Unremembering

Torrents of blood

wash the feet

of my ancestral tree,

trying to drown the lineage

that births me

over and over again,

creating a fountain of

debility. Roots that are crippled

by the lies you’ve told me,

lies I didn’t have the luxury

to believe

because you shoved them down

my throat. Forced me to

digest poisonous leaves of truth,

like nobody wants me

because of my cocoa brown skin

or early death is an inevitable end

because of my own inhumanity.

When you told me to shuffle along

cause there’s nothing to see here

that’s when I knew I needed to

stuff my hand down my own

throat so I could throw up

all the poison I allowed you to

feed me. I closed my eyes

& tried to visualize rain

drizzling outside my window

pane while forcefully shoving

my hand down my own throat,

making myself upchoke

the garbage that you fed me.

That doesn’t make me

insane. My sanity’s loose

enough to still fit me.

And I’m not gonna let you

drown me.

Peace & Love,

Rosalind