Let It Go (Louis Toliver Jr-Swartz, LA)

Right now you are hanging off a cliff. Now, it’s not completely your fault that you are dangling here right now. I understand that you were pushed to this cliff and now you are hanging here in fear, in pain, in guilt, in hate, but I’ve got your hand, and in order for me to help you up, you have to let go of that burden that you are holding onto. Why do you choose to hold on to it? You know what I’m talking about. Right now you are holding onto something that you could right now let go of. What good is it doing you to hold on to that…Fear? Pain? Guilt? Hate? Just let it go. That’s the only way I can pull you back up onto steady ground. Don’t look down or you will only be reminded of where you have been and get lost in your struggle and not the triumph if you look upward towards me. I must admit that the weight that is dangling from your legs is making it hard for me to maintain my grip. So, look up at me, reach down unshackle your burden and let it fall into the abyss of the past. Then, help me pull yourself up on this steady ground. The relief will come with tears, but that is how you know that you have made it. Come on. Pull yourself up. You can do it. Think of all that you have been through and let it fuel you, don’t let consume you. Just breathe. Let it go…there you go. Let it go. I got you. There you go. We are both strong. I’ve got you. You’ve got me. You are on solid ground. Now, grab onto my waist and let’s walk away. We have a life to live. Triumphantly.

Comments

Come Hither (Annette Redmond Walters - Lafayette, LA)

I meant it not this way but the tears just flow and my makeup smearing all the more, leaving behind that familiar filthy residue. I may have begun to drive myself away, dragging you down as well. But it's done, I've flipped the switch and now it's dark once more. How painful is the music to my ears, I can't stand to be alone in it, yet here I am again. I pray you fly back and safely and warmly to me, though I fear I've dug the grave too deeply. As the dirt shifts within my soul, I choke on those loving words I'd meant for you. All the fragments of light I see becoming smaller and I wish to be near you in your embrace that might make me feel the warmth I'm missing. And in reality, I doubt I'd breathe another breath without you. So come hither and quickly soothe my dying heart, you are the only cure I know. I cry and cry again, come hither to heal and love me. Come hither and help me dry my tears.

Let That Fucker Burn (John Chenvert - Napoleonville, LA)

Let that fucker burn. Let the fire crackle like the whips once did— like bone meeting leather, like screams swallowed by the trees. Let the white columns crumble to ash. Not as tragedy— but as truth, unearthing itself from beneath generations of silence. Nottoway is not a mansion. It’s a mausoleum. A lie carved in stone to honor the hands that held the whip, not the backs that bore it. They called it the “White Castle.” A place of beauty. A place for weddings, for photo ops, for pretending that horror can be made elegant if the curtains match the guilt. But no paint can cover what happened there. Blood doesn’t wash out with white linens. And pain doesn’t forget just because you renamed it history. I’m not Black. And I won’t pretend to carry that weight. But I also won’t ignore it. My people—the Guanches—were taken too. Our language silenced. Our land stolen. Our names nearly erased. So yes, I know colonization. Yes, I know what it means to be disappeared. But I also know this— my skin ...

Dysfunctional (Taylor Coen - Lafayette, LA)

The flower sits before the tree, it is like an antagonist of nature. The rainbows fall against the clouds: colors burst into a buffet of light. Rain travels down into a puddle of water portraying the sight of an ugly ox. The strength is weak; it collapses to the ground, life flows out like a stream of consciousness. Back to the daisy and the overpowering oak, A lightning bolt strikes both. The war fades over, the mist evaporates, and sunshine gli mmers down upon a hidden valley.

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