LJ Idol 10: Week 18: Intersection: The Distance Between Us
Full Text Below Audio
Distance Means So Little...
You protected me even back then Layla
I can say to you now,
And wonder at the bond that has made us soul sisters
Despite all the odds
I was a queermo in a small town
a bad influence on my peers
Because I was intrinsically different
Afraid to test the theory
There was this ever growing chasm between the things that you knew
and I did not
My very thoughts damming me to eternal hellfire
The color guard captain who mixed a clear bitter liquid into our juice when her parents weren’t home
But I remained the bad influence
Because my mother was scandalous
in the small town
where you protected me without my ever even knowing
There were times I spent nights on my knees sobbing to a deity
Who never answered my prayers
I found love
in the arms of a troubled young man who was born into a female body
We picked the scabs off each others souls until we were raw
because we liked the taste of each other’s blood
Grasping the phone to my ear at 2am
I will never make it through this Layla...
You comforted me, until I shed my skin again
I never tell you how I am welcomed into a coven of witches who danced with the cycles of the moon and was gifted with intuition that I still don't always trust in
Or how for a time I became a unicorn
Couples with abundance invite me into their hearts and their beds
I’ve never really believed in monogamy
Love is a renewable resource, I am told
They were right not to trust me
I am a bad influence
But I dedicate my yoga practices to you
Sister of My Heart
Joyful in knowing you have found true happiness and true love
The universe keeps us walking a perpendicular path
Despite my wonky moral compass
I’m a rebel by nature
Restless philosopher
Compulsive wanderer
I come to believe in a connection to the earth mother
Goddess, Creatrix
Oh no, give me the blue pill
I want to go back into the matrix
Because they called me a heretic
when I gave up on begging on my knees to an absent father
I am blissful in my sinfulness
the scandal doesn’t fall far from the apple, I guess
I just don’t think people change
Then there is you Soul Sister, the eternal optimist
We share laughter and tears
Across the miles, for hours
I never tell you that I light candles with intention
I whisper to myself that hope is a light in the darkness
and try to believe
you can’t see, but I roll my eyes
every time you tell me that miracles are real
I was born below the poverty line
A capitalist plebeian
Cog in the wheel
Who woke up from the American dream
To find myself thumbing rides along the great American Highway
Relying on the kindness of strangers
while writing letters to a Buddhist priestess I met in California
I called you from the last pay phones on earth and you were the only one who never asked 'What I was doing with my life…'
Hey Layla,
I made it back to New Jersey,
not sure I’m gonna stay
but maybe I could come by-
You took me in when my mother couldn’t
Couldn’t face me, couldn’t deal
Felt hat over my dreadlocks and tattered trousers
my outsides finally matched my insides
We sat on your couch and traded stories
For hours
Here together after so much time
I had a dream you were a bird, you said
I almost gave up so many times Layla, I said
And I almost would again
The wings of my soul so often caged by circumstance
I have become an expert escape artist
As destructive as the wind
One hundred bucks and and a greyhound ticket
and I’m on my way again
These days I am afraid Soul Sister
Afraid for my gay tribe who are still being stoned to death for the way that they express love
I am afraid
For my spanglish speaking, olive skinned
Boricua familia
My own fragile multi racial identity
My Caribbean roots that survived in the rhythm of my hips
Afraid to mispronounce the beautiful words
That sit on my uninitiated tongue
Soul sister
I want you to hate this man who calls himself a leader
because of the boy who grabbed your pussy without your permission
For those who are told that their own bodies are less important than their potential reproduction
As the numbers increase exponentially
Poisoning the planet with our progress
My faith in humanity fails
I envy a connection to your God
Who molded his image in clay
And then took out a part of that creation
To create a new form that together would replicate themselves forever after
And eventually convince others to take up arms in the name of their maker
Now, a country founded on freedom from injustice and persecution
Is closing it’s doors
Good Bless America--
I feel the Earth Mother crying out in desperation
I attend marches
Leading chants in support of those that shall inherit the earth
Maybe I’m just jealous I won’t be there to ride with my great great grand nieces like Furiosa across the wasteland
I have the heart of an anarchist Soul Sister
I can’t confess this to you
Xenophobia
Propaganda
Misogyny
These are words I can't say to you
Or when my grandmother tells me that 'the Fifties' were just the best
Better Living Through Chemistry
Plastics Make it Possible
Make America Great Again--
A good slogan always wins
The Mad Men
Are you now or have you ever been?
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean
I am afraid to lose you Soul Sister
For my hands are unclean and my heart is impure
Afraid for a day we may end up on the opposite sides of a divisive war
__________________
This has been Part 1 of my Intersection with lolaslaughter
Here is the link to her entry
Part Two
Here's the link to read all the entries for this round and vote for as many as you like!
