Talking #Formation #QueenBey

In case you missed it, or have already watched it 100 times, watch (again):

As I posted to Facebook this weekend:

All hail the queen. I can't say anything more than everyone on the interwebs already has and will, and I feel kind of unqualified to be saying how pro-Black, pro-Black woman, pro-Black queerness this is, and the politics, the 40 lines to quote, the references, how the ancestors must be fist raising/fist bumping, Nola, and Blue Ivy, but OMG!!!!!

As a white woman, this song is not about me, or for me. I couldn't find the words to say that until a friend shared this:

Formation doesn't include me - and that's just fine.

"It’s time for us to stop singing along — to Formation, to Kendrick Lamar’s Alright, to any song that has the N-word or celebrates blackness in a way we will never understand."

So in that spirit, I'm cheering from the bleachers while reading some amazing posts. Here's a few.

We Slay, Part 1 

Beyonce Gets Political, and I Get Snatched Bald: An Overview of Themes and Motifs in the Formation Music Video

Beyoncé’s “Formation” is Two Middle Fingers to the Sky in Celebration of Black America

Beyonce Is The New Black: The 10 Blackest Moments In Beyonce’s “Formation” Video

Beyonce's Formation is Her Best Thing Yet and it's the IDGAF Anthem 

Beyonce’s New Video Formation is a Big Political Ratchet Mess, and That’s What Being Unapologetically Black is All About

Beyoncé as Conjure Woman: Reclaiming the Magic of Black Lives (That) Matter

And then came the Superbowl: 
 
Beyoncé didn’t just steal the Super Bowl halftime show. She made it a political act.

 

And the tweets - please take to Twitter to see the best of the best in 140 characters. Try the hashtags #Formation and #QueenBey for starters.

And the GIFS:

 

 

 

And a World Tour. That supports the Flint water crisis.

Thank you, Queen.

Last night I dreamed of Sonia Sanchez

Last night I dreamed of you

Spitting poetry with razors between your teeth

Harlem

Black

Arts

Movement

Revolution

Jazz

Spoken Word

Form

Hip Hop

Love

Philly

Peace

Octogenarian
re-imagining yourself again and again
fiercely relevant 

Still here

I dreamed you were flowing in a river of revolutionary artists
who came before you
came with you
who were born of you

This poem should be a haiku in your honor

Instead I offer this

Recently visiting Harlem with my child of my child
we shared space with one of your 
revolutionary 
artist 
offspring

Grateful to be invited in

We walked those hallowed streets
my child of my child 
and me

Did she feel the vibrations 
did she know 
as we ate at Popeyes on 125th street
sat high in the balcony of the Apollo
and took the train at 155th
that she is one of the ones we've been waiting for

That she can love the razors forming between her teeth
to create beauty
to change the world
to breathe

Feb, 2016


Inspired by the film BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez