Tonight
we went to Taproot Theatre Company’s powerful rendition of the play “The Best
of Enemies” which was about CP Ellis and Ann Atwater 1968. The very personal
story of two people that hated each other and what they stood for to each other
and how they came together. It is a great story of grace.
The other thing on my
mind all day was that it was “National Sibling Day” and lots of people were
praising their siblings. I love my sisters, but I couldn’t post as it feels too
lopsided or lost to not have my brothers there too. I miss them all. So here
are two poems recounting today.
Word
It’s
all there in black and white
Is
what we say to avoid a fight
To
prove we are so very right
It
was written down
For
everyone to see
It
is the same for you and me
Without
the white paper
There
is nothing for the ink to be upon
It
stays liquid forming no words
The
paper is blank also with nothing to say
Together
they make hay in sunshine and rain
Through
goodness and pain
They
form a communication no one dare dispute
The
black becomes the words written down
So
they won’t disappear, but can be studied
Taken
to heart, memorized and immortalized
The
white is the vessel that is filled
Being
a blanket wrapped around
Soaking
up the emotions spilled
And
putting them into precious books
That
merits a second look
At
history and change
Things
rearrange
Circumstances
stamps us down
Words
can raise us up
It’s
all here in black and white
We
go into the night
To
raise each other up
Out
of poverty
Reaching
down from privilege
To
walk on the same road
Printing
page after page
In
a new history together
Let’s
put it down in black and white
Lost
Siblings
Five
minus two
Is
a statement I’ll never get used to
Someday
it will be less
But
for now, I confess
I’m
not comfortable with the outcome
All
my life I’ve said
I
have two sisters and two brothers
I
am the youngest
There
is no other among us
But
now my brothers are gone
It
has been so long
For
the one
I
thought I could be done
Grieving
and thinking of him still here
Cancer
is something to fear
And
fight with all our might
As
it has touched this family
With
taking the one
And
then the other one
Went
because of it kinda too
He
missed his brother so
He
had to go
And
so he did
When
we were kids
They
went everywhere together
They
were “the boys”
We
were “the girls”
The
boys were a unit
And
when that broke apart
It
did seem broken
It
certainly broke our hearts
And
so the boys are in Heaven now
I
don’t know how “the girls” go on
But
we do
We
hope we don’t get cancer too
Or
die of broken hearts
We
go on as sisters
With
no brothers
Just
each other
Afraid
to hang on too tight
That
we might squeeze the life out of each other
But
we aren’t tight
We
don’t really fight
We
are out of sight of each other
We
miss our mother too, who is gone
For
all things family
It
is hard to mourn
The
trio formed
Hardly sings together anymore
Hardly sings together anymore
No comments:
Post a Comment