VIDEO by Shannon Murphy Catholic Girls (My brain is a meeting place for Spirits) I purified my mind of puritanical thoughts Years ago when Oxosse and Oxum first whispered in my ear that they’d be coming for me when it was Time is too slow when you're waiting for that Great Unveiling Like each moment is encased in Opium Smoke And I'm spending nights arguing with air molecules trying to convince the world on the other side I need more Time Presses lips against your thighs, threatening to deliquesce your iceberg eyes, (You can't always be in control) even if you scripted every opening line and walked away mid-conversation every time You should hear the discussions between these indian, celtic, yoruba breaths broken down to raw beats like the confluence of two rivers and an ocean New York rhythms echo out all night, beat against my bones move through them My brain is a meeting place for spirits They gather like Berbers murmuring at a bazaar to barter over souls and love through the wares of the Earth I've been this way since Birth Or Before Before I was conceived over Conga Square Above Yoruba Priestesses chanting Protection Prayers Below Catholic Angels with Golden Hair That Mere sent for me from Church in that deep, dirty, deep South Where african spirits don european masks and renaissance through entranced ebony bodies that battle's been raging since 1555, but in Bahia their eyes roll back and watch their brains unfold into luminescent dust on Fridays and they kiss crosses ...