porcelain

mirror mirror on the wall

you are all the same

who is the fairest of them all?

a game of name and shame

ebb and flow // ebb and flow

i stand in a sea of bodies

as above, so below?

i choose not to live in pain –

mirror mirror on the wall

i ask myself again

who is the favoured of them all

and they, too, shall reign

i ask myself, mirror dear,

i ask myself again

what is seen cannot be unseen

nor said; erased –

and when they ask, mirror dear,

i shall say again

if you see light and a clear blue sky

does not mean it’s all the same

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but how much stronger do I have to be?

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,

but how much stronger do I have to be?

Can someone tell me the truth

about this mystical reality

claim that calls for help will be answered,

that we should place trust in humanity?

Yet the stories we hear over time and space

are those of dissent, violence and cruelty.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,

but how much stronger do I have to be?

To say the light of life must be found from within

but not in its entirety

is to say power exists where we cannot see,

like prisoners of our own being,

in the worldly realm of reality,

liberation is a dream of solidarity so freeing.

but this strength is not to be lusted for,

sought after like rain in a drought.

It does not come with riches,

or black and white paper bridges

between people torn apart by

open wounds of the painful past.

It is present in the vulnerability

we try so hard to outcast.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,

and I don’t know how much stronger we need to be,

but if ever you struggle with waking up in the morning,

trust that the power is in you and me.

the song of the sea

Race and class identity create differences in quality of life, social status, and lifestyle that take precedence over the common experience women share.

bell hooks, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center

Written as part of a summer assignment for the MA Gender, Media and Culture course at Goldsmiths University of London 2021-2022. Inspired by the quote above.

the king shouts from across the deck

“take a good look, men!”

a storm rages over the wreck

for the honour you defend.

three sheets to the wind!

the men say

in victory, we return!

and they shall sing and they shall prance -

o the glory we have earned.

crack 'er open!

the men say

the race has just begun!

barrels of wine with a feast to pair

- a true celebration

the king calls on his concubine

"a woman like no other"

skin that looked and felt like snow

and a smile like the perfect summer

day after day night after night

the seige raged on! an unimaginable plight -

she waits in my quarters and to her arms I return

the comfort of a good woman

outside the sky splits!

like a dagger through the heart -

a deafening growl

then thorns rained down

and the night now forlorn

“there’s a crack in the hull!”

shouts the watchman from the mast

and then the celebration ends.

suddenly alerted, charged the men

against a piercing blast

the king, leading the pack,

rushed out into the tempest

their vessel broke in harrowing pain

for deluge births a deafening silence

can you hear that?

the deckhand asks as he approached the edge

a song so loud and resonant

but all who hear it is dead

walk the plank and there you see

women of dark energy

come hither, come hither whispers she

and you shall drown in anarchy

they hear the song! they do, they see!

sing the women in the sea

the concubine and the deckhand jump!

much to the dismay of the king

one day, a storm may rage

our vessel may break

and leave behind a wreck

hear the song of the sea

the sea of people

of people like you and me

hear it from them

hear their story

honour the song of the sea