This

This piece was written for a performance at JMU's Take Back The Night 2012. Such a moving, beautiful event... if you've never heard about Take Back The Night, go right now and look it up. Truly something that everyone should know about.

The inspiration for this piece comes from Anis Mojgani's wonderful piece "Shake The Dust". You'll notice a great similarity in styles, but I promise that each word is my own. Enjoy!

This

is for those moments

when you have stared so hard

at the mirror

that she cannot hold your gaze.

This

is for the haze

through which you have

experienced pain and

the dull ache of the morning after,

for swinging from the rafters

and crashing back into reality.

This

is for those of us

that do not remember.

This

is also for those of us

that do remember.

This

is for those of us

that have

jet engine voice boxes,

for those of us that earthquake

every time we cry.

For those of us

that try and hold a candle

to the face

of their fears

and find a great vast

nothingness.

This

is for those of us

who until tonight

did not know how to

create sound,

for those of us

who hear gunshots

in every footstep

and find bullet shells

in our tear ducts.

This

is for those of us

that have friends

that don't come around anymore,

because they don't speak

the same dialect of Shame,

for the outspoken

who cannot give

their fear a name.

This

is for the lost

and the nameless.

For the aimless wanderers

who try to feel

but cannot dial sensation

back into their fingertips.

This

is for the rips

left gaping open.

This

is for hoping

that the sun will open

its eyes again.

This

is for the men

who don't shower

naked

anymore.

This

is for the layered

who constantly feel

exposed.

This

is for the hidden eyes

who never had time

to pose the question

“will it hurt?”

Tell me.

Will it hurt.

This

is for your insect-ridden skin,

for doubt finding its way in..

For trust that does not know how

to come home to you.

For rust

that has eaten away

at so many things

but what is meant

to be taken away.

This

is for the porch light

in your rib cage

that needs you to believe harder.

Clap louder.

Live bigger.

This

is for the women.

This

is also for the men.

Most importantly,

This

is for you.

Yes, you.

May you peel back the paint

from the walls closing in your mind

and let my truth shine through.

Tell everyone

that will ever question

the strength of your heart

to pull back and let

arrows bound with love letters

addressed to every dark corner

of your body

sing hallelujah through the air.

This

is for the worth it.

This

is for the powerful.

This

is for the lionhearted

dragon fighters

who will speak out

with flaming tongues

and flashing lungs

filled with song.

Play your music,

you beautiful warrior -

ward off evil

with your eyes made of steel.

When your heart

forgets how to beat,

let my words become your

cadence -

I will pound

the sensation

back into you.

I will tree root you

in this life,

when you feel like

the wind is so insistent

that you would look better

six feet under.

Shake everything

from your eardrums

and listen.

Lie between my syllables,

and rest.

I am here

to tell you

that you are

safe.

I have been waiting

to tell you that

since the night

you fell asleep

from the fear,

erased the world

behind your eyelids

like stains in the carpet

that you don't bother

explaining anymore.

This is to whom it may concern:

I am here to tell you

this no longer concerns

you.