“Your war drum ain't / louder than this breath.”

“What I Willby Suheir HammadI will notdance to your wardrum. I willnot lend my soul normy bones to your wardrum. I willnot dance to yourbeating. I know that beat.It is lifeless. I knowintimately that skinyou are hitting. Itwas alive oncehunted stolenstretched. I willnot dance to your drummedup war. I will not popspin break for you. Iwill not hate for you oreven hate you. I willnot kill for you. EspeciallyI will not diefor you. I will not mournthe dead with murder norsuicide. I will not sidewith you nor dance to bombsbecause everyone else isdancing. Everyone can bewrong. Life is a right notcollateral or casual. Iwill not forget whereI come from. Iwill craft my own drum. Gather my belovednear and our chantingwill be dancing. Ourhumming will be drumming. Iwill not be played. Iwill not lend my namenor my rhythm to yourbeat. I will danceand resist and dance andpersist and dance. This heartbeat is louder thandeath. Your war drum ain’tlouder than this breath.”

“And then there came the pounding of another drum, as if another giant were coming yards behind him, and each giant, intent on his own drum, gave no notice to the rhythm of the other. The sound grew louder and louder until it seemed to fill not just my hearing but all my senses, to be throbbing in my lips and fingers, in the flesh of my temples, in my veins.”

“To put is still more plainly: the desire for security and the feeling of insecurity are the same thing. To hold your breath is to lose your breath. A society based on the quest for security is nothing but a breath-retention contest in which everyone is as taut as a drum and as purple as a beet.”

“Over here where you past is your last breathe, your present is this breathe, and your future is your next breathe" Leon, War Letters”

“I had learned that you should always shout louder than your aggressor.”