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A 'first Friday of the month' series, from October 2024.
Personal stories of engaging in silence by practitioners from the Global Majority Heritage (GMH) community.* |
A quarter of the way into the new millennium the reality for many people from this community is that their lives and stories are sidelined. Their voices are silenced.
So, although people from the GMH may have a spiritual practice of silence, authors in these communities tend to write more about silencing than silence-based prayer.
So, although people from the GMH may have a spiritual practice of silence, authors in these communities tend to write more about silencing than silence-based prayer.
This new series is a way to bring some voices from the GMH community into the conversations and resources about silence on the Seeds of Silence website.
December 2024:
Leah Burgess,
'Shhhh please'
Image: Nechirwan Kavian, unsplash.com/@nechirwank:
Leah Burgess, Maryland, USA
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Watch Leah delivering her poem: 'Shhhh please' |
Shhhh please
I found God in the silence
In crowded restaurants
After dropping kids off at bus stops
After making breakfast
After tidying up
At the kitchen table
On the front porch
Before everyone awakes
It’s sanctuary
And pleasant
And fulfilling
Even in bed next to husband
Insert noise cancellation
I need that silence
Like we need our first cup of coffee
Crisp and refreshing
Restful and delicious
But it wasn’t always this way
I found silence as resource 10 years ago
It’s our anniversary
And we’re celebrating
With silent car rides
Windows cracked
Heat blowing
I like a little bit of both around here
Rain and rainbows
Joy and freedom
Resistance and faith
I wonder how we got so noisy
Don’t get me wrong I like to party
My momma’s people are jubilant
Ain’t nothing silent round’ there except when everybody sleep
When we call for silence
The people get a lil restless
Start wrestling water bottles
Scratching temples
Shaking legs
Getting up to use the restroom
It’s the silencing
That’s killing them
Only time they been silent
Is when they have a right to
Cuz anything they say can be used against them
Miranda has a chokehold on us
Traumatizing and enslaved
They told the children to hush and only be seen
They told the women to go ask your husbands privately
But don’t bring the sound of your voice in here
They cut livestreams and electric power sources in front of city hall and school board meetings
They say anything worth saying you can say it at home
In the mirror
In the shower
To keep it to yourself
Silence is not what everybody thinks it is
You find sanctuary
She finds danger
You see worship
He sees incarceration
You hear revelation
They hear terror
I wanna tell you about the One
Who celebrates when I return to silence
The One who waits for me to come back home
And when I arrive
There is reconnection
And affirmation
And creativity
And windows opening
And doors closing
It’s like there ain’t enough room
So we microdose
A little here and a little there
On the way to work
In the morning before I rise
When I walk near the lake
At 8 am on Mondays with Alison**
I like it here
I prefer when we’re together
Breaking sound barriers
Radically breaking status quo
Resisting the urge to outsource our inspiration
It’s subversive and necessary
To collect your thoughts
And ideas
And prayers
And poems
And line them all up
Show yourself what you working with
It’s divine here
Revelation
And healing
We found God in the silence
And we won’t make Her speak
Leah Burgess, December, 2024.
** The weekly Seeds of Silence gatherings for Silence Space, 1pm, UK time, 8am, Eastern Time, Virginia, USA.
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Leah Burgess is the Communications Director for the Black Contemplative Society.
'Elevating and Engaging the Voices of Black Contemplatives', it offers resources and learning opportunities focused on contemplative spirituality for anyone interested in exploring the embodied wisdom of various contemplatives of African descent, with a particular focus on the Black community in the United States. |
* The term 'Global Majority Heritage' (GMH) is increasingly used to refer to people whose backgrounds are from non-Western, non-White ethnic and cultural groups, reflecting the fact that the majority of the world’s population comes from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The term seeks to challenge the traditional framing of racial and ethnic minorities by emphasizing that these populations are, in fact, the global majority.
(If you receive the weekly 'Quoting Silence' email you will automatically receive the Voices from Silence email.)
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