(Warning! If you are easily offended, or believe religious piety to be more important than human rights, do not follow these links!)
One of the big news stories this year was about a little punk band in Russia arrested for doing a “protest prayer” in a cathedral and calling for the removal of Putin. Three members of the band are facing time in prison, three are in hiding. I am sharing these links not because we will necessarily enjoy their music, but to understand why this little band caused a wave of excitement around the world. One musician said they were the one band that mattered in 2012.
The first thing one notices from the clips and interview taken of the band is that these are kids. They are very young. In one sense they are nihilistic, in another sense naive. The songs alternate between sighs of despair, shouts of rage and calls to change the world. The band wears colorful mask to hide their identity, and also to draw out their own courage. They speak of the masks making them feel like super heroes.
Many were offended that the band performed their protest in a church without permission. Throughout the song, members of the band genuflect.The song alternates between sounding like a punk band and a choir. Looking at the lyrics of the song, it is clear the song accuses the church of making itself complicit with oppression, of teaching people to be submissive to tyrannts, of stripping people of personal responsibility, of replacing revolution with magical rituals and prayers asking God to do what we lack courage to do for ourselves.
As feminists, the band also condemns patriarchy, and calls women out of their servitude. As young people, they still see oppressions to which most have become numb:
Punk Prayer, English version by Carol Rumens
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, banish Putin, banish Putin,
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, banish him, we pray thee!
Congregations genuflect,
Black robes brag gilt epaulettes,
Freedom’s phantom’s gone to heaven,
Gay Pride’s chained and in detention.
KGB’s chief saint descends
To guide the punks to prison vans.
Don’t upset His Saintship, ladies,
Stick to making love and babies.
Crap, crap, this godliness crap!
Crap, crap, this holiness crap!
(Chorus)
Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
Be a feminist, we pray thee,
Be a feminist, we pray thee.
Bless our festering bastard-boss.
Let black cars parade the Cross.
The Missionary’s in class for cash.
Meet him there, and pay his stash.
Patriarch Gundy believes in Putin.
Better believe in God, you vermin!
Fight for rights, forget the rite –
Join our protest, Holy Virgin.
(Chorus)
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, banish Putin, banish Putin,
Virgin Mary, Mother of God, we pray thee, banish him!
The essence of art is not beauty but life. It is wonderful when art can celebrate beauty and gratitude, but there are times when art must awaken us to the pain to which we have become numb. Whether we like Pussy Riot or not, at the very least, these brave young women remind us of what our missing courage looks like.
Lyrics and UK Guardian article: http://m.guardiannews.com/books/2012/aug/20/pussy-riot-punk-prayer-lyrics
Recording of the protest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW92sPezOMs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Hi Jim,
Glenn is a friend of ours in Wimberley. He’s a poet. We introduced him to your blog today and he wanted to respond and maybe strike up a dialogue. He doesn’t have email but you can reach him through us or call him at 512-847-9708.
Kari
So, Mr. Rigby, these folks like my poems and have been very helpful in getting my latest collection ready for the publisher. I just read your blog on the pussy riot women and it seems to recognize something real about this life we have to live. This poem is more or less my response. It’s the last poem in the collection.
ROLL IT AWAY
The Gods of Chaos rattle
cold metallic air down the back
of my neck, and they blindside
my karma. My fingernails
begin to itch and my skin
erupts with a miracle dose
of my blotchy inner life.
My outmuscled soul curls
Into a ball and the dung beetles
roll it away. I’ve forgotten
more than I remember, but, guess
what? I remember everything
again. It’s not a curse,
but the payback channels
a gaggle of stars,
and the divine wrinkles home
a fractal reality that speaks
for itself and tells me to stop.
If you would like to hear me read some of the poems you can go to youtube, Glenn Hardin, poetry,
and I have three short videos of me reading. Can’t wait to hear from you. Glenn