This (and others I will post) is not a new poem, but a slightly reworked one from years ago. In this covid cave experience, I have found myself looking back to old writings, old papers and books; finding peculiar citations and a multitude of highlighted passages i'd since forgotten about. I have also found several unfinished poems, perhaps waiting these years for me to find the right words. this one feels particularly relevant today.
Damage
They fear that I will figure out
That beautiful is not without
They pretend they do not see
That beautiful began with me
They tremble when I start to smile
Especially when it lasts a while
They like to think they’ve got me pegged
That I’m two-eyed and I’m two-legged
They want to see my amber feet
Resist arrest accept defeat
They ask me to align with them
Remove myself from where I’ve been
They take the gifts I never gave
Forget that I was once their slave
They say I overindulge my anger
That docile, I am less a stranger
They crave me when my lips are sealed
No hint of righteousness revealed
They run for safety when I rise
Leaving blood stains on my thighs
I rise alone most everyday
and blood stains can be washed away.
-qv
photo credit: Gagan Vishwakarma
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