Talk About Church(!)

Free Verse By Jasmine Szympruch

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i offer up my tithings
every weekend
on the F subway train
starting at Bergen
sermon after sermon
offers body, mind, & holy ghost to a choir full of saints
these fading, familiarly firm seats
demand your periphery acknowledge the sensational service before you
Preach Preach Preach
my mellow curly-headed soul
light up our spirits with your psalms on the congo drums
and the hums of old hymns passed down from elder lips
transmuted with quick sticks & orange bucket beats
played by hip kids with 
cool tricks & stiff lips
stuffed with the tongues of salvation
In this nation we don’t need savin
we need a full on armageddon

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Jasmine is a queer artist-activist & communal storyteller based in Brooklyn, NY, on unceded Lenape land. They're devoted to unearthing varied perspectives of what it is to be human, and they strive to center joy, liberation, healing, and a reclamation of our relationship to the land.