hersch-rothmel
American
I am a lover of life, and because of this I know that life needs more people to love it. Poetry is a way to show life you love her, that you appreciate her, and that you deeply care about her. I am a student at Keene State College in New Hampshire and I study Women and Gender Studies. Reading great poets and authors such as Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Langston Hughes, and Angela Davis are ways in which I connect to the true pioneers of America, the people who are critical of this country and wish it to become what it falsely says it is. I wish to be a pioneer, someone who defies the norm, someone who stops this cycle of hate, ignorance, and lack of self-awareness. I hope to do this through many things, but I especially hope to do this through poetry.
as we collect our stories and reclaim our names
we become aware of the possibility
that, in fact, we always live with our ancestors
as we collect our stories and reclaim our names
we start to contrive
the raw material
to obtain our fibers
as we collect our stories and reclaim our names
we start to cultivate the insights of how those fibers can be woven into strands
that when interlocked with other fibers
create a collective blanket, untold histories
No, not a patchwork-quilt, not a melting *** not a salad bowl
not a room full of flags with countries we cant place on a map
and full of people WE can’t help but fetishize
no, No, NO
this is an interwoven stitch
this is a tattered rag
that has been used to wipe **** off of colonizer’s ********
that has been used to wipe the dripping *** off of Thomas Jefferson’s ****
as he finishes up with his Saartjie Baartman,
that has been used to hide the faces of the KKK as they drag uppity black boys down the street
and LYNCH them in carnival and spectacle
that has been soaked in Black and Brown blood on the streets of
Ferguson, Baltimore, New York, North Carolina, Milwaukee, and every other city and district in the US of KKK
This is not a handholding session with me
I am the oppressor and I must fear my own wrath
my fiber is white, my strand is white
and too many strands are white
and too many Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow strands have been bleached
or told “wait your turn to be included in the blanket"
or "be thankful we even include you in the stitching
give us a TOKEN of gratitude”
I take YOUR strands and use them to cloth MY babies while yours lie naked
The time is now
to take the clorox and gulp it down as it eviscerates our throats and consumes our souls
We don’t need anymore whitewashed histories
we dont need anymore white sheets
we don’t need to go to BED, BATH, and BEYOND
I cannot come to you with a bail full of cotton and ask you to join me in a knitting session
#IMNOTRACISTBUT…
this is not a time for diversity and multiculturalism
or the co-option of “social justice”
this is a time for Solidarity
this is a time for Liberation
this is a time for Abolition
this is a time for Insurrection
this is a time for Rebellion
this is a time for Revolution
I cannot be the leader
but I can contribute
I cannot be the voice
but I can sure has hell listen
and this is how we will transform the blanket
not with hollow words and moderate reforms
but with direct action and liberatory collaboration
by yelling the phrase “white supremacy is as American as apple pie” at the top of our lungs
not with corporate funding and 5,000 dollar a plate galas
but by dismantling the looms that have woven the threads of
Hate, **** Land theft, and Genocide
that have woven the strands of
reservations, redlining, white flight, and gentrification
and by co-creating ones that speak to our destroyed histories
that refuse to use the bleach
even when the blanket gets *****
Jul 16, 2015
Jul 16, 2015 at 5:02 PM UTC
Are my summer dreams a nightmare
Or just some fleeting flashback
Of when I was younger and the pavement was our red carpet
When I owned more time for no thoughts
And now that I’ve gotten thinking
I can’t think about not thinking anymore
If I pretend that I’m not a grown up for as long as I keep growing
Can I avoid ever knowing what I have to do to be what I want to be
If it could only be so easy as sitting with no feeling
Because feelings only leave me in confusion and disbelief
If I’m only one person why do I feel so different
From who I was just 3 weeks ago
And if I don’t start doing something to stop myself from doing nothing
I think my apathy will drown me in a sink of lethargic thoughts
Jun 28, 2013
Jun 28, 2013 at 2:11 PM UTC
And it didn’t seem like you were anything
Anything of importance anyway
And it slipped through my fingers
Before I could figure
Out what I was supposed to do
But I stopped myself from not stopping
And I looked all hazy and grey in the mirror
It didn’t go away like you said it would
Instead it kept growing and growing
If I can take words and paint a picture
And you can take lyrics and sculpt a song
Then why are we so mad we have no talent
Then why are we so mad that we’re worthless
And if our critics decide to crucify us
At least we can die with a crown of thorns
And if our best friends start to despise us
Then at least we can watch the rain in peace and quite
Jun 13, 2013
Jun 13, 2013 at 12:47 PM UTC
I fear I've been rejected before I've had the chance to be rejected
And my god that feels pathetic
Guzzle down some anti-depressants
And feel a sacred numbness that is saved for the gods
But that would be too easy
and I wouldn't like it anyway
So I'll barrel through and you'll barrel through and we won't ever keep our heads up
And well miss all the times we could've seen on the way
And of course it was worth it
To try and live a life with no purpose
But once you cracked your hard shell open
You just can't seal it up
Jun 7, 2013
Jun 7, 2013 at 12:41 PM UTC
These feelings aside
I cannot hide
this isn't the time
But for your sake I'll try
I'm not at all ashamed
I have nothing to gain
But feelings of fake pain
Are slain on the pavement
I don't fear being taken by my own thoughts
I don't fear being stripped half naked
I don't fear the times I was covered in ****
But I am the only one that will make me
Jun 7, 2013
Jun 7, 2013 at 12:33 PM UTC
I want perfection right now
I don’t want perfection later
I want perfection on the first try
I don’t want perfection some other time
I want perfection right here and now
And if I can’ t have it I’ll scream
But to want perfection is an imperfect notion
So why would I want perfection to happen to me?
