A million faces

You’re the face of the angry parent, cutting me down with your words. 
The face of the bullies waiting in the school yard to share their insecurities with me.

You’re the face of the neighbor, the best friend, the preacher, the teacher, the face of the men who raped me.

You’re the face of the police officer, the judge, the politician. Those who would rather blame the victim than deal with violence so many of us face on a daily basis.

You’re the face of the vanishing lover and the absentee father, your the face in the bathroom mirror that I can’t wipe away.

You’re the faces that I carry with me everyday. You remind me that I’m still here, that you did not break me. The face that I wear may be cracked and worn but it is one of dignity, strength and defiance.

The face is me

Stolen

From the moment you are born there is someone out there ready to take you, they see you as more of a commodity than a person. They created laws so they could legally destroy you. Left with empty men and women who reached into your soul to try and turn you into one of them.

Their stinging words that come from the end of a switch, beating, raping their ideology into you. Punishments come when you try to be yourself, years go by and you slowly begin to disappear. And when they are done with you they toss you aside, leaving you with a lifetime of scars that never truly heal.

Generations of souls with no place to go, ending up on the streets of broken glass and towers of steel, drinking poison to dull the pain. You were taught to hate yourself, taught to hate your people, taught to hate your way of life. You continue to walk the path of broken glass and spent needles looking for another release from the pain.

You want to give up, but you can’t for that goes against their beliefs. So you try and escape with a pocket full of memories and a faint hope that the Creator is watching. You meet more lost souls on your journey, all seeking to be healed. Together you begin to share stories something which is forbidden but you do it anyway. You soon discover that you are not alone and through these shared stories you have found a new family and a way to heal.

Your new found family invite you to sweat, and as the heat rises your memories start to return. You share your story of the soul takers, the empty ones, the aliens who violated your world. And as the heat increases, the songs get louder. Loud enough for the Great Spirit to reach down into you with her healing hands. For the first time in many years you see your mother, your family, all your relations.

Like the tears flowing down your face so do the memories return, your soul piecing you back together like a broken mirror. And though cracks remain they are there to remind you that you have lived. The Great Spirit leaves one parting lesson, go out she says, go out and find my children, bring them to the sweat , save as many as you can.

So you return to the streets of broken glass and towers of steel. You slowly bring your brothers and sisters to the sweat and together you begin to teach our youth to work together, to heal the land and it’s people. So future generations can grow into their destinies.

Grow

Grow

I am a man who has made mistakes, I have fallen down

many times but I get up. I continue to grow.

You, want to remember me for who I was not for who I am.

You demean me, you see what you want to see.

I challenge myself. I continue to grow. You tell stories about me.

You try to hurt me.

I fall in love. I continue to grow.

You hate her. You call her a whore.

Together we grow, our love becomes stronger.

You try to break us up.

You fail.

We build our lives together,

our love creates one more.

Your hatred begins to consume you,

you’re left bitter and cold.

Our love forgives your hate.

Your hate begins to fade,

becoming a distant memory.

Our love continues.

Addicted to the Real

I see them on the screen, they lie to me, pretend to want me. They twist me into something I’m not and teach me all the wrong things.

They tell me how to love, tell me that it’s okay. I want to stop but I can’t, they taunt me in my dreams and are there when I wake and go to sleep.

I know that this is not right, that I need to escape. I fight to disconnect  to log out, to be free.

I want, I need someone real. I want to feel the goose bumps rise as I caress them.  I let their scent intoxicate me, arouse me. Their touch bringing me back to life.

Steamy windows created by the heat of our souls embrace. Drops of sweat mingle like lovers dancing to the sounds of heart beats coming together. Losing each other in ecstasy as we explode and colapse in a molten embrace.

Your eyes speak to my soul, asking me for more. As I kiss your trembling lips with their taste like a drug. Our bodies connect once more, I hear you gasp as you open yourself up to me. The smile, anticipating a river of ecstasy flowing over us, drowning us in love once more.

Single Mom

You were born only to be abandoned. You grew up with the unwanted, herded like cattle by strangers in white collars. People passing you by like yesterday’s news.

Abuse was a daily issue, something to be expected and something that happened often. You would carry the sting of their violations like scar on your soul. But you wouldn’t let it corrupt you.

You found love with a man who created troubled landscapes, who gave you two children. And when you began to thrive that man who created those landscapes walked away.

He left you behind with two mouths to feed. You found a strength you never knew you had. And when another bout with love gave you one more you still stood tall.

The life you created came out in your art. You were a teacher, you taught us about our traditions, our people.  Your stories were so popular that children from different lands began to benefit from hearing about our history and ancestors.

Then one day in May, you went to sleep, you joined our ancestors in the spirit world. People from all over who were touched by you shared their stories but we were the ones left to pick up the pieces.

Now 25 years later, we thrive. Like you taught us, we continued the story. We see you every day in the smiles and laughter of your grandchildren. You taught us to grow, to be ourselves and because of that you will never be truly gone.