LJ Idol Week 18 Poll
Distance Means So Little...
You protected me even back then Layla
I can say to you now,
And wonder at the bond that has made us soul sisters
Despite all the odds
I was a queermo in a small town
a bad influence on my peers
Because I was intrinsically different
Afraid to test the theory
There was this ever growing chasm between the things that you knew
and I did not
My very thoughts damming me to eternal hellfire
The color guard captain who mixed a clear bitter liquid into our juice when her parents weren’t home
But I remained the bad influence
Because my mother was scandalous
in the small town
where you protected me without my ever even knowing
There were times I spent nights on my knees sobbing to a deity
Who never answered my prayers
I found love
in the arms of a troubled young man who was born into a female body
We picked the scabs off each others souls until we were raw
because we liked the taste of each other’s blood
Grasping the phone to my ear at 2am
I will never make it through this Layla...
You comforted me, until I shed my skin again
I never tell you how I am welcomed into a coven of witches who danced with the cycles of the moon and was gifted with intuition that I still don't always trust in
Or how for a time I became a unicorn
Couples with abundance invite me into their hearts and their beds
I’ve never really believed in monogamy
Love is a renewable resource, I am told
They were right not to trust me
I am a bad influence
But I dedicate my yoga practices to you
Sister of My Heart
Joyful in knowing you have found true happiness and true love
The universe keeps us walking a perpendicular path
Despite my wonky moral compass
I’m a rebel by nature
Restless philosopher
Compulsive wanderer
I come to believe in a connection to the earth mother
Goddess, Creatrix
Oh no, give me the blue pill
I want to go back into the matrix
Because they called me a heretic
when I gave up on begging on my knees to an absent father
I am blissful in my sinfulness
the scandal doesn’t fall far from the apple, I guess
I just don’t think people change
Then there is you Soul Sister, the eternal optimist
We share laughter and tears
Across the miles, for hours
I never tell you that I light candles with intention
I whisper to myself that hope is a light in the darkness
and try to believe
you can’t see, but I roll my eyes
every time you tell me that miracles are real
I was born below the poverty line
A capitalist plebeian
Cog in the wheel
Who woke up from the American dream
To find myself thumbing rides along the great American Highway
Relying on the kindness of strangers
while writing letters to a Buddhist priestess I met in California
I called you from the last pay phones on earth and you were the only one who never asked 'What I was doing with my life…'
Hey Layla,
I made it back to New Jersey,
not sure I’m gonna stay
but maybe I could come by-
You took me in when my mother couldn’t
Couldn’t face me, couldn’t deal
Felt hat over my dreadlocks and tattered trousers
my outsides finally matched my insides
We sat on your couch and traded stories
For hours
Here together after so much time
I had a dream you were a bird, you said
I almost gave up so many times Layla, I said
And I almost would again
The wings of my soul so often caged by circumstance
I have become an expert escape artist
As destructive as the wind
One hundred bucks and and a greyhound ticket
and I’m on my way again
These days I am afraid Soul Sister
Afraid for my gay tribe who are still being stoned to death for the way that they express love
I am afraid
For my spanglish speaking, olive skinned
Boricua familia
My own fragile multi racial identity
My Caribbean roots that survived in the rhythm of my hips
Afraid to mispronounce the beautiful words
That sit on my uninitiated tongue
Soul sister
I want you to hate this man who calls himself a leader
because of the boy who grabbed your pussy without your permission
For those who are told that their own bodies are less important than their potential reproduction
As the numbers increase exponentially
Poisoning the planet with our progress
My faith in humanity fails
I envy a connection to your God
Who molded his image in clay
And then took out a part of that creation
To create a new form that together would replicate themselves forever after
And eventually convince others to take up arms in the name of their maker
Now, a country founded on freedom from injustice and persecution
Is closing it’s doors
Good Bless America--
I feel the Earth Mother crying out in desperation
I attend marches
Leading chants in support of those that shall inherit the earth
Maybe I’m just jealous I won’t be there to ride with my great great grand nieces like Furiosa across the wasteland
I have the heart of an anarchist Soul Sister
I can’t confess this to you
Xenophobia
Propaganda
Misogyny
These are words I can't say to you
Or when my grandmother tells me that 'the Fifties' were just the best
Better Living Through Chemistry
Plastics Make it Possible
Make America Great Again--
A good slogan always wins
The Mad Men
Are you now or have you ever been?
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean
I am afraid to lose you Soul Sister
For my hands are unclean and my heart is impure
Afraid for a day we may end up on the opposite sides of a divisive war
__________________
This has been Part 1 of my Intersection with lolaslaughter
Here is the link to her entry
Part Two
Here's the link to read all the entries for this round and vote for as many as you like!
LJ Idol Week 18 Poll