the invention of me
with my mind i laid a bridge down :
i worked non stop for over twelve years of my life / moved mountains / planted solid rocks / got
the money / took the pills / still my mother died / took her own life in a cell
with my mind i laid that bridge down :
everything i worked for turned to ashes in my mouth / my name became a vain thing / plundering
murderers / corrupt leaders / impotent men / seized all my assets / my mother’s assets / my other
mother’s assets / my grandmother’s things / buried in history / like we never existed
with my mind i laid this bridge down :
took a vow with myself never to grow bitter / travelled across the sea to do the work i was born
for / everything i loved died for me / everything i died for loved me / take your last breath child &
seize this moment / restitution is for God / it will see you through
final words
the scales fell down
i began to see
one must fall to rise as a thousand
a thing must die to live for many
all that matters is inside you
embrace your desert and turn it to mecca
let all that chases look to you
when all that comes to soil becomes erosive
you would have discovered
disaster is bound to be part of nature
for anyone that seeks God out must lose their natural habitat and learn to rest on the seventh day.
Sloane Angelou is a storyteller & writer of West African origin; passionate about learning of human existence by interrogating human experiences. They exist in liminal spaces.
Art (Banner): Opacity, an image (c) 2022 by Robert Frede Kenter. Twitter: @frede_kenter.
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