Survival Poems
Vallen in water
by Mario Odekerken
Een misstap
niet groot,maar genoeg.
De oever verdwijnt
en het koude oppervlak opent zich
zonder waarschuwing.
Het water is geen vijand
maar het maakt alles zwaar
het tilt de fouten op
......
I thought without thinking
by Sisekelo & Lindelwa Simelane & Manana
I held on to your sweet little nothings, convinced myself there was forever in nothing in particular. your smile had me going and you laid out a bed of thorns covered in roses, your every word became a safe harbour in the storm, i held on to your warmth, told my heart it was from the yearning of your soul for us. i thought i had you. i told happy y'all look alike, thought maybe you were joy's long lost brother. i fed myself painted pictures of love that your arms led me to postulate and within the blink of an eye i poured out the very bit i had left, i thought i had the fairytale ending figured out. i thought without thinking, i figured that out when you left.
I held you without having never touched you before, I controlled your emotions having never seen you cry, I broke your heart having never heard it beat, I bruised your dignity with a mere look, I undressed you with a crude smile, I shaved your beautiful hair with my razor like words. I remember holding you to the wall, my breath penetrating your pores as the hairs at the back of your head stood as of looking to give me a standing ovation. I remember how you tried to stop me with a sweet trembling falsetto as though it were your last breath, I could feel my fingerprints bite into your melanin skin, in the same effort I felt your skin fight back my palms. As I came closer I could feel your sweat flow down like the Victoria Falls but my privilege told me that was your way if inviting me to swim. In hindsight I realise that I did all this thinking I'd put enough thought to it only to find out that when I was done with you I'd look at you and see the horrid work of misguided masculinity hidden under the shade of privilege. I guess I played myself.
Barefoot on shattered glass
by Mario Odekerken
I keep walking.
Not because I'm brave-
because I don't know where else to go.
The floor cuts deep.
Thin lines open,
quiet red truths rising to the surface.
Every step says:stop.
Bij I don't.
......
The Unseen Toll
by Aditi Hayaran
I'm not lazy;
I'm just tired,
Just figuring out
What months of pain rewired.
"You're healed," everyone says,
When I'm surviving each day
with constant malaise.
I don't have energy like you do;
Let me rest longer, for an hour or two.
The time stolen from my teenage,
......
Whispers of ghosts
by Daniel Ryan Cotler
I've worn the weight of the world on my shoulders,
sustained by a lifetime of wounds,
inflicted by others,
but mostly by myself.
The ghosts of my past—
my father, my stepmother—
they etched their voices into my mind,
a relentless echo,
whispering lies that I'm not enough,
that love was something I’d never deserve.
......
Vallen in water
by Mario Odekerken
Een misstap
niet groot,maar genoeg.
De oever verdwijnt
en het koude oppervlak opent zich
zonder waarschuwing.
Het water is geen vijand
maar het maakt alles zwaar
het tilt de fouten op
......
The Unseen Toll
by Aditi Hayaran
I'm not lazy;
I'm just tired,
Just figuring out
What months of pain rewired.
"You're healed," everyone says,
When I'm surviving each day
with constant malaise.
I don't have energy like you do;
Let me rest longer, for an hour or two.
The time stolen from my teenage,
......
I walked this road with fire in my hands
by Mario Odekerken
I walked this road with fire in my hands.
Not as a threat,
but as a memory of the spark
that once lit the sky inside me.
Each step scorches softly-
the earth remembers
where passion has passed.
I carry no map.
......
We Are The Weed People
by Jim Kelly
We Are The Weed People
We are the weeds—
rooted deep in resilience.
Dropped here from distant lands,
we rise,
storm after storm,
spirit ever higher.
......
Barefoot on shattered glass
by Mario Odekerken
I keep walking.
Not because I'm brave-
because I don't know where else to go.
The floor cuts deep.
Thin lines open,
quiet red truths rising to the surface.
Every step says:stop.
Bij I don't.
......
