Week 3 - “Listen to me. I am telling you a true thing”

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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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