Numinous The Music of Joseph C. Phillips Jr. |
The Grey Land WORDS
The Grey Land WORDS
Scene 2
“Ferguson: Summer of 2014”
Words by Isaac Butler
© 2020 Isaac Butler
All Rights Reserved
Text 1-Aria (“Ferguson: Summer 2014”)
It has become that time of evening, after the sun, before the fireflies. The humidity has broken and there is a breeze—the flowers we planted are listing slightly with it—and we have set out the citronella candles to keep the mosquitos away. The smell should chase their hum far from us, into the night. The table is set for dinner, plates and silverware, a platter with vegetables picked from the garden. She planted them, I picked them, we cooked them. And she is full of new life, of the new life we made together, swelling her belly. We do not know, boy or girl, son or daughter. We made two welcome banners, one for each, just in case.
Look at her, look at this house, look at this garden, we planted together, look at these friends, seated around the table, passing whiskey, pouring wine. The last filaments of sun vanish, the day enters the not quite night; time slows and slows and slows, how time can slow on these nights, how I wish for it to move faster so I can meet my child, but want it to slow even more so that this most beautiful feeling can linger.
There is no news of the outside world, the computer is closed, our phones are off, there is instead liquid poured into glasses, the clink of ice, silverware against plates. There is instead music and laughter. No talk of politics, no talk of violence, no talk of fear, instead we talk of waiting, we talk of anticipation, we talk of the colors we want to paint each room.
Later, we will clear the table, promise each other to wash the dishes in the morning, just leave them in the sink, it will be fine. We will pull our chairs into the yard by the vegetables and the slowly swaying flowers. We will stare at the glowing film projected on the back of our house, faces blown up and blown up into the leviathans of the back yard, lord of all they survey. We watch their stories, the alcoholic mother searches for her son, the boy sits at the bottom of the pool, gazing at the camera.
Tomorrow I will build the downstairs bathroom, a dust mask on my face, tools in my hand. Tomorrow I will chase the groundhogs from the yard, the sun on my back, the sweat on my brow. Tomorrow I will hold her and place my hand against her belly and feel the shifting and the kick kick kick...
The radio will be on then and we will hear—some kid, some mother’s son, some boy shot in Missouri
Text 2-Spoken (“Ferguson: Summer 2014”)
This is what we know
August 9th, two thousand fourteen
Eleven twenty nine AM
Officer Darren Wilson responds
To a call
Searching for a man
Who had threated
To kill a woman
Eleven forty seven AM
Officer Darren Wilson responds
To a call
A 2 month old baby
Who can’t breathe
Eleven fifty four AM
Michael Brown steals
A box of swishers
From Ferguson Market and Liquor
He leaves
Walking down West Florissant
With his friend
Dorian Johnson
When they get
To Canfield Drive
They turn right
Walking
In the middle
Of the street
Noon
Officer Darren Wilson asks
Units twenty five and twenty two
If they need help
Responding to the robbery
An officer responds
The suspects have disappeared
Twelve oh one PM
Officer Darren Wilson sees
Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson
On Canfield Drive
Walking
In the middle of the street
Twelve oh two PM
Officer Darren Wilson says
Twenty One
Put me on Canfield with Two
And send me another car
He moves his SUV
To block Wilson and Johnson
From proceeding
Twelve oh two PM
Some kind of altercation
Brown is at the window of the car
Wilson fires two shots
From inside the car
One misses
One grazes Brown’s thumb
Twelve oh two PM
Michael Brown
Runs east
One hundred fifty three feet
He turns
Wilson’s weapon is drawn
Brown moves
Towards Wilson
Twelve oh three PM
Wilson fires
Ten more shots
Ten more shots
Head
Forehead
Jaw
Neck
Chest
Arm
Text 3-Choral (“Ferguson: Summer 2014”)
1: I just saw someone die. I just saw someone die. Oh my oh my fucking god.
2: You didn’t have to shoot him eight times.
3: You just shot all through my baby’s body.
4: Hands up. Don’t shoot.
Scene 3
“Tender Sorrow”
Words by Carolyn Bryant Donham
(the woman who accused Emmett Till of whistling at her)
Fair Use
”Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him; I felt a tender sorrow as I thought about the grief his mother must have felt and grieved all the more.”
Scene 4
“One Side Losing Slowly”
Words by Joseph C Phillips Jr
© 2020 Joseph C Phillips Jr
All Rights Reserved
Just another day
Simple needs—dreams of stillness and stars
The leavingness from fear and want
To a belonging place
with rules golden,
promises unbroken,
and the beautiful things everywhere in the world.
