Here is a poem I wrote awhile back then edited recently to share here.
THE STARS THAT BIND US
I'll seduce youbefore you show me your dominance
I’m learning
How to navigate
hardness
When I am still so soft
From being
In my mothers womb
Generated from
Affection
A deep impression
of how
I thought
Things would be.
Only beginning
To foresee
Deception
From the tree.
Biting the fruits
We all
can’t seem to digest.
Transforming
Goodness
to waste.
I consumed
The news
Like my mother does
Then cried
Like she does
too
I lie down
To get up
And to see
that in every
direction
And space
on this place
you will find
Blood
somewhere
shed.
In some form
Or another
In good
And in bad
there is suffer.
but Nobody seems
to see stains
on their hands
in this
I fear
is the downfall
of this land.
Sometimes…
all I can see
is that deep
contrast of red
Blinding and bleeding
over to pieces
that are inside
of me seeping
of the deep
blue sea
with shining
Ideas that I thought
might free me
Like my veins
Under
white washed skin.
Subtle highways
for the lost
who, too
cannot find
a way to feel
Comfort here
And for me
Who wanders
Spangled
With hope
I can't bring myself
to be
Another way.
Traveling
To Find
something
matured
But still clean.
Once
I stood in Africa
In a castle
where the slaves had been traded
their own king
again I will say it
their own king
selling his own
while their bodies
starved
For sustainment
Beyond their own souls
Their bodies
Their hearts
And their minds
forced on this toll
through
a narrow door
with no returning.
Fathers,
brothers,
sisters,
even mothers
were stacked
on top of one another.
While the kings
Transactions
were only of Gold
and green
plastered the greed
of this world
and this tone
Turning white hearts
Dark.
An ark
Carrying
Only a segment
Of an arc,
In this spherical spiral
That has grown
far, and wide,
painful
Aggressive
And viral.
So, I owe it to my mother
to make the world less sad.
and to my father to prove
I am strong enough to stand
in the face of all things tough.
because it's hard
to be this soft.
And I
am my mothers daughter
tasted her sweetest
apple pie
but there was
Always one apple
that just wouldn’t digest
because I am
considered
this sort of
evil temptress
which makes for
a heart
to build
A barricade
Locking things up.
and holding down
words trying
to get out
through my throat.
from my thoughts
where thinking
takes place
I've searched for the keys
and tried taking up space
seeking love
Or white light
in all the worst places
Like red
Or like blue
Finding this mix
Will only unite
To make purple
For royalty's tricks
or soldiers who fight
with a heart that turns purple
from seeing the things
that we have endlessly circled.
both ranks
being higher
Than you
and certainly me
Will ever achieve
So lets focus
the barriers
that are Deep
within us
A stirring
That starts here
In our veins that are blue
but see through
to the fact that
we bleed only red
and wounds
come from both sides
of this spread
interacting
acknowledge though please
we cannot exist
with just one side or another
because good and bad
are just not that straight forward
because when one side or other
teeters too much
or too long
our freedoms in danger.
the secret is a balance
of these two
and included in that
well
there's me and there's you
so we cannot find answers
in the this or the that
because the grey
is where most of us are at
You would see it
if you'd stop clinging
to a side and instead
begin thinking
we all have these parts
made of scar tissue.
trying to wipe
Away wounds
Provided by living
Here.
Just living
here
Where everything
Exists
Everything
And all of the people
just trying
to live here
but sometimes
I feel
they are all looking
right through us.
Like glass
That has
Since been shattered
Making a Sound
loud.
Forced
To be heard
and bleed red
And be seen
causing the scene
of Breaking
My rose colored
Cheeks
Deflated
from shards
Cutting into
The Unblemished skin
Of my face
Of my remorseful
white colored skin
Taking in bluish air
because
I was
Born here too
and sometimes you
have to shut your eyes
tightly closed
in order to see
openly
The guilty
Is everyone
And me,
A woman who bleeds
who spent a lot of time
fighting
a society
Built on the belief
That God
Is a man.
The most physical,
The Fight
in this one realm
most hardest for me
To soften
From the very first slap
And the cry that comes after
the one right before
we are labeled.
By the parts we can see
With our glazed over eyes
and our Serendipity
A fate we
Have tried to change
In ways
that won’t work
and never have.
try as we will
and we will with our will
willing our willpower
on top of the hill
passing our bills
that are now stacked
against us
forcing and changing
things that don't fit
or trying
to let it all go
and just be
expecting free freedom
is guaranteed
assuming
by opening
Pandora's box
we wouldn't be
sunk
by these rocks
that have been traded
by the sly seeking
searchers
that seek for a chance
to advance
their desires
and put forth
the agendas
that built
this curvy,
wide road
of hate
and transgressions
against us
Some of us did not
know we were paving
with our genuine professions.
and commitment
to our sisters and brothers
by choosing the side
of one extreme or another.
So I am taking
These broken shards
of the world
And building
a mosaic that can twirl
to untwirl
what 's already been done
and accept that no matter
what side you are on
no one has won
so lets look
to the horizon
and know that
the rising is on us to do
The work to be done
is on me and on you
to begin building these tiles from shards
that are jagged
but can fit
together for all
and hanging it
in the very center
of our creation
creating
a global disco ball
for the whole world
to see the edges we have made
can still be put together
and our debts can be paid
So we can all dance
together
acknowledging our mistakes
that we all have made
But mostly reflect
Our ownership
In our brokenness
And find unity in
The truth
That every
Single light
on this night
On the floor
And the door
windows
And walls
the halls
Or The ceiling
That holds
up the chain
That anchors
down
the Ball we have made
And the glue
That carries
All of our shards
That puzzle
Us together
are the parts
of a whole
undivided
in unity we are
and we can be
this image
of God that was
created from our parts
the parts of our hearts
that give and receive
and waver the right
from the wrong
with good deeds
the One we all can be
tipping the scales
so we can achieve
a more balanced
and peaceful decree.
- By Kate Karpel