Becoming Invisible

injustice inhabits history

and is signposted

backwards and forwards

in skewed time

emblazoned on your forehead and in your hand

yet

politics is not a luxury

that can be ignored

when it is a daily personal issue

of life and death

for

when hearts fray

and

the resilience of new bodies

is worn down

every day and every action is political

with each fresh sunrise

the blanched experience of life

plays out on both sides of the tracks

where wonderland and wasteland

meet and part

simultaneously

while some souls live with their heads in the clouds

their neighbours

claw and scratch through each minute with the desperation of a drowning child

when it is morning

in wonderland

you may easily wash away the unsettling bad dreams

with fresh milk and honey,

and glide through to sundown

when you soulfully breathe out the worries of your day on the cool porch

without

a passing thought

for the neighbour – the one who constantly falters

because halfway through breathing

their emotions ricochet

between the impossible choices of

either screaming with rage

or sobbing uncontrollably

for

each lurch into their new old days requires

fresh salve for seen and unseen

scars that are the patchwork history

of stumbled steps and missed heartbeats

that repeat

same same

same same pain

same same

wonder-full life flows smoothly

adjacent

yet oblivious and

ignorant

of the weight

lifted each day

a mere side-step away

the in-visibility of brave warriors

dressed in humanity

are whispers of mystery

to cloud-filled ears

yet

if mirrored secrets were known

you would all

entwine limbs like children

and hold each other with tender kindness

immediately forgetting that

you were ever fractured strangers

From the Between the Lines collection, now available here:

https://amzn.to/2TGUFzh