Only, some hearts full for some, but not too many;
Gazes lost to seeing the problem we all live with.
No one wins as mothers cry, “our children are loved too.”
Scene 5
“We Wear the Mask”
Words by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Public Domain
(excerpt) We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask
Scene 6
“Don’t”
Words by Joseph C Phillips Jr
© 2020 Joseph C Phillips Jr
All Rights Reserved
Don’t wear a hoodie
Don’t dress gangsta
Don’t put your hands in your pockets
Don’t sit on the stoop
Don’t play with toy guns
Don’t listen to loud music
Don’t hang out with friends
Don’t try to break up a fight
Don’t look suspicious
Don’t argue
Don’t talk street
Don’t talk back
Don’t raise your voice
Don’t run
Don’t ask for help
Don’t…
Do come home safe
Scene 7
“Agnus Bey”
Words by Joseph C Phillips Jr
© 2020 Joseph C Phillips Jr
All Rights Reserved
Ecce agnus Bey
Et ecce unus, qui occidit in mundo,
Benedicta es tu, et verbum accipit Bey
(translation)
Behold the Lamb of Bey
Behold the One, who slays the world
Blessed are thee, that receives the word of Bey
Scene 10
“Injustice”
Words by Frederick Douglass
1886 speech on 24th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation
Public Domain
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them. Neither persons nor property will be safe.
Scene 11
“Liberty Bell”
Words by Sonia Sotomayor, edited by Joseph C Phillips Jr
2016 dissent in US Supreme Court Case Utah v. Strieff
Public Domain
… white and black, guilty and innocent, … your body is subject to invasion. …you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged. We must not pretend that the countless people who are routinely targeted … are ‘isolated.’ They … warn us that no one can breathe … that all our lives are threaten. Until their voices matter too, our justice system will continue to be anything but.
“Ferguson: Summer of 2014”
Words by Isaac Butler
© 2020 Isaac Butler
All Rights Reserved
Text 1-Aria (“Ferguson: Summer 2014”)
It has become that time of evening, after the sun, before the fireflies. The humidity has broken and there is a breeze—the flowers we planted are listing slightly with it—and we have set out the citronella candles to keep the mosquitos away. The smell should chase their hum far from us, into the night. The table is set for dinner, plates and silverware, a platter with vegetables picked from the garden. She planted them, I picked them, we cooked them. And she is full of new life, of the new life we made together, swelling her belly. We do not know, boy or girl, son or daughter. We made two welcome banners, one for each, just in case.
Look at her, look at this house, look at this garden, we planted together, look at these friends, seated around the table, passing whiskey, pouring wine. The last filaments of sun vanish, the day enters the not quite night; time slows and slows and slows, how time can slow on these nights, how I wish for it to move faster so I can meet my child, but want it to slow even more so that this most beautiful feeling can linger.
There is no news of the outside world, the computer is closed, our phones are off, there is instead liquid poured into glasses, the clink of ice, silverware against plates. There is instead music and laughter. No talk of politics, no talk of violence, no talk of fear, instead we talk of waiting, we talk of anticipation, we talk of the colors we want to paint each room.
Later, we will clear the table, promise each other to wash the dishes in the morning, just leave them in the sink, it will be fine. We will pull our chairs into the yard by the vegetables and the slowly swaying flowers. We will stare at the glowing film projected on the back of our house, faces blown up and blown up into the leviathans of the back yard, lord of all they survey. We watch their stories, the alcoholic mother searches for her son, the boy sits at the bottom of the pool, gazing at the camera.
Tomorrow I will build the downstairs bathroom, a dust mask on my face, tools in my hand. Tomorrow I will chase the groundhogs from the yard, the sun on my back, the sweat on my brow. Tomorrow I will hold her and place my hand against her belly and feel the shifting and the kick kick kick...
