Dear unruly, rogue, wild, wayward, & vernacular folk,
Originally written on Thursday, February 15th, 2024 @ 9:18 p.m.
Dear unruly, rogue, wild, wayward, & vernacular folk,
Reality is a dreamer’s worst nightmare.
A dreamer’s worst nightmare is reality.
I have been dusting off my heart of the antiquity of the past which no longer serves me. There are many things I keep close to my heart for protection. This time, without even sharing, someone managed to still kick my chest in yearning for access that has been denied. So while I have been working on another piece of writing for y’all, this message (like many others on Assemblage: Baby’s Breath) took over my pen instead.
It’s difficult work trying to bring a way of life or an idea from your head earthside. This vision asks big things of you. Sometimes you may not be ready to give or have the space to grieve. Many people will not understand the winding emotional process of being an artist. The path of an assemblage maker is made even more difficult when you are surrounded by people who focus solely on where their feet are planted.
The gaze of a dreamer is something that can’t be taught. It’s intuitive or you are exposed to it from your own personal interactions. Once you get the gaze in your sight, it’s very difficult to relinquish it. It’s a gaze that looks simultaneously up (there is always more) & around (for these ground folks). The gaze keeps a dreamer earthside (two feet planted) & connected to something that is not yet materialized (whatever your source is).
You will be told to stop daydreaming, that it’s not possible, you need to be secure, etc. When in reality, security is synonymous with increased surveillance. Dreams can not be watched & tracked…dreams are in constant flight.
You will be mocked for telling long tales of the people who could fly to those who see no wings on their bodies. Dreamers do not need proof. We are aware that things go bump in the night & some of them have wings…carving the air as their portal home. P o o f. Dreamers don’t need proof.
Harriet Tubman was mocked by her first husband, John Tubman, about her visions from source after an enslaver cracked her skull with a two-pound weight. The strike left Tubman differently abled, experiencing frequent seizures, & going to sleep at unexpected times.
“John mocked Harriet for the credence she gave to her dreams and visions. In one of them, she saw a line dividing South from North, “and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies who stretched out their arms to me over the line.” “
John mocked Harriet, who would become the greatest conductor of them all, for the confidence she had in her dreams. Harriet’s dream not only freed herself but countless others. In Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ That Transformative Dark Thing, she writes of Harriet Tubman continuing to alchemize her dreams through the spoken word.
“She repeated the phrase in the present tense. Even though slavery was alive and well. Even though a major portion of the country was rising up in war to defend slavery. Even though many of her loved ones were enslaved at that very moment. She spoke in the present tense. Not “my people will be free,” but “my people are free.”
Harriet Tubman repeated and affirmed the reality that her dream and her faith gave her access to. Her people were already free, but the state and the property owners simply were not acting in accordance with the reality of human freedom.”
Reality is a dreamer’s worst nightmare.
My people are free.
A dreamer’s worst nightmare is reality.
My people are free.
Being told you are unrealistic is the highest form of flattery—you are on the verge of bringing something innovative, groundbreaking, amazing earthside & that scares people. You are seeing outward and beyond like Harriet in this photograph. Comments encouraging or demanding you to choose one plane—earth or source— are representative of a mind that can not stretch beyond destruction & acceptance. The most important part of any revolution is dreaming. Kwame Ture, formally known as Stockley Carmicheal, said it best in the quote below.
“When you see people call themselves revolutionary always talking about destroying, destroying, destroying but never talking about building or creating, they’re not revolutionary. They do not understand the first thing about revolution. It’s creating.”
The next time they call you unrealistic know that you are on the right path! You are on the unruly, rogue, wild, wayward, vernacular path that many folk who have come before you trusted their intuition to guide them down. The next time they call you unrealistic know that this is not a reality you want to claim & preserve. You are too busy creating a dream that others are mercilessly trying to convince you can not be conceived.
Reality is a dreamer’s worst nightmare.
My people are free.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
A dreamer’s worst nightmare is reality.
My people are free.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Be grateful you can imagine a life beyond mere survival. The power of trust is in the fact that if your mind dreamt it & your soul desires it then it is already possible. The thought would not be present in your body if small parts of it did not exist somewhere in reality (minuscule as it may be). Tricia Hersey, the founder of the Nap Ministry, wrote about being grateful that your mind can stretch to dream new worlds on page 183 of her book Rest As Resistance: A Manifesto.
“I am grateful to not be realistic and for the legacy of imagination and trickster energy shown to me by my ancestors. I am grateful that Harriet Tubman was unrealistic when she decided to walk to freedom, guided by the stars, her intuition, and God.”
There is nothing more you need to do than protect your dreams & take small steps towards them. Speak your dreams out loud to other dreamers. Speak your dreams to people who have made it known that they are safekeepers. Speak your dreams to other people who are gathering experiences to create a bountiful beautiful life that we call assemblage (even if it’s not with us in the present moment). Write your dreams down as reminders of the knowledge your body desires & knows is best for you. This letter is my reminder to myself. If this letter resonates with you, then let it serve as your reminder as well. Come back home to how you know your life can feel…will feel.
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
Reality is a dreamer’s worst nightmare.
Empires have fallen/the people are free.
A dreamer’s worst nightmare is reality.
Empires have fallen/the people are free.
Reality is a dreamer’s worst nightmare.
A dreamer’s worst nightmare is reality.
Much Love,
Assemblage: Baby’s Breath
