As the World Appears Even Stranger

I recently found a photo of myself and a girlfriend clipped out of the Houston Chronicle. The headline is "Girls Learning H-Bomb Survival." I am 8 years old. We are peeking out of a trench covered with branches in our brownie scout uniforms. The correspondent writes, "Scout leaders hope the girls would be able to purify water, identify edible plants, dig protection shelters, render first aid if ever necessary." My mother taught the class. She also taught me to fish, build a fire, and get back on the horse when he bucked me off. She gave me the tools that I would need in a calamity.

I look in the mirror, see my mother's face and hear her voice growling, "Get back on that fucking horse and don't whine." I hated her for so long. Now I love her no bullshit approach to life, sense of humor and drunken stories of my inheritance of audacious matriarchs. She taught me to turn my anxiety into a strategy while riding that horse like a demon. So rather than being depleted by my anxiety from the COVID pandemic I listen to "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley and am dazzled by the new generation of BLACK LIVES MATTER protesters who are fighting for freedom, liberation and justice. Their fearless calls are the breath of our planet.

Redemption Song by Bob Marley

Old pirates, yes, they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit
But my hand was made strong
By the 'and of the Almighty
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our mind
Whoa! Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time
How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
All I ever have
Redemption songs
These songs of freedom
Songs of freedom

Charles Mary Kubricht lives and works in Marfa and NYC.