The radio will be on then and we will hear—some kid, some mother’s son, some boy shot in Missouri
Text 2-Spoken (“Ferguson: Summer 2014”)
This is what we know
August 9th, two thousand fourteen
Eleven twenty nine AM
Officer Darren Wilson responds
To a call
Searching for a man
Who had threated
To kill a woman
Eleven forty seven AM
Officer Darren Wilson responds
To a call
A 2 month old baby
Who can’t breathe
Eleven fifty four AM
Michael Brown steals
A box of swishers
From Ferguson Market and Liquor
He leaves
Walking down West Florissant
With his friend
Dorian Johnson
When they get
To Canfield Drive
They turn right
Walking
In the middle
Of the street
Noon
Officer Darren Wilson asks
Units twenty five and twenty two
If they need help
Responding to the robbery
An officer responds
The suspects have disappeared
Twelve oh one PM
Officer Darren Wilson sees
Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson
On Canfield Drive
Walking
In the middle of the street
Twelve oh two PM
Officer Darren Wilson says
Twenty One
Put me on Canfield with Two
And send me another car
He moves his SUV
To block Wilson and Johnson
From proceeding
Twelve oh two PM
Some kind of altercation
Brown is at the window of the car
Wilson fires two shots
From inside the car
One misses
One grazes Brown’s thumb
Twelve oh two PM
Michael Brown
Runs east
One hundred fifty three feet
He turns
Wilson’s weapon is drawn
Brown moves
Towards Wilson
Twelve oh three PM
Wilson fires
Ten more shots
Ten more shots
Head
Forehead
Jaw
Neck
Chest
Arm
Text 3-Choral (“Ferguson: Summer 2014”)
1: I just saw someone die. I just saw someone die. Oh my oh my fucking god.
2: You didn’t have to shoot him eight times.
3: You just shot all through my baby’s body.
4: Hands up. Don’t shoot.
Scene 3
“Tender Sorrow”
Words by Carolyn Bryant Donham
(the woman who accused Emmett Till of whistling at her)
Fair Use
”Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him; I felt a tender sorrow as I thought about the grief his mother must have felt and grieved all the more.”
Scene 4
“One Side Losing Slowly”
Words by Joseph C Phillips Jr
© 2020 Joseph C Phillips Jr
All Rights Reserved
Just another day
Simple needs—dreams of stillness and stars
The leavingness from fear and want
To a belonging place
with rules golden,
promises unbroken,
and the beautiful things everywhere in the world.
Only, some hearts full for some, but not too many;
Gazes lost to seeing the problem we all live with.
No one wins as mothers cry, “our children are loved too.”
Scene 5
“We Wear the Mask”
Words by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Public Domain
(excerpt) We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask
Scene 6
“Don’t”
Words by Joseph C Phillips Jr
© 2020 Joseph C Phillips Jr
All Rights Reserved
Don’t wear a hoodie
Don’t dress gangsta
Don’t put your hands in your pockets
Don’t sit on the stoop
Don’t play with toy guns
Don’t listen to loud music
Don’t hang out with friends
Don’t try to break up a fight
Don’t look suspicious
Don’t argue
Don’t talk street
Don’t talk back
Don’t raise your voice
Don’t run
Don’t ask for help
Don’t…
Do come home safe
Scene 7
“Agnus Bey”
Words by Joseph C Phillips Jr
© 2020 Joseph C Phillips Jr
All Rights Reserved
Ecce agnus Bey
Et ecce unus, qui occidit in mundo,
Benedicta es tu, et verbum accipit Bey
(translation)
Behold the Lamb of Bey
Behold the One, who slays the world
Blessed are thee, that receives the word of Bey
Scene 10
“Injustice”
Words by Frederick Douglass
1886 speech on 24th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation
Public Domain
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them. Neither persons nor property will be safe.
Scene 11
“Liberty Bell”
Words by Sonia Sotomayor, edited by Joseph C Phillips Jr
2016 dissent in US Supreme Court Case Utah v. Strieff
Public Domain
… white and black, guilty and innocent, … your body is subject to invasion. …you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged. We must not pretend that the countless people who are routinely targeted … are ‘isolated.’ They … warn us that no one can breathe … that all our lives are threaten. Until their voices matter too, our justice system will continue to be anything but.
Thanks and credit to all the original photos on this website to: David Andrako, Concrete Temple Theatre, Marcy Begian, Mark Elzey, Ed Lefkowicz, Donald Martinez, Kimberly McCollum, Geoff Ogle, Joseph C. Phillips Jr., Daniel Wolf-courtesy of Roulette, Andrew Robertson, Viscena Photography, Jennifer Kang, Carolyn Wolf, Mark Elzey, Karen Wise, Numinosito. The Numinous Changing Same album design artwork by DM Stith. The Numinous The Grey Land album design and artwork by Brock Lefferts. Contact for photo credit and information on specific images.