Cocoon your body into the quilt
That keeps the stifling humidity at bay
It will warm the emptiness of your heart
As you try to fill yourself up with tears
To replace the baby taken from your womb
Let me place my hands on your face
In child-like wonderment
Tasting the salt of you tears on my fingertips
Amazed that grown-ups can produce tears
This will be the first time I ever saw you cry
It won’t be the last
In the pale brightness of spring
It feels like the whole world is blushing
Feverish from grass so green it makes people queasy
After the blinding purity of winter white
Time slides like coins through fingers
Slipping into wishing wells
As we bathe in sliced seconds
And you rinse salt and sand from your hair with pollinated minutes
Under showers of sunlight
Curl up in these moments
Amorphous in their consistency
Winter ice thawed to dew drops
Luke warm and lush under the full moon
Pinkies braided together,
Our oath is binding
For as long as it takes you to unravel
The joints of your finger from mine
And lose your mind
Somewhere along the bottom of your glass.
Know that just because I disagree with you,
It doesn’t mean I’m not your friend
You can build walls up to the sky,
But I will find some way to fly above them
And I’ll refuse to come down to earth
Until you meet me upon the parapets of your fort wall.
Blades of grass pressed into her palms as she leaned back
His grin pulled her down to the ground, stronger than gravity
They collapsed under a canopy of green light.
Spring laced the air.
And they eagerly filtered jade evergreen dust into their lungs—
It was laced with the promise of more to come.
The stains will not come out.
“But you said!” she whispered
The back of his hand cracked across her face to make her let go of his shirt
The sound sharper than the sting
She saw spiraling stars as her hand dropped in disbelief, ears red with shame
Mascara mixed with salt on her blouse
She looked down as he walked away
The scrape of his Vans against hallway floors harsh on her blushing ears
The sound echoed after her the rest of the day
When asked, she said “It’s stupid. I’m okay.”
The stains will not come out.
Silently she relied on a soft smile to slip under the radar at home
Her sister’s voice booming through summaries of her days
Excitement infused in every gesture
Mother and father leaning in, devouring every word
Until one Wednesday her mother reached for her sister’s hand
“Your father and I are getting a divorce”
Her soft smile slipped as her sister went silent
She attempted to nod her understanding to the beat of her heart
Keeping time by curling her fingers into palms once green with sweet grass
Nails leaving marks unnoticed by numb hands
The stains will not come out.
Second guesses trampled through her mind with megaphones
She stood looking out at the city below her window
Rubbing her soul raw against washboards
She didn’t know what to do with her hands.
She couldn’t afford to whitewash her state of delicacy anymore
Pay therapists to wring out and dry-clean her problems
Toss back medication that made days pass by in a vague haze
She just wanted to quit.
The stains will not come out and it's been six years
Whole paragraphs of her life story blotted out, colored by hearsay
Like they later tried to Bleach-blot out the bathroom tiles
But she lingers. And we miss her.
She stained our hearts with her laughter.
She loved and laughed and ran away
And I’m still trying to understand, even to this day.
Stand silent to make a point
Actions of brutality juxtaposed with actions of bravery
Faceless but for hair blown across eyes, swept up
Location immortalized and displaced
She could be one of us – is one of us
Those pepper-spray fueled gusts resonate
Gusts of chemicals breathed in, choke, cough
Exhale with a burn fiercer than the image burned into our eyes
Burned into our hearts
Bright red
Red encircling, red reminding, red remembered
Life and passion, uncompromised
Declared loud against a backdrop of insanity
Proper outrage at the hands of humanity
Beating at a youth defenseless
It’s completely senseless
Beauty without a face, still graceful despite the mace
Your heart can’t help but tighten and race
At yet another moment of disgrace
Failure to protect and serve
At corrupt authority’s dictation of
Duty and orders to eyes glazed over
Consciences swept aside to the darkest corners
Charge in
Constant stream and spray
Overkill captured in the light of day
Just how is this okay?
Offers of apologies can’t so easily soothe injustice
How do sit-ins spiral out of control?
The attention paid – does it exacerbate pressurized events primed to blow?
Once the people find the strength
To rip the cover off oppression
Siphoning momentum from growing tensions
Backed by the wide eyes of the world
Watching far away events play out on the media stage
Can’t let such events fade away
An instance of compassion
One that broke through the desensitization of an often cynical generation
Far too used to media frenzies
Of which there are still far too many
Perhaps a tad bit sensational
But this woman could prove transformational
Transcribing more chalk lines on the scoreboard of life
More powdered tally wins for the unlikely heroes and heroines
Right Now!
I’m hearing generalizations and seeing insecurities,
tasting bitter stereotypes and smelling simmering irritability.
I’m making my way through the land of freedom and opportunity,
but I’m only feeling a nation’s ignorance and callousness.
“Hey chink, open your eyes!”
Why don’t you open your eyes?
Prankster youth, sarcastic and sharp, arrogant and American,
nurtured under flippant, culturally accepted racism
They throw taunts over their shoulders, cutting straight to the bone,
laugh it off as a well-played joke, insults sung as an anthem.
“Strike a funny pose! Peace signs! Stretch your eyes out!”
America’s sweethearts pull and stretch the shape of their eyes,
jeering and sneering into the camera lens, laughing in fake surprise
Mocking appearances in a culture where appearance is everything,
it’s clear how you really feel about people of my ethnicity.
“Geez, why do all Asian people look the same?”
Can we say lack of exposure?
I’m given puddle shallow opinions that there are only slight differences,
commentators broadcasting same skin! hair! lack of eyelashes!
I’m given razor edged ridicule oozing from every well meaning charmer,
shadowed reflections in their eyes betray their true character.
“You need to get a sense of humor. You’re too sensitive.”
Are you kidding me? Is that what you really believe?
I refuse to be the butt of racial slurs, phony bright smile pasted on,
kissing my way up, demure, submissive, and withdrawn
I refuse to silence my opinion of a nation stuffed with double standards,
spewing corrupted minds mouthing ignorant phrases, spiraling downwards.
Right Now!
I hear jokesters flinging out excuses and becoming defensive,
claiming innocence, obliviousness, but they only appear edgy and restive
I hear denial of responsibility, piles of excuses for lack of sensitivity
but I hear no apologies for crushing my pride and dignity.