A version of this Bay Poets audio incorrectly stated that Beast Crawl was happening on July 22, 2024. That tracking has been removed.
Ariel Neidermeier is a first generation descendant of Filipino immigrants. Her writing explores themes of freedom, sovereignty, and lineages of survival. She will be preforming her work at Beast Crawl on July 27, Oakland's Premier Festival for Literary Arts & Performance.
All of Us, Oracles
Us sensitive souls are both
bird and snake, prophet and alchemist. All of us
poets, instruments of the wind,
appointed by the stars.
Every day we bow to the river
to pray, ears flush to the earth. Listening
our devotion.
We who spin gold
of an endless night.
Our fingers deft at weaving
even carnage. Every indigenous root
returned to in awe, braiding a song
of hope and memory
for all of us.
Forgive the dark urge to hide.
Forgive the fear of burning,
when not seeing is necessary
for survival.
Sometimes the best of us are moved
to madness. As when our elders let snakes
pierce flesh and in poison drank
glorious sight.
Remember, we will hold you,
tip cool water to your lips, sing of love
for those who fly too close to the
Underworld.
Remember it is safe
to make a home of your body,
to be a witness
tuned to pure and ancient things,
as if all hands were unbound,
and reaching
for the moon.
