We Hide Well

Poem Playlist: The Dangers of Being Dead When You Are Alive #3

Being human 
is being conflicted.

The call of the South 
pulls you downward;
towards towards groundedness,
toward honesty
toward composting
what no longer serves you.

The Call of the North
pulls you upward;
towards expansiveness,
toward limitlessness,
toward infinity.

To be human 
is to be the tension in between.

When we demonized Darkness 
and ripped from her, her divinity, 
we untethered ourselves 
from the Earth.
We untethered ourselves
from the truth.
We untethered ourselves 
from ourselves.

And so we float

too much air in our skulls,
expressing a belief in infinity
that the resources of this planet 
cannot sustain.

We are left with a hunger 
no consumption can quench.

When we took divinity from darkness
we untethered ourselves from fullness.

And so we float

too much soaring under our wings,
expressing a belief in limitlessness
that our relationships cannot sustain.

We are left with the inability to set boundaries.
We accept, and accept, and accept…
We endure, and endure, and endure…

When we took divinity from darkness
we untethered ourselves from protection.

And so we float

too much lift, not enough drag
Expressing a belief in expansiveness
that our bodies cannot sustain.
We are left with the expansiveness 
of our own cells.

Cancer cells are defined by their 
loss of awareness 
that there are cells next to them.

They operate as individuals.

When we took divinity from darkness
we untethered ourselves from relationship.


And so we float

desperate for truth and justice
to ground us,
but afraid of the dark
where they live.


We hide from them 
when they approach.

We hide from the very source 
of our liberation

and we hide well…

From my unpublished book of poetry, Eat Your Trauma.

Photo credit Photo by Alexis Antoine on Unsplash