June is the month of Pride, a time where we celebrate members past and present of the LGBTQ+ community. I want to encourage us to celebrate all aspects of our identity not only during the month designated for it but all the time. You exist all the time. Every day is a day to celebrate who you are.
During this month much has happened from the ongoing pandemic to the continuous murder of black people. This month has been overwhelming for many. It has brought up a lot of emotions but it has also inspired many of us to get educated. Only through education can we become successful members of society, ready to make efficient changes to better our world. I too have taken this time to become more educated on activists that have paved the way for others. I have been learning about Audre Lorde who was a lesbian poet and writer who spoke up against the injustice of her time. I took the time to read about James Baldwin who wrote some beautiful poems and books exploring racial, sexual, and class distinctions in western society. Down below will be his poem The giver (for Berdis). I highly encourage you all to check out both of their other works (The Poetry Foundation is a good place to start). They both are incredible writers but since James Baldwin writes in more of my style, I chose his poem.
The giver (for Berdis)
If the hope of giving
is to love the living,
the giver risks madness
in the act of giving.
Some such lesson I seemed to see
in the faces that surrounded me.
Needy and blind, unhopeful, unlifted,
what gift would give them the gift to be gifted?
The giver is no less adrift
than those who are clamouring for the gift.
If they cannot claim it, if it is not there,
if their empty fingers beat the empty air
and the giver goes down on his knees in prayer
knows that all of his giving has been for naught
and that nothing was ever what he thought
and turns in his guilty bed to stare
at the starving multitudes standing there
and rises from bed to curse at heaven,
he must yet understand that to whom much is given
much will be taken, and justly so:
I cannot tell how much I owe.
***
Please do check out their work on The Poetry Foundation! Keep getting educated! Keep loving yourself! Keep spreading love! I hope you all are doing well! I hope you all are taking the necessary precautions and staying safe!
~ Have you ever fought your sleep and going to bed?
Yes ! I do it almost every night lol.
Sending you rainbow energy,
D.O.
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Our Summer : My Truth
PoetryI am broken And now that you see, what you've allowed to happen to me The evils you have forced into my existence Self-serving evils now defying you with such persistence You try to cover up your lies Dangling hope in front of my eyes ~~~ I wri...
