“It’s about how you’re growing. It’s not about what you’re up to. It’s not about what you’re doing. I wanted to conquer the world at one point, and now I look up to trees and I’m like: you guys got it figured out.”
Patrick Pouponneau joins Jamie-Leigh in conversation to explore ideas around place-based belonging within diasporic identity, carrying our ancestors with us as a tool for healing, and how being Black in really White places can hinder the process. A conversation which ultimately inspired Patrick to write a powerful poem to further explore his own connection to belonging, which is also featured in this audio story (or read below).
Music by AwareNess and ZF Bergman
Sound design by Zach Bergman and Jamie-Leigh Gonzales
On Belonging show music is by AwareNess
Show Art by Julie Flett
Keep Walking; Keep Listening
Loneliness is fatal.
We’re made to be connected. For we are connected. The earth is a closed circuit.
We branch out.
To be seen is proof we exist. It’s a survival tactic. Together we evolved.Â
Love is the strongest emotion.Â
The energy it contains glues galaxies together. Joy, pleasure, and wonder are its children.
Just like us.
Carbon based life.
I can feel my ancestors’ hands on my shoulders.Â
When the heat moves in, under your skin, you know you’ve earned it.
Glowing. Hot proximity to the source.
Star power, please, cook me.
There is no nap more immaculate, than the ones plundered in your radiance.
Put some freckles on this face party.
And when I need to love you different,
Hot sand hold me, as I float off to the ocean.
You did the job we needed, not what we thought we wanted.
A softer practice; a perfect wave signals seductively,
And then its bowed heads first into the abstract, Gaia subconscious.
You hold your breath to dream,
For when you emerge,
Getting what you need to stay alive,
There is a pure moment,
Of being here.
An instrument in use.
My heart keeps a rhythm older than I’ll ever be.
Sharing spirit to genome with the choir that sings this song called life.
The drums drive me wild.
It’s a love that transcends.
It’s my mother, and her people, and the generations of love making,
It’s my father, and the legacy, of healers liberating.
It’s the sunny shores, and the green infinite,
It’s the path that I’m aligned with,
Guidance and sublime gifts.
So, witness, all the laughter,
The meals, the dishes after,
Come to us as we gather.
Hold us through the disasters,
We’re still dancing on your shoulders.
Let’s dance together.
I love to hold you closer.
x
Time and space are a colonial joke.
The calendar and the map are just technologies to remaster.
I plan on folding things together.
You’d be forgiven if you mistake me for three baby pandas in a trench coat, cause I’m coming to
you, and there’s going to be so many hugs. Cause I love you, and I’ve missed you. And it’s really
important to me that you know that. I think fondly of you often. I remember the last time I was
there, and we were just cruising. There was some pop on the radio, just filling the space so
softly. We were all so comfortable as the summer sun warmed the side of our faces heading
home down the highway. The silence with you is so easy, we were just happy, we were
together. Being beside you is enough for me. I stopped chasing the big moments long ago. The
hands in the air, front of the rollercoaster, aha ladidah, hold me while the ship goes down type
of energy. It freed me up to just be here now, in this moment. Whole and complete.
So, I’m going to get up way too early, take a taxi while it’s still dark, chase the head of the
snaking line ups, take my shoes off, put my shoes back on, and breathe recycled air for the next
13 hours. I need to see you. I need to open these arms up and welcome you in. Get you as close
to this heart as I possibly can. I’ve added an extra set up pushups in preparation. Because in
that embrace,
In that perfect set of circumstances,
I belong.
Patrick Pouponneau
Patrick Pouponneau Patrick is a project manager, activist, organizer, and artist based in Canada. He is passionate about using his skills and talents to make a positive impact on his community and beyond. Patrick has worked extensively in the areas of homelessness, mental health, and addiction, advocating for marginalized individuals and striving to uplift those in need. In addition to his work as a social advocate, Patrick is also a talented writer and poet, with a particular interest in hip hop. He often uses his art to express his own experiences and perspectives, as well as to shed light on important social issues. With his many accomplishments and talents, Patrick is a powerful force for positive change in his community and beyond.
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On Belonging: an audio series to connect us, part conversation and part storytelling, hosts carla joy bergman and Jamie-Leigh Gonzales ask their guests to explore why so many of us are feeling called to find a deeper sense of belonging, whether with our ancestors or to the land where we live, and beyond. In the many landscapes across the world, each of us walk pathways that take us to the edges of possibility, finding belonging and collective thriving along the way.
On Belonging show music is by AwareNess
Show Art by Julie Flett