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Poetry: Heavy and light

7/30

My body feels heavy
Carrying ancient ancestral groves
Balanced upon my crown
Rooted within acrid soil.

My body feels heavy
Thickly bound bloody strings
Tautly held wounded anger
Attached within my chest.

My body wants light
Clear-cut forests laid bare
Tiny seedlings taking hold
Reaching out both directions.

My body wants light
Sharp scissors slice free
Snapping bright red strands
Allowing one liberated breath.

This ekphrastic poem was inspired by the sculpture above titled “Ancestor 1” by Aisha Harrison. It’s currently on display at the Crocker Art Museum.

More short poems:
1/30: not my cat
2/30: comfort
3/30: ache
4/30: remember
5/30: graduation
6/30: big love

26 thoughts on “Poetry: Heavy and light”

    • Thank you! It felt like an important poem in my healing journey. I think a lot about the pain I carry that’s not mine—passed down from both sides of my family. While ancestors can help lift you, they can also be a burden. I’m breaking patterns with my children, but I also need to break away from the heaviness I’ve carried my entire life.

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  5. I feel the earth begin to rumble in this poem. There is so much moving beneath our feet. Both destructive and creative in the same breath. Pardon my struggle to assimilate. There is another story this poem makes me remember – but may take me a while to find it again. (and I do not like the sculpture, because it says pain to me, as how your blood families may be unloving to you) (sorry, a lot to unpack in this moment here) But love that you are making a path for yourself!

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    • Thank you, Neil. When I saw this sculpture from across the gallery I was drawn to it. The closer I got the more I could feel the tears coming up and by the time I arrived they had become sobs. I stood staring for a long time thinking of how it feels like the absolute best portrayal of the pain I feel, the strings and the heavy forest upon my head. While ancestors can guide us, they can also tear us down and pull us toward the misery they clung so desperately too. This poem was my attempt at cutting that, clearing that, moving toward something different.

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      • That piece served a purpose for you. For that I’m glad. A lot I think I focus on poems as poems, less so on the strictly human part (cause that’s what I do). But you know, I take your happiness to heart. That’s personal to me. People or anythings that don’t love & care for you – well I got a serious issue with them. You know.

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