(First published November 2011)
This piece is very personal, inspired by the wonderful poet, Maya Angelou, after I first read her poem, "Still I Rise".
In the prison of my youth
there was no telling dawn from night...
crows flew over
the watchtower, my
only wings
comfort? a thread of cold air,
guard's eye at
the peephole my only
companion
the sentence unending, no
reasons given
pricking fingers with stones
to simply feel alive,
I sniffed smoke from the burning pyre
and fused with a soaring moth
diving to its flame
I stood
unrepentant
at daybreak, shimmering
silks of light teased my walls
and I rose, only to fall back
to blackness
there, a second was a century,
a long wait for the dream of
freedom to be over
what got me to this place?
mere words
words swept with calm rage
words straight in their coil
words old in young age
they said my words would
make heaven roil, plunging
us all straight to
Hell
they would have shot me
at dawn
but my muse bound
their intent in
primordial ooze
their twisted lies, their
bitter eyes, bore me
terror and fear, the gloom
of a slave
but I stood
unrepentant
break her spirit, they said,
just as Spirit carried me
to sanctuary among
the holy stars
I climbed til the blackness
fell away like a scab
and I reached my spirit elders
on the old sky road
taking my pen in hand
they blessed it,
kissed my raw wounds,
emboldening me
risen from despair and
healed, I committed
new lines to trust, as I do now:
My own holy words,
lasting words,
to baptize in slobber,
offer up like a lamb
--Jo VonBargen 2013
Jo is the author of FROM THIS FAR TIME (The Human Saga) Fierce, taut writing! "Beautifully written!" An epic time capsule for future generations!
This piece is very personal, inspired by the wonderful poet, Maya Angelou, after I first read her poem, "Still I Rise".
In the prison of my youth
there was no telling dawn from night...
crows flew over
the watchtower, my
only wings
comfort? a thread of cold air,
guard's eye at
the peephole my only
companion
the sentence unending, no
reasons given
pricking fingers with stones
to simply feel alive,
I sniffed smoke from the burning pyre
and fused with a soaring moth
diving to its flame
I stood
unrepentant
at daybreak, shimmering
silks of light teased my walls
and I rose, only to fall back
to blackness
there, a second was a century,
a long wait for the dream of
freedom to be over
what got me to this place?
mere words
words swept with calm rage
words straight in their coil
words old in young age
they said my words would
make heaven roil, plunging
us all straight to
Hell
they would have shot me
at dawn
but my muse bound
their intent in
primordial ooze
their twisted lies, their
bitter eyes, bore me
terror and fear, the gloom
of a slave
but I stood
unrepentant
break her spirit, they said,
just as Spirit carried me
to sanctuary among
the holy stars
I climbed til the blackness
fell away like a scab
and I reached my spirit elders
on the old sky road
taking my pen in hand
they blessed it,
kissed my raw wounds,
emboldening me
risen from despair and
healed, I committed
new lines to trust, as I do now:
My own holy words,
lasting words,
to baptize in slobber,
offer up like a lamb
--Jo VonBargen 2013
Jo is the author of FROM THIS FAR TIME (The Human Saga) Fierce, taut writing! "Beautifully written!" An epic time capsule for future generations!
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