Tom Jones and Janis Joplin – “Raise Your Hand” (Live – 1969)
Taken from the Dec. 4, 1969 episode of “This Is Tom Jones”…
Caitlin Johnstone – “Speak” (2017)
Your voice can shake the sand dunes
and make farm flowers grow on the beach.
Your voice can knock down the tall castles
of the Bastards chortling against the smoggy night sky.
They don’t make you afraid of using it because it is stupid,
they make you afraid of using it because it is powerful.
So use it.
Speak.
Let your voice awaken the embryos in their cells.
Speak.
Wipe the grin off the faces of those recursive laughing Buddhas
and make the very fabric of the universe look up from its TV dinner
and take note.
Speak when your enemies tell you not to speak.
Speak when your friends and allies tell you not to speak.
Speak when your better judgment tells you not to.
Speak when every fiber of your being tells you not to.
Speak to shatter the conspiracy of silence.
Speak to end our ancient heritage of not speaking.
Speak so that others may lose their voicelessness.
Speak because only the Bastards are speaking.
Speak for the angels who are choking on chemicals.
Speak for the children sprayed red with blood.
Speak for the sea turtles drowning in plastic.
Speak for the dreamguides bulldozed and paved over.
Speak for the tree stumps bleeding crude oil.
Speak for the women trapped in small cages.
Speak for the mothers whose eyes are sedated.
Speak for the sky whose dragons have vanished.
Speak for the cities full of medicated childhoods.
Speak for the dreamers about to give up.
Speak.
Speak!
We are sitting here waiting
to find out if this play will go on.
Caitlin Johnstone
