not unlike Harry Potter, i have mixed feelings about invoking the name of he-who-shall-not-be-named. do we kid ourselves, and give away our power when we focus on Trump, and not all of the history, legacies, etc. that puts him there? indeed i found this fabulous artwork in Oakland, California by a local artist. let me be very clear: Trump just might be the devil (if i believed in it!), or a Deatheater (which i do believe in!). that’s not what i’m getting at here. what i’m getting at is the long histories of white supremacy, patriarchy, oligarchy, and so on that has given him power. this is reminiscent of a moment in the acclaimed book Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (2006, pp. 124-128) when the witchery are released upon the world…
The wind will blow them across the ocean
thousands of them in giant boats
swarming like larva
out of a crushed ant hill.
They will carry objects
which can shoot death
faster than the eye can see.
They will kill the things they fear
all the animals
the people will starve.
They will poison the water
they will spin the water away
and there will be drought
the people will starve.
They will fear what they find
They will fear the people
They kill what they fear.
Entire villages will be wiped out
They will slaughter whole tribes.
Corpses for us
Blood for us
Killing killing killing killing.
And those they do not kill
will die anyway
at the destruction they see
at the loss
at the loss of the children
the loss will destroy the rest.
Stolen rivers and mountains
the stolen land will eat their hearts
and jerk their mouths from the Mother.
The people will starve.
Set in motion now
set in motion by our witchery
set in motion
to work for us.
Up here
in these hills
they will find rocks with veins of green and yellow and black.
They will lay the final pattern with these rocks
they will lay it across the world
and explode everything.
Set in motion now
set in motion
To destroy
To kill
Objects to work for us
objects to act for us
Performing the witchery
for suffering
for torment
for the still-born
the deformed
the sterile
the dead.
Whirling
whirling
whirling
whirling
set into motion now
set into motion.
So the other witches said
“Okay you win; you take the prize,
but what you said just now—
it isn’t so funny
It doesn’t sound so good.
We are doing okay without it
we can get along without that kind of thing.
Take it back.
Call that story back.”
But the witch just shook its head
at the others in their stinking animal skins, fur and feathers.
It’s already turned loose.
It’s already coming.
It can’t be called back.