WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.930 --> 00:00:10.200 align:middle line:84% So this next piece is a work in progress entitled Praise House. 00:00:10.200 --> 00:00:13.410 align:middle line:84% It's a piece about domestic violence 00:00:13.410 --> 00:00:21.060 align:middle line:84% that was loosely influenced by a few stories that kind of stuck 00:00:21.060 --> 00:00:24.240 align:middle line:84% with me over a long period of time. 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:27.630 align:middle line:84% One was a woman by the name of Connie Culp. 00:00:27.630 --> 00:00:31.830 align:middle line:84% She, I believe, was one of the first persons 00:00:31.830 --> 00:00:35.580 align:middle line:84% to have a full facial transplant here in the United States. 00:00:35.580 --> 00:00:39.820 align:middle line:84% Her husband shot her in the face with a shotgun. 00:00:39.820 --> 00:00:44.160 align:middle line:84% The other one was Cherica Adams, who was pregnant 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:48.510 align:middle line:84% and her boyfriend, who was an NFL player at the time, Rae 00:00:48.510 --> 00:00:52.860 align:middle line:90% Carruth, had her gunned down. 00:00:52.860 --> 00:00:58.210 align:middle line:84% The last is an article that I read that I misplaced, 00:00:58.210 --> 00:01:00.450 align:middle line:84% so I don't remember the woman's name, 00:01:00.450 --> 00:01:03.670 align:middle line:84% but she was a successful up-and-coming lawyer, 00:01:03.670 --> 00:01:07.440 align:middle line:84% and she was about to divorce her husband. 00:01:07.440 --> 00:01:11.100 align:middle line:84% He came to her office and set her on fire. 00:01:11.100 --> 00:01:14.440 align:middle line:90% 00:01:14.440 --> 00:01:15.882 align:middle line:90% Praise House. 00:01:15.882 --> 00:01:21.670 align:middle line:90% 00:01:21.670 --> 00:01:25.720 align:middle line:84% Inside the creases made by a folded letter, 00:01:25.720 --> 00:01:29.830 align:middle line:84% warm with the scent of hair are the seasons 00:01:29.830 --> 00:01:33.660 align:middle line:90% with their small disasters. 00:01:33.660 --> 00:01:39.600 align:middle line:84% Holy Spirit, Spirit of the living skin, Place hands on me. 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:46.440 align:middle line:84% Still this knowing, this assembly of comings and goings. 00:01:46.440 --> 00:01:50.700 align:middle line:84% There is nothing ugly in this, the dream of Cinderella 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:54.240 align:middle line:90% and those little golden books. 00:01:54.240 --> 00:02:00.000 align:middle line:84% And underneath the canopy of rain, underneath the sea, 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.330 align:middle line:84% listen to the singing song, and brick after brick, for worship, 00:02:06.330 --> 00:02:07.860 align:middle line:90% there is a church-- 00:02:07.860 --> 00:02:12.150 align:middle line:90% a museum of precious captivity. 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:14.940 align:middle line:90% There is beauty in this. 00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:18.870 align:middle line:84% How the gun rests on the wall inside the closet 00:02:18.870 --> 00:02:23.040 align:middle line:84% where last winter's coat hangs above the soccer ball 00:02:23.040 --> 00:02:24.495 align:middle line:90% the boy was taught to play. 00:02:24.495 --> 00:02:29.220 align:middle line:90% 00:02:29.220 --> 00:02:32.790 align:middle line:84% Become a bride and a place that looks like this. 00:02:32.790 --> 00:02:36.180 align:middle line:84% The hardness of wedding stone hovering and guarding, 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:39.240 align:middle line:90% symphony and stream. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.370 align:middle line:90% There is beauty in this. 00:02:41.370 --> 00:02:46.890 align:middle line:84% How we learn by repetition, how we die by repetition. 00:02:46.890 --> 00:02:50.040 align:middle line:84% In the high school yearbook there was once a girl 00:02:50.040 --> 00:02:53.940 align:middle line:84% a girl with lips extended upward to the moon, 00:02:53.940 --> 00:02:58.080 align:middle line:84% and scribbled names written in hollow cursive letters that 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.620 align:middle line:84% said things like, most likely to succeed, 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:05.670 align:middle line:90% or stay young and sweet. 00:03:05.670 --> 00:03:07.230 align:middle line:90% Then, there were the numbers. 00:03:07.230 --> 00:03:09.840 align:middle line:90% 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:11.940 align:middle line:90% 24. 00:03:11.940 --> 00:03:15.150 align:middle line:90% Age at time of death. 00:03:15.150 --> 00:03:16.950 align:middle line:90% Five. 00:03:16.950 --> 00:03:19.960 align:middle line:90% Number of bullets. 