A Seat at Solange’s Table

A Seat at Solange’s Table

A poem inspired by her new album.

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We Are the House That Holds the Table at Which Yes We Will Happily Take a Goddamn Seat
after Solange

No one can serve two masters
like we can, be future

and what they threatened to forget,
be Richard Pryor Live on Sunset

and be the sunset. Kiss the ground,
burn it to the ground, slay dragon,

speak dragon. Sometimes it feels like
we invented America ourselves.

The difference between worth
and worthless without them

is science: how it feels to not be
able to see a person, and the number

of instances when we believed
we should die. For dinner, watermelon

and a dry white. Gin nightcap,
low moon. How fucking dare we.

The probability of a wave
carrying a pearl in its mouth

is the probability of a lamb
slicing its own white neck

tying its legs to a spit
for someone else’s feast.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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