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 Oct 2019 Theia Rhea
Ally
Your acceptance of the inner
most fragile souls
you hardly notice
how you are adored

You have taught me tolerance
to guard my words
you hardly notice
the impact you had in my life

I admire your integrity
and zero tolerance for
disrespect in any form
we connected and remain in our truth

Yes, you are a queen
My brown skin queen, my friend
You hardly notice
the impact you had in my life

My Angela
My beautiful friend
My brown skin queen,
my friend... forever
 Oct 2019 Theia Rhea
Luna Pan
When the war is over, when the art saved the world; you and me, we will make love on Shakespeare's sonnets.
 Oct 2019 Theia Rhea
Triste
Portrait
 Oct 2019 Theia Rhea
Triste
She met an artist
His fingers were made of gold
They moved like brush strokes
She was an empty canvas
His portrait of rainbow tears
It’s not a surprise.
It’s terrible but
it’s not a surprise.
Shooting, screaming, scattering, shattering,
it’s not a surprise.
I imagine but don’t understand.
White person mental illness,
illness…
Illness,
it’s called.
He was a poor, lonely, old man whose dog just died,
so he decided
to shoot up a crowd,
and **** and hurt hundreds of people.
Because of his illness.
But just listen.
Listen.
Listen:
you’re calling him ill but he’s really just mad.
There is no kindness in him if he can go **** all those people
and not even blink.
He may have offered you a handkerchief
when you were crying,
but then he goes off and kills,
and kills,
and kills,
and the kindness in him is warped, destroyed -
lost
the second he decides to
shoot,
shoot,
shoot.
Terrorists we fear -
walking down the street with a burqa draped over.
Terrorists we fear -
flying as second class citizens because of our terror.
Terrorists we fear -
speaking in a language we don’t understand.
They’re not the terrorists we should fear.
If the white terrorist is ill, then the US is plagued.
One
after another,
after another
**** us, and we still do nothing.
Nothing.
NOTHING.
We go around the world “fixing” and “helping”,
ruining lives and terrorizing,
because that’s what we are: terrorists.
Terrorists.
Terrorists.
We want to fix the world? We can’t even help ourselves.
We the people are broken.
Who’s gonna fix us?
backstage, the ventriloquist wept.
he shook one of his two dolls at a ceiling fan.
his wife in the show was not his real wife
but she put her forehead on the back of his neck
just the same. his cell phone rang
and the show wife made a little joke
of having the second doll answer.
I thought of my mother and my father
safely
in third person

they were taking turns moving shampoo
through my hair
as I hummed.
Two eggs in winter –
Two baby pigeons chirping –
Two feathered fledgelings –
One took wing and flew away –
One lay stiff the next morning.
NaPoWriMo Day 7
Poetry form: Tanka
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