how far have you walked for men who’ve never held your feet in their laps?
how often have you bartered with bone, only to sell yourself short?
why do you find the unavailable so alluring?
where did it begin? what went wrong?
and who made you feel so worthless?
if they wanted you, wouldn’t they have chosen you?
all this time, you were begging for love silently,
if they wanted you, wouldn’t they have chosen you?
all this time, you were begging for love silently,
thinking they couldn’t hear you, but they smelt it on you,
you must have known that they could taste the desperate on your skin
and what about the others that would do anything for you,
and what about the others that would do anything for you,
why did you make them love you until you could not stand it?
how are you both of these women, both flighty and needful?
where did you learn this, to want what does not want you?
where did you learn this, to leave those that want to stay?
how are you both of these women, both flighty and needful?
where did you learn this, to want what does not want you?
where did you learn this, to leave those that want to stay?
hooded upglamour shot solidarityphotoshop funeralwe mourn like performance artin witty gifs, memes andobligatory status updatesspectacle as amnesiaa window display of despaircollect RIP campaign posters for sportwhite guilt trip chica new aestheticpaid for by good intentionhe never intended to be born black boybound to skin and symbol and skittlestaste the rainbowflavor profiles of bloodtextures of flesh freshly killedlick open woundsswallow painthe privilege to digestfor somea memory impossible to metabolizean ache that hauntslike ghostlike sean and oscar and troy and sonlike the sound of history repeating itselfa chamber of echoesinside the womb he was born intoan inheritance of traumaa truth too heavy to bear alonebeyond this momentanother body to concreteno press conference justiceno picture capture poster boywhat about the other so-called “criminals”the “rapist thieves”locked into categories of monsterno claims of innocence to hold ontono one sings their name in prayerno one makes them martyrno offers of candle light vigil healing circle protestno city council callsno sky high piles of paper petitionswho deserves to die in our namedressed up fears in a cloak of moralitypaper thin valuesan origami of contradictioncruel the way we selectively carea conditional compassionactivists who only fight for the ones who fitpress kit capitalcapture this in catch phrase soundbite sloganlike marketing the dead for pointsa scoreboard of powerthe losing team never chose to playa metaphor for lifesmuggle meaning into this kidnapped languagedescribe the times in disturbing detailspeak truth back into the storyremember the dead that refuse to diekeep them alive on your tonguewrite for thembut do not mistake your voice for theirsfor hisdo not stuff his mouth with your scriptshis skin is not a screen for your projectionsdo not reduce him to wall arta badge of authenticitynever say his name in vainbear his humanityas you would your ownlive like thisdie like this
VIDEO PREMIERE.
today i found an unexpected email from a beautiful stranger named christine mehr. she created this short film to my poem ‘for women who are difficult to love’. the world is bulging with gentle stunning spirits. so grateful that they find me and share themselves. and in turn i share with you.
video - christine mehr
cello - zoe keating
poetry - warsan shire
Reblogged from warsanshire with 263 notes
"
the unbearable weight of staying
i don’t know when love became elusive
what i know, is that no one i know has it
my fathers arms around my mothers neck
fruit too ripe to eat, a door half way open
when your name is a just a hand i can never hold
everything i have ever believed in, becomes magic.
i think of lovers as trees, growing to and
from one another searching for the same light,
my mothers laughter in a dark room,
a photograph greying under my touch,
this is all i know how to do, carry loss around until
i begin to resemble every bad memory,
every terrible fear,
every nightmare anyone has ever had.
i ask did you ever love me?
you say of course, of course so quickly
that you sound like someone else
i ask are you made of steel? are you made of iron?
you cry on the phone, my stomach hurts
i let you leave, i need someone who knows how to stay.
"warsan shire (via dreamhampton1)
Reblogged from dreamhampton1 with 49 notes
“Jimmy, there is too much to think about you, and too much to feel. The difficulty is your life refuses summation - it always did - and invites contemplation instead. Like many of us left here I thought I knew you. Now I discover that in your company it is myself I know. That is the astonishing gift of your art and your friendship: You gave us ourselves to think about, to cherish.”
Toni Morrison on James Baldwin
(Source: leonardpine)
Reblogged from allthingsjamesbaldwin with 112 notes
“Color is not a human or personal reality; it is a political reality.”
AFRO DIASPORIC FRENCH IDENTITIES, Nathalie Etoke.
“a language that defies even as it claims”
dead meaning sits dormanton my restless tongue“how are you?”he replies, “not much, you?”
a familiar misslike a cheek kissturned almost make-outsloppy accidentsthese words were not built for listeningwe speak catch-phrase cliche scriptrepeat reuse swallow becomewe are this bad habitredundancystuck in arrangementswe inherited like our skinstrip me nakedeven then, deceptioneven alone, estrangementI don’t want to bear the burdenof a displaced voicescreaming without a sourcea wound for a moutha scar that speaksthat opens up on its ownthese words conceal their home
“life is like a rerun
season after season
bombs on the train
bombs from the plane
a disgruntled citizen
being tried for treason”Jay Electronica
(Source: eyeofelectronica)
Reblogged from eyeofelectronica with 104 notes
