The Fly on my Windowpane
i sit at my desk to write. immediately, almost instinctually, I kill a Fly with my non-dominant hand. it dies on the windowpane, then falls onto the frame. i watch as its eyelash-like leg unravels. then a stiffness; a stillness. it rests on it’s face, wings perfectly in tact. i’ve gotten pretty good at killing Flies with my bare hands. an assassin with a light, deadly touch. mission achieved so smoothly, the Fly appears to have simply lay down for a nap. only this Fly will never fly again.
summer has turned me into a monster. i am waiting for it to leave. desperate for it to leave. i am trying to keep it cool but i live in The South- where the mayor is destroying our forests1 to put a pretty penny in his pocket before his time is up; his fake little job with very real consequences. where the people fund the corporations and the corporations fund the destruction of the people. police as a weapon. from slave patrol —> to prison farm —> to military industrial complex. this is the legacy of the State. it’s always been a bipartisan sell-out-to-the-highest-bidder auction down here. it’s private over public, baby. it’s suburban sprawl. it’s violence. it’s racism. it’s greed.
i suspect it is I who will be gone before summer. September has always been about leaving. transitional times can be writhing, but sit in them. know them well. goodbyes are met with new hellos. though, one day they won’t be. one day we will all be the Fly on my windowpane.
is it wrong to fly away before i am squashed by the hand that wants to kill me? when i stay and fight, i seem to only end up hurting myself. maybe that’s why I’ve gotten so good at killing Flies. like a vampire, i usurp their velocity until i have gathered enough strength to leave.
additional *important* reading:
The (Other) Georgia RICO Case That Could Threaten the Right to Protest Nationwide (Rolling Stone)
RICO repercussions: how threats to Stop Cop City implicate reproductive justice (Atlanta Community Press Collective)
Weelaunee Forest, also known as South River Forest in Atlanta, GA