Jun 7, 2013
Jun 7, 2013 at 12:29 PM UTC
Is it their love that makes a Rothmel woman so strong?
Or is it their strength that lets them love?
Is it their ability to do ten things at once that makes a Rothmel woman so graceful?
Or is it their grace that lets them do ten things at once?
Is it their wisdom that makes a Rothmel woman so willing to fight for their beliefs
Or is it their strong beliefs that give them their wisdom?
Is it their compassion that lets a Rothmel woman raise such loving children?
Or is it their loving children that enrich their compassion?
A Rothmel woman knows that they all feed into each other
Multiple rivers flowing simultaneously into the ocean that is their being
Their strength, compassion, love, and wisdom all manifest in different ways
But it is their strength, compassion, love, and wisdom that lets us all be here today
A Rothmel woman plants the seeds, tends to them, and makes sure they grow
And beyond anything the naked eye can see a Rothmel woman always knows
It is Rothmel women who make sure we are all safe and loved
It is Rothmel women who make sure we have the strength to be ourselves
It is Rothmel women who take our hand even when we are unsure
And it is Rothmel women who put themselves last and everyone else first
All these things and more are what I see Rothmel women as
And it is Rothmel women that have put the empowerment of all women at the center of my life path
Without a Rothmel woman I don’t know where I’d be
But because a Rothmel woman never gives up
The strength and power all women have are as clear as day to me
Jun 7, 2013
Jun 7, 2013 at 11:40 AM UTC
you are who you already are
no need to go far
just breathe with me
you are who you already are
It isn’t that hard
just lose yourself and let it be
Don’t take yourself so seriously
it doesn’t need to be that hard, that hard
Just look at how you are in everyone
and everyone is in you
as far as the stars, the stars
And take this moment to be with me
Don’t let the time go by
Here in this moment we are poets
writing of who we are
Jun 7, 2013
Jun 7, 2013 at 11:39 AM UTC
Bob Marley says when music hits you you feel no pain
But when I feel music I can feel the pain of so many suffering artists
I can feel the pain of Nas, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli.
I can feel the pain of Isaac Brock.
I can feel the pain I feel inside of me
Music is my independence, or one of its many manifestations
The universe has no limits when I am being blanketed by the warmth of music
And to me this is the greatest form of independence
I can experience myself through someone else’s experiences
That to me is interconnectedness
So how can I be interconnected yet independent?
How can I feel the warmth of music while at the same time it chills my bones?
Music is like life full of contradictions, but without them would cease to exist
Music is like life so personal, but shared by all peoples
Music is like life it takes courage to listen to your own as well as other voices
Music is life because for so many that is all there is left to live for.
Jun 7, 2013
Jun 7, 2013 at 11:35 AM UTC
Up here in this space I can see for miles
Up here in this space I am free from myself
Up here in this space I am one with all things
Up here in this space the only limitations are the ones I put on myself
I am free in this space
I am free at this moment
I am free in this space
I can face my whole life
I am free in this space
like the people here before me
I am free in this space
Amazed to be alive
This space has been mapped, surveyed, and sectioned
But before this it was the same place
Always evolving and always changing
For no matter how much is mapped it is still never their territory
No matter how much it is mapped it cannot be replaced
Jun 7, 2013
Jun 7, 2013 at 11:34 AM UTC