Happy VerseDay.
Today was darker, as some days can be.
Enjoy…or if you can’t enjoy it, sit with its awkwardness for a bit and don’t be afraid of the feelings you may catch. Part of our Beauty lies in those dark and painful corners.
I Belong
I am yours and I am theirs.
I am the scale’s and the mirror’s
I belong to the vogue airbrushing
And the PTO.
I am the tethered hawk,
Forgotten her wings.
Hungry to hunt,
No freedom with which to fly.
I am the man’s and the patriarchy’s
I am the lament of God
And the decent substitute,
When nothing better comes along.
I belong to so many,
Each a share of grief,
Each a pound of flesh
So many hyenas tearing at a picked over carcass
I am wasted and wanting,
Found without
I am the lukewarm spread, the mannequin arms,
The expected response and sweaty spectral.
I am the failure of my skin
The price of privilege
The stain of guilt.
For apples I did not eat.
I am the sunken boat,
long forgotten; a weathered splinter in the reeds,
I am the once useful, fading at dusk.
I belong to you.
And to them.
I am no more myself, than anyone else’s.
But oh the torture of knowing.
How different it could have been.