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:21.730 align:middle line:90% Eight. 00:03:21.730 --> 00:03:24.040 align:middle line:90% Months pregnant. 00:03:24.040 --> 00:03:31.570 align:middle line:84% '99, the year Prince said we were all going to die. 00:03:31.570 --> 00:03:35.260 align:middle line:84% Old folks say you can tell much about a man 00:03:35.260 --> 00:03:38.230 align:middle line:90% by the way he kills. 00:03:38.230 --> 00:03:42.880 align:middle line:84% Let the choir sing all their names, singing, glory, glory 00:03:42.880 --> 00:03:43.600 align:middle line:90% Hallelujah. 00:03:43.600 --> 00:03:48.350 align:middle line:90% 00:03:48.350 --> 00:03:52.070 align:middle line:90% A woman has been shot. 00:03:52.070 --> 00:03:56.780 align:middle line:84% Woman with a slow walk, woman with sea salt skin, 00:03:56.780 --> 00:04:00.890 align:middle line:84% woman with an eye matching the moon. 00:04:00.890 --> 00:04:03.290 align:middle line:90% Think of an angel. 00:04:03.290 --> 00:04:08.420 align:middle line:84% Holy Spirit, Spirit of the living skin, breathe on me. 00:04:08.420 --> 00:04:12.230 align:middle line:84% Know this round is gracious, this lineage 00:04:12.230 --> 00:04:17.240 align:middle line:84% of breathing bodies filled with lace hankies and high heels. 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:21.440 align:middle line:84% An industry of pain colored rainbow bright. 00:04:21.440 --> 00:04:24.260 align:middle line:84% Bright as the fading flowers resting 00:04:24.260 --> 00:04:28.370 align:middle line:90% on the edge of a set of dishes. 00:04:28.370 --> 00:04:30.800 align:middle line:90% I want to forget. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.880 align:middle line:84% I need to have hair held in hands. 00:04:34.880 --> 00:04:39.350 align:middle line:84% I want to kiss again on the left cheek. 00:04:39.350 --> 00:04:42.800 align:middle line:84% I need to go deeper, to capture the world, 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:45.800 align:middle line:90% to make an offering of time. 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:48.050 align:middle line:90% I wish to become famous-- 00:04:48.050 --> 00:04:50.780 align:middle line:90% a name etched in newsprint. 00:04:50.780 --> 00:04:55.550 align:middle line:84% An anthology of mirrors hung from every wall. 00:04:55.550 --> 00:04:59.930 align:middle line:84% And know I am rooted from cat claw and thistle. 00:04:59.930 --> 00:05:04.550 align:middle line:84% I am the hands that have built towns brick after brick. 00:05:04.550 --> 00:05:10.370 align:middle line:84% I am where the train passes at half past and five to the hour. 00:05:10.370 --> 00:05:13.550 align:middle line:84% I am the fabric inside a patchwork quilt 00:05:13.550 --> 00:05:16.490 align:middle line:84% spread in a city uptown and down. 00:05:16.490 --> 00:05:19.160 align:middle line:90% 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:21.710 align:middle line:90% There is beauty in this. 00:05:21.710 --> 00:05:26.960 align:middle line:84% How, when we met, I gathered a basket full of grass. 00:05:26.960 --> 00:05:34.110 align:middle line:84% How I picked from the neighbor's lawn one green blade at a time. 00:05:34.110 --> 00:05:37.100 align:middle line:84% Let me read to you children's verse, 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:40.490 align:middle line:84% then sing the story from the Bible. 00:05:40.490 --> 00:05:44.840 align:middle line:84% Let me look into your eyes as if studying Rothko, 00:05:44.840 --> 00:05:49.100 align:middle line:90% or as if baptized into the sea. 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:52.910 align:middle line:84% And know there is death all around me. 00:05:52.910 --> 00:05:55.850 align:middle line:90% And the sound of the djembe. 00:05:55.850 --> 00:05:59.660 align:middle line:84% And the smell of a moth dancing in light. 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:03.410 align:middle line:84% And black stallions marching like soldiers. 00:06:03.410 --> 00:06:06.950 align:middle line:84% And a man's leather belt curled into itself, 00:06:06.950 --> 00:06:10.010 align:middle line:90% hissing like a snake. 00:06:10.010 --> 00:06:11.840 align:middle line:90% And did you hear? 00:06:11.840 --> 00:06:15.680 align:middle line:84% Did you hear the cry of felines inside the alley 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:20.690 align:middle line:84% outside the bedroom window, framing the nipple stitched 00:06:20.690 --> 00:06:27.620 align:middle line:84% to the breast worn by the woman in bed with somebody's son. 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:32.870 align:middle line:84% Spirit of the living skin, place your hands on me. 00:06:32.870 --> 00:06:35.330 align:middle line:90% Know that breath is not my own. 00:06:35.330 --> 00:06:41.330 align:middle line:90% 00:06:41.330 --> 00:06:44.060 align:middle line:90% To burn. 00:06:44.060 --> 00:06:46.598 align:middle line:90% To set light to. 00:06:46.598 --> 00:06:48.950 align:middle line:90% To ignite. 