i'm stripping away all the lies before the next millennium:
lies that my father loved me more than his masonic brethren,
lies that he married my mother while she was still a virgin,
lies about blackness, about whiteness, about who i am.
for the lies are like dead weights that pull me down
into the undertow of money, class, culture, race, and class,
distorting my features--the true reflection of my face--
so i've become something subtle and submarine;
but what will happen to me after i've stripped away
all the forms that clothe my mind with order
old ways of thinking about myself--the thusness of reality.
what will i have but this naked, scarred body
that i have so despised, regarded always as other?
facing myself in the silence of unanswerable joy.
© Geoffrey Philp
[source...]
10 voices:
I like this poem, so real and true.
You said it, Myne. I like how with simple words the poet faces unsimple situations.
Thanks, Rethabile.
This poem was one of those that I felt had to be written before I turned 50. I wasn't going to take these burdens in the new millenium or life after 50.
This poem works for me, too, along those same lines. Kind of like settling the score before some future change.
I just read this and it spoke to me volumes, like every word every sentence every thought I've ever had secretly was put on paper (or online??) Anyways, well written! Loved it!
All thanks to the writer, Ebony Soulstress.
Such an honest, beautifully spare poem. I want to hold it.
Adorei a versatilidade das palavras e a busca de destruir os paradigmas. A mensagens parece de uma pessoa com problemas psicológicos, mas na verdade aponta para o rosto sem máscara do homem dentro de seus papéis sociais. A maravilha está na denúncia poética dos conceitos e pré-conceitos camuflados no campo de batalha que é a vida. Parabéns pelo seu Blog.
Great poem and interview!
Georgette, January,
Honest, great and spare. Yes.
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