimson passing through water.
2:33
So one night we soaked our feet, our doors framed with lamb’s blood,
2:37
in order to evade a carnal ribbon of tongues,
2:39
a bight phalanx of raving.
2:41
That was the night we became murderers.
2:43
Now we fit safely between so many different deaths.
2:47
Don’t ask the pages of your holy books why God has done this.
2:50
God didn’t split every place we’ve called home open like a wound.
2:54
God never abolished the ocean.
2:56
We did that.
2:57
Condemned innocents to die because it was deemed holy.
3:00
Diaspora was not a force of nature;
3:02
it was human.
3:03
We built a nation from this salt water, in violence,
3:05
and as long as that legacy follows us,
3:07
we will continue to hold back the tide.
3:10
We will never know true liberation,
3:12
even if it comes crashing to our feet.
3:15
(cheers and applause)
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: iStock