Norman Nawrocki

music by SANN (Sylvain Auclair and Norman Nawrocki)

We Are the Earth Underfoot

We are the earth, the sand, the gravel
rocks and bricks underfoot
We are the mud, the dog shit, cigarette butts
and dirt you step on
Black-skinned, brown-skinned, yellow-skinned
pink-skinned, thick skinned
dreamers without restraint
inheritors of a dangerous ancient rhythm
Today we beat pots, pans and drums
in the street
cheerfully
Tomorrow we could beat baseball bats,
re-bar, chains, 2 x 4’s, steel pipe, pick axes
tree trunks, bulldozers gone wild
and whatever else
will fit in our angry hands
We are your nightmare echo
told to ‘hold, please’
as we now live yours 24/7
protesting it politely, civilly, respectfully
as we were trained to not rock it
We are the numberless stars
thickening the sky
the empowered defiant mass of
red sand blowing in from the desert
We are the churning black sea
restless, disobedient, flooding streets
waves smashing open every secured door
We are the tectonic upheaval
granite footsteps grinding fortresses to dust
making the ground reverberate
with our rage and determination
splitting the pavement exposing
the abyss from where you came
each precipice now inscribed
with your parking spot # and your name
We are the earth, the sand, the gravel
rocks and bricks underfoot
the dirt you step on today
tweet, tomorrow is coming
tweet, tomorrow is coming
it beats another beat