Paths We Laid
Kamika Cooper
Response

we used to be linear

raised up from the village seeds our great-grandmothers spat
we were bathed in Spring rains and thrived on compost riches
as we tried to escape the strong foundation lying just beneath the surface
we, identical and one, traversed the paths that were laid out before us
and when were sated, bored, and too familiar, we made our own

one day we glanced left and right to find that we had moved
we smiled shyly, pretending we were weaker than we were
but there was no weakness to our impetuous youth in the face of the lightening
and the attacks of hail year after year, almost withering on sun-drunk Sundays,
we simply kept moving because we had no other choice

but we used to be linear

we danced in rhythmic unison to wind songs our ancestors taught us
we found ourselves swinging from our own roots to become more of this,
a little less of that and sometimes nothing at all if weariness overcame us
the paths we laid down intersected and converged like a million woven thatches
and the village soil decreed that growth was mandatory, change inevitable

today we look left and right to find space, new growing petals upon us
the paths have taken us far away from the soil of the home we once knew
the strength from those early days gives us the courage to persevere
we, thoroughly hydrated with dreams and consistently growing toward the sun,
used to be linear and identical but today, we are infinitely dimensional

we are on our own

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Can’t Say Love
Kamika Cooper
Inspiration

Can’t say that another has ever made me feel this way
I float on hopes and dreams of her like she is cool blue water
safely depositing me ashore, never quite quenching my thirst because
I am always wanting more and more of her, though not all of her
simply the makings of her and I

Can say that she has made me feel wind-swayed
like strong trees with beautiful leaves succumbing to her as she
exhales, exhales, exhales her essence causing them to swirl with joy
her laughter soothes me and my anxieties abate
just her presence moves me but I

Can’t say that she can feel the same way, in fact, to her
I can be the rock without the roll and a warm heart when others are cold,
but never the one she’ll be loving while she’s growing old

Can’t say that my heart can discern what my head has learned
about this unspoken love, this silenced love, this non-reciprocal love,
this can’t say love

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Note: All of the art, writing, and music on this site belongs to the person who created it. Copying or republishing anything you see here without express and written permission from the author or artist is strictly prohibited.

Lisa Kilhefner
Inspiration piece

The Way of a Woman
By Terah Van Dusen
Response

Once, early on in our
relationship I shared a
hotel room with my man
three of his buddies

There were two beds so
Steve and I got one, two
buddies shared one, and
one fellow slept on the floor

Steve didn’t hardly touch
me at all that night
He was like that, respectful
(not of me but of his friends)

In the morning, I tip-toed
out the door into a barely-there Portland
springtime and in my royal purple longcoat
I practically skipped down the
road for coffee and maybe some
roll-your-own cigarettes
I stopped to put a rose in my hair

I found a place for coffee and, with the help
of a cardboard holder, brought cups back
for Steve and each of his friends
Also, I placed a blossom into the
tic-tac sized hole where you
drank from

I offered it to them, feeling a little crazy
and one of Steve’s friends told me:
Oh, you’re that kind of girl,
a compliment no doubt that
made me blush but I couldn’t
make a peep out of shyness
and in my head the words
were screaming:
I’m not a girl, I’m a woman!

but I didn’t say anything
then cause I didn’t want to
share em off

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