“NO. 6 // RENUNCIATION” is the sixth and final part to Lingua Ignota’s audiovisual project, EPISTOLARY GRIEVING FOR JIMMY SWAGGART, in which she recites letters she had written to Jimmy Swaggart, a disavowed televangelist, as a way of coping with her abuse. This one, like the one preceding it, has a...
Dear Jimmy,
I renounce all things. The Lord says, “Remember, I made you and can destroy you”. The Lord says, “I will pray for you”. The Lord smiles. I renounce the dripping tongue of the Lord. I renounce the bed wherein he buries me. I look upon the slow creak from the aching porch of the clean white house and renounce it. I renounce the sun that hangs above the yard. I renounce the tall, golden grasses of the marsh. I renounce the garland of dried orange and pine with which I hang myself. I renounce my own name. I renounce each hair that I carve from my head. No thing can claim me.
Dear Jimmy,
I do not accept, and I do not forgive. Jimmy. Bum knee. Bitten between the legs. Braid me into the weeds. Bury me. Pray for me. The Lord smiles. “Remember, I made you and can destroy you.” So let them come. I renounce all things.
NO. 6 // RENUNCIATION was written by Lingua Ignota.
NO. 6 // RENUNCIATION was produced by Lingua Ignota.