You are precisely as my soul remembers you—familiar and unchanged,
Yet somehow distant from what my heart believes you could be. When our souls recognize someone but hesitate to connect,
We must pause or, better yet, swiftly exit through the nearest gate. Our souls carry the memory of past karmic connections,
Familiarity doesn't always mean safety or a genuine bond of love.

We must learn to identify past cycles that are not worth repeating.
Once we have mastered the art of avoiding a repeat of the old drama,
Only then can we move forward with clarity and heal our trauma.

I am
deliberately
destroying our family.

They say a wise woman
builds her home—
I am removing every brick
we so carefully
stacked.

But do not blame
my wisdom,
or the lack of it.

If only I could show you
all the possible endings
of our story—
the ones I’ve built and rebuilt
in my mind and heart—
and still
it would not be enough
for you to forgive me,
for me to forgive myself,
for the shame
of becoming
a beggar
pleading for life.

Jesus, son of David—
have mercy on me.

Calm,
What a weird,
new feeling.
Stripping anxiety from my bones,
searing itself in its place.
Causing the old ache to seep from skin, my soul.

Hi, new friend.

Please stay.

Envelope my body,
Cause brush fires with my smile.
Lower the humming bird beat of my heart,
Let me join you every night with my head on your pillow,
Until I finally sleep.

Has your soul ever been displayed,
Framed by thick wooden-glazed borders,
and set up in the gallery of another's life?

Can you say the painting of you
Beams with joy through heavy clouds,
Sliced by sharp shards of glass-like light?

If not, may you then brush-up yourself,
Quick blots of pink on sunken cheeks,
Lighten the shade under each eye?

Or will you draw the curtain,
Blind me to me, and you to you,
Pinch out the last flicker of fight?

In the wildest place,
my mouth stopped with stars,
I came to the end of words;
the parched mint, bitter
paper plank

where I lost my balance,
on one foot teetering
along that roadway where gold-
flashing fireflies stand effortlessly
on air

to send their fragile signal
out,
every night a nocturne
of one less
til I and the last firefly

danced alone
in the wildest place
sending our last ignition
out
to find our kind

or else fall quiet
and one
with the wild that
will neither be spelled
nor known.




©joyannjones June 2023

You see my brown skin
And assume I'm a ****.

You see my hijab
And assume I'm a terrorist.

You see the smile on my face
And assume I'm happy.

You hear my words
And assume I'm okay.

But I am not.

Instead I am broken.
Yet I am also strong.

I am dark and rule-following.
I am peaceful and Muslim.

You assume based on
Society's POV.

If you smile
You must be happy.

Fox, CNN, any media
Tells you I am a terrorist.
So the names I get called
And the extra security checks
Are extremely upsetting.

The murders of black folk
Is either considered appropriate
Or it's "black on black crime"
So it's not taken seriously.

Who are you gonna believe
Me or those who don't know me?

Perfect painted pastries
Two feet crowded streets
And I can acknowledge
21st century happiness.

Red traffic lights
Bringing humans together
Perfectly unknown pairs of people
Mirroring perfectly the dream, like
Fairytale cities, like dvd copies.

And you can buy more happiness
With your happiness coins
Because everything is possible
As long as you can double the price
Your smile will be on top.

Higher views
Better tables
The biggest investment
And all you can decide.
With your landlord wishes

Don't worry about the pitiful
That live in the suburbs
And "happy" with their jobs.
We can buy champagne
And live like Charlesmagne.

And what about animal justice
That are served in such nice cans
And look so perfect in our golden painted shelves.

And if we are bored
Another city is growing for us to buy
Another country
Another p...
Ah!

There will be no more of us
In a few years,
Shall we spend all that we can
Living like kings and queens?
Seems such a good plan
Not caring about the rest

And when the **** will hit the fan
We will have our fast planes to
Fly away.
And maybe be in a paradise island
Where everything is perfect!

Just as we like!