00:06:48.950 --> 00:06:50.960 align:middle line:90% To cook. 00:06:50.960 --> 00:06:52.880 align:middle line:90% To heat. 00:06:52.880 --> 00:06:55.640 align:middle line:90% To make ash out of. 00:06:55.640 --> 00:06:58.010 align:middle line:90% To douse. 00:06:58.010 --> 00:07:00.260 align:middle line:90% To sear. 00:07:00.260 --> 00:07:02.180 align:middle line:90% To singe. 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:04.535 align:middle line:90% To set fire to. 00:07:04.535 --> 00:07:06.620 align:middle line:90% To fry. 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:09.335 align:middle line:90% To flick matchstick to. 00:07:09.335 --> 00:07:11.330 align:middle line:90% To light. 00:07:11.330 --> 00:07:12.980 align:middle line:90% To heat. 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:15.320 align:middle line:90% To make ash out of. 00:07:15.320 --> 00:07:17.330 align:middle line:90% To char. 00:07:17.330 --> 00:07:19.400 align:middle line:90% To singe. 00:07:19.400 --> 00:07:21.731 align:middle line:90% To set fire to. 00:07:21.731 --> 00:07:25.940 align:middle line:90% To melt. To char. 00:07:25.940 --> 00:07:28.040 align:middle line:90% To ignite. 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.170 align:middle line:90% To blacken. 00:07:30.170 --> 00:07:32.330 align:middle line:90% To burn. 00:07:32.330 --> 00:07:34.550 align:middle line:90% To kindle. 00:07:34.550 --> 00:07:36.710 align:middle line:90% To fry. 00:07:36.710 --> 00:07:38.960 align:middle line:90% To singe. 00:07:38.960 --> 00:07:41.050 align:middle line:90% To douse. 00:07:41.050 --> 00:07:42.940 align:middle line:90% To heat. 00:07:42.940 --> 00:07:44.950 align:middle line:90% To ignite. 00:07:44.950 --> 00:07:47.380 align:middle line:90% To make ash out of. 00:07:47.380 --> 00:07:49.330 align:middle line:90% Too light. 00:07:49.330 --> 00:07:51.520 align:middle line:90% To sear. 00:07:51.520 --> 00:07:53.740 align:middle line:90% To blacken. 00:07:53.740 --> 00:07:55.750 align:middle line:90% To char. 00:07:55.750 --> 00:07:59.656 align:middle line:90% To melt. To set light to. 00:07:59.656 --> 00:08:02.020 align:middle line:90% To burn. 00:08:02.020 --> 00:08:04.390 align:middle line:90% To ignite. 00:08:04.390 --> 00:08:06.450 align:middle line:90% To sear. 00:08:06.450 --> 00:08:08.340 align:middle line:90% To douse. 00:08:08.340 --> 00:08:10.870 align:middle line:90% To flick matchstick to. 00:08:10.870 --> 00:08:15.030 align:middle line:90% To melt. To kindle. 00:08:15.030 --> 00:08:17.520 align:middle line:90% To fry. 00:08:17.520 --> 00:08:18.960 align:middle line:90% To set fire to. 00:08:18.960 --> 00:08:26.550 align:middle line:90% 00:08:26.550 --> 00:08:30.720 align:middle line:84% Sitting beneath the sun, this accordion of fire, 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.429 align:middle line:84% counting the days eyes saw and could not see. 00:08:35.429 --> 00:08:39.030 align:middle line:84% Counting the passing of time backwards by hands 00:08:39.030 --> 00:08:43.169 align:middle line:90% one day, one finger at a time. 00:08:43.169 --> 00:08:46.680 align:middle line:84% And underneath a canopy of rain, underneath 00:08:46.680 --> 00:08:51.240 align:middle line:84% the sea, brown, brick, and story. 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:55.290 align:middle line:84% Underneath the trajectory of a shooting star. 00:08:55.290 --> 00:08:57.600 align:middle line:90% Spirit of the living skin. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:01.950 align:middle line:84% Spirit of the living skin, place hands on me. 00:09:01.950 --> 00:09:05.310 align:middle line:84% Sing to this lineage of breathing bodies 00:09:05.310 --> 00:09:09.390 align:middle line:84% spread thin and beat like a drum. 00:09:09.390 --> 00:09:13.710 align:middle line:84% A God's length away, there is a place of worship. 00:09:13.710 --> 00:09:16.170 align:middle line:84% A God's length away, there is a place 00:09:16.170 --> 00:09:20.730 align:middle line:84% of worship with wooden seats in congregation. 00:09:20.730 --> 00:09:24.490 align:middle line:90% Some into seats. 00:09:24.490 --> 00:09:27.640 align:middle line:84% A God's length away, there is a place 00:09:27.640 --> 00:09:31.300 align:middle line:84% of worship with wooden seats in congregation 00:09:31.300 --> 00:09:34.990 align:middle line:90% sewn into dresses and suits. 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:37.770 align:middle line:90% Place hands on me and look. 00:09:37.770 --> 00:09:43.630 align:middle line:84% Look how flesh birds circle, making a festival of the sky. 00:09:43.630 --> 00:09:45.480 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:49.000 align:middle line:90%