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Me again! Our professor asked us today to share with the class a piece that we've written within the last two weeks. I'm quite proud of this one, so I'd like to share it with you guys too:
Tennessee
I found out recently that one of my favorite artists
Who I thought lived in some faraway country
Actually lives in Tennessee. And what do I know
About Tennessee, other than that
Dead deer hang from the rivers there?
What do I know about any of the world, other than
Girls with chin tattoos and farmers’ daughters
Live in it? Escape from insane asylums in it?
I watch a lot of videos of people migrating long distances,
Like the boy who biked from Alaska to Argentina
Or the ginger guy running across Africa.
And shouldn't I feel that pull, too? It’s only natural
To want to be anywhere else. And I wonder
If I have the courage to run? Could mountain views
Do the work of proving I’m alive? Shouldn’t I want
To be anyone else? Anything to be her.
There’s something freeing in knowing the world doesn’t
Care for you, specifically, and doesn’t really care for humans
In a more general sense, I’m stuck in the spokes
Of a bike tire.
I don’t really care where I’m being dragged, because
How should I know to care? Shouldn’t I want to escape?
Wedged inside a plastic frame for a vast world?
It might be nice to visit a country where my friends live,
If they can recognize the bloody pulp of my face
Smeared on their welcome mat. Is it an American thing?
Across the ocean of tears is Tennessee. And the only thing
I know about her is she’s here, somewhere.
And all the deer have rotted away.
If you made it here, you should read poets.org's poem-a-day entry for today: The Centaur by Miller Oberman. It's a real hard-hitter if you're trans or non-binary like myself, and nearly made me cry when I read it earlier today lol. If you're still reading this, why haven't you clicked the link already?
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