“Lay Us Down” is a reflection on place lying at the intersection of three timelines: my long-faded grandmother’s 100th birthday, my parents' ever-evident mortality, and the water crisis in my hometown of Jackson that has colored my entire life. This work traces the traditional quest my family will embark on to bury my grandmother in a small Mississippi town far beyond her own; to be led by a man she may yet outlive in a state where converging histories of environmental racism and classism mean broad health consequences for all of its residents, though some substantially more than others. In addition, Evangelical Christianity permeates culture with promises of respite if the trials and tribulations of the world can be endured. It's a meditation on life and death in a place that socializes us to kill each other, and so ourselves.
