Peter Gerstenmaier: Favorites

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

Lizzie

A stranger who doesn’t fit anywhere on Earth
Something about her skin
Too dark to be white
Not dark enough to be her heritage.

A girl whose skin is too light
Her hair not black enough
A girl wearing American clothes
Living the American way.

Little mixed girl
Who doesn’t even speak the language
Of her grandfather

Fake little mixed girl
Who talks about being Indian
To actually feel connected
To her culture

Yet, she knows it’s a lie
She doesn’t celebrate Diwali.
She doesn’t know traditions

Little mixed girl
Who isn’t ethnic enough
To get offended over slurs

Fake little mixed girl
Who knows her ancestors
Look down upon her
Whitewashed self
And feel nothing but shame.

Fake little mixed girl
Pretending to be something she’s not.

#mixed #indian #black #white #biracial #impostersyndrome #imposter #sad #hurt #broken

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

Velvet Bruise

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

Maryann I

Velvet Bruise

I’m tired of being your porcelain ache,
a honeyed bruise you press just to feel
like something breaks.

The moon wore my name last night—
called me “sugar,”
then swallowed me whole.

I am not a whisper.
I’m smoke in your lungs,
a hunger that licks the edges
of your quietest shame.

You come to me
with wrists full of apologies,
but I’m not your silk confession
anymore.

I’ve traded my softness for salt—
kissed the mirror
until it tasted like metal.
I shed my skin in the hallway light
and watched it slip into lace.

You called it love.
I called it
forgetting myself slowly.

Now,
I wear thunder on my thighs.
My spine hums with velvet rage.
I am not your waiting room.

If I bloom again,
it will be for me.
If I beg,
it will be my name
I whisper back to the dark.

#longing #aching

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

23/4

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

Max Vale

23/4

do you ever think back,
to those memories we had.
does the night ever still,
whisk you away?
do you ever look back,
on those stories of gold.
does the sky ever,
makes you want to stay?
do you ever want back,
those moments like that,
the sunset we had,
on that summer's day?
now i don't know where,
this story will go.
but i sure hope i find out,
before i get old.

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

Give | Haiku

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

LL

Give | Haiku

what if the only
thing I can give you are the
things I leave behind

2025/068

#haiku

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

I Thought I Was Done

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

Poetato

I Thought I Was Done

I thought I was done.
But the waves returned
crashing against the rock
the innocent one.

I stayed quiet
though I knew I should leave.
Linger too long
and I’ll be drawn under
slowly unraveled
undone.

Yet beauty is a soft betrayal
the hush between each wave
the silk of sand beneath my feet
they promise peace
even as they pull me deeper.

And so, I stay.
Let the sea claim me
roll me into its quiet dark
until I am no longer seen
then gone.
And done.

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

Understanding

Apr 23 Peter Gerstenmaier

November Sky

Understanding

It's not a net—
it’s the compassion
of knowing
when to let
the question
go—
like a kite
too wise
for wind.