radical self-care: a definition

when the oppressed
the repressed
the marginalized
the maligned
the liminal

take it upon themselves
to care
love
tend
feed
nourish

that is radical self-care.

to survive in the face of annihilation
is radical self-care

to ferociously proclaim

I am worthy of vitality
health
joy

is radical self-care

to tend to oneself
so that others might also be tended

is radical self-care

 

Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting your neighbor.

 

let’s get something straight:
self-care is not just
pedicure manicure blow-out new dress juice cleanse boudoir photoshoot

in the face of soul-death perpetrated by
white supremacist imperialist capitalist heteropatriarchy

self-care can be as simple as
drinking water
taking a bath

saying no saying no saying no

not apologizing before every single sentence

only sleeping with those who recognize your divinity

blasting Taylor Swift despite her bone-deep issues
and then following up with Solange,
channelling the celebrigoddess (all praise) in the face of
“Oooh, it’s so much softer than it looks!”

radical self-care is a middle-finger in the face
of those who tell us
we are not enough.

it is a
fuck-you
to those who would wear us down and out.

it is a stepping-away from
the imperative of busyness,
the performance of “productivity,”
the requirement of self-effacing self-sacrifice
at the feet of the gods of capital.

tenacious survival in an era ruled by rabid accelerationists
is radical survival.
radical survival
requires
radical self-care.