When the Prince of Heaven Sleeps
December 18, 2024 at 05:00PMMuhammad Ali. John Coltrane. DMX. Mike Tyson. Each a man, each a symbol of something larger than himself. For Emergence, Roger Reeves situates these icons in repose—sleep, domesticity, interiority, and mindfulness—and unpacks the rebellion inherent in their rest. A lovely, loving tribute.
All my life, I have archived these sorts of images and moments of Black men touching and holding the largesse and largeness of their lives in the smallness of their hands. In Chicago, I’ve watched Black men on city buses and in the rain on a park bench hold the bulb of a child’s head in their palm. In Mount Holly, New Jersey, I watched a man in a dark blue barber cape stand on a cement step and tweeze a Newport from a crumbling soft pack with the tips of his fingernails, place the cigarette in the corner of his mouth, and eye the slow crawl of evening traffic lurching by him before lighting it, taking delight in the traffic and the first draw of smoke working its way into his body, slowing down time.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/12/18/when-the-prince-of-heaven-sleeps/
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