
Week 3 - “Listen to me. I am telling you a true thing”
Updated: May 9, 2020
Poems written by Untold Stories poets in response to the prompt “Listen to me. I am telling you a true thing” echoing the poem Elegy by Aracelis Girmay.

Truth. Pandemic Poem 3
-Leseliey Welch
But not
Of it
Anchored
In Love
Together
We overcome
The world.
Sacred Dreams
-Erika Murcia
"Buenos días" told me Mother Earth
in my dreams last night.
"You have permission to cross this river" told me a magical animal
which resembled goats and deers
Every time I needed to walk home
The second and third time's this being also smile at me and bowed its head
When I entered the waters of the river
I paused
I observed
I felt so much gratitude
I look up and around there was so much life
Those waters were pure
my whole spirit cleansed in there
They washed away our traumas from generations ago
They washed away the violence caused by systems of terror
They washed away our grief experienced globally
Those waters were not too deep
Their current strong enough to keep the flow
I was resilient and humble to be alive
When I walked the path home
All the plantitas sang different beautiful songs
"I am in a better world" I thought in my dream
"In this place flora and fauna are free and safe" I noted in my dream
"We all belonged there. We all belonged to her. Our sacred home" I reflected when I woke up.
Secrets
-Desiraé Simmons
giggles
bright eyes
strong hands waving
come here, come here
giggles
moist words
laughed in my
ear held between hands
a secret
momma, what's that?
truths only we know
shhhh
momma shush
listen to me
i'm saying something true
okay
my darling
what is it?
into me she stares
i
will take
care of you
her face so serious
giggles
like that?
instantly i know
nothing ever more true
Dreaming
-Jayanthi Reddy
I thought to myself today
while doing laundry
what if this pandemic
is really just a nightmare,
and we could wake up
and lift this suffering?
But my dry hands remind me
that I am already awake.
It is hard to imagine
the size of this infinity
the one that holds all the love
of each human that worries.
In this fragile life
there is only one thing of which i’m certain:
The glowing of each heart
is never wasted
and it keeps us warm
and it is everything.
Germinating Seeds
-Anuja Rajendra
Listen to me
My conscience is clear
I’m moving forward supported
Though you think I’m alone
Time after time you betrayed
My idealistic innocence
I welled my eyes so
now they barely feign a tear
You broke my heart
Naive and immature as it was
Forced me to grow up
And compound my fears
My burden is light
I don’t think it takes
two to fight
And we both know I did everything right
My capacity for love
though seemingly extinguished,
still embeds within it a flickering diya
Whose soulful power grows increasingly incandescent
Where your myopic vision believes is now my lonely alley
the subtle seeds of my true nature of goodness
quietly germinate with others
of the same level of consciousness
Nourished with whole people and untainted sunshine
Shedding scars caused by thine
Flowering and compounding
To scale and shower our God-given promised land with a love beyond time.