Abstract
When it comes to the piano, the term “action” describes the mechanism that causes hammers to strike the strings when a key is pressed. Every piano has its own action; it’s what gives the instrument a unique voice and sonic impact. My grandmother, a self-taught musician, born at the height of the Great Depression in a Jim Crow south, relentlessly harnessed her hope and heart in every note. Although she is no longer with us on this side of the heavens she prayed to, her ability to transgress, to disrupt, to agitate, to express joy through music, transcends the ethereal boundary between life and death. This poem is emblematic of the voice and sonic impact of Black women, who, when pressed like those ivory keys, emit a song of liberation; a set of instructions for symbolic remembrance, (re)centering joy as an act of resistance. Such an action is an antecedent to healing that which has been broken within the self, and the systems that particular self inhabits.To view the original version of this poem, see the supplemental material section of this article online.
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Supplementary Material
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