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Tanisha Jackland Dec 2017
I am like an old willow
hoping you will notice me
that you'd want
to hold my embrace in yours
tree branch to flesh
compromising our nuances
like old friends
diving into each others
thought bubbles
and seeking out the lit sun
in our eyes...
who's to say that the tree
is not sentient
maybe we are not tree enough
just seed thoughts
floating along
for a place to belong
a place worth settling for...
Trees are people too.
I am not the creator of my morality
I am its slave

Walls building buildings block my intention
From blossoming into action

Handed down from others, placed there by others
The walls almost crush me while they fall

And it is as if I had no choice in the matter
As if inside me there is a moral code
Copied and pasted from my father

From the Bible, from the Founding Fathers
From the Constitution, from a Glenn Beck book

As a wall breaks and crumbles, so does a piece
Of my identity

See, what are we if not our identities?
That blonde heartbreak of a person was always right about that
She was just wrong about the validity of the morals

If morality is subjective, there is nearly no hope for existence
And if morality is not crafted intentionally, therein lies more nihilism

If I am a construction wholly of other people's opinions
Who am I really?

I am not the creator of my morality.
Parts of my identity have been taken out
Replaced by other walls
Other edifices that I think are stronger

But I had no choice in the matter.
Neither my deconstruction nor my upbringing
Were voluntary actions
Yet they matter the most in determining my actions

Therefore,

I am not the creator of my morality
I am its obedient slave
The mantra series of poems are meant to be short, and to speak larger truths. I was thinking about Mantra (three) today, and I felt like I had more to say. So I said it. In a poem. This one, actually.
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2017
I think about what your bones
will speak
once you have left your body
I mean the soul you
the real you
What will you leave behind
will you have left behind
your unkindness
or those things
you say
when you think
no one is listening
someone is
always listening
so be careful of what
you speak
I hear them
and the laughter they leave
and genuinely hope
it's not about me
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2017
You are some kind
of trapper
a mere shadow
I cannot grasp
but still stalking me

You've been clocking
me by the moments
ticking me in
with the favor
sugar daddy in waiting
superman subtle
you are a hunter
with sweet words
as your crumbs

I may follow you
to my sugary demise
candy killer
slow honey soup
on my tongue

I'll lick you up  
while you
smell so good
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2017
I have
known
disappointment
like the Sun
unshining
forced
to give
up its glow
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2017
I wear my red star
like a good capitalist
Rock star status
check
Going to the grave
as shallow as I am
check
Just another american
leaving my carbon foot
print a mystery unbeknownst
to me and to the flat earthers
men who say they swore
Jesus went and
came already again
but I'm here to tell you
that my red star
will rock your world
and I am too old for this
so the fake people
can just kiss my
red star...
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2017
This imminent death
browsing me
a scavenger with me
on the tide to the
center of nowhere
I stare into the
heart of fear
and know that
I will be found
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