“Social movement doesn’t come all at once, just as it doesn’t come out of nowhere. There are moments when it captures the news, like the National Guard in Little Rock, and then we don’t hear anything about it nationally for a year, two years, three years, four years, five years – and then wham!” pg. 133, The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier (2000)
movement requires action
internal shifts
muscles rolling
opinions grafting
the soul gathering intentions
it requires connectivity
between parts
gesticulations & contemplations
movements make an aircraft fly
a watch reveal time
progressive by nature
developmental declarative
movement is war & peace
silence & weeping
a ridding of waste
from the body
tempo key structure
in sound
a campaign of
motivated collective
wham!
advancement for
better or worse
a choice on fire
a genuflection to the art of change
both patient & impatient
a dichotomy of difference
held in the womb
of Hope’s pregnant centre
alive in the then now tomorrow
For more on Sidney Poitier, click here.
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 