A good friend and I facilitate a visual art workshop at a juvenile corrections facility in Highland Park. We had to take a break\u00a0this summer because of her internship in DC. I miss them\u00a0a lot tonight. The\u00a0boys\u00a0taught me vulnerable. In honor of them, I am posting the first poem that I read with them. We all shared very vulnerable stories that evening and this was mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, go ahead, blame her.<\/p>\n
Blame it on her temper.<\/p>\n
Always the first to fight;<\/p>\n
Never quiet.<\/p>\n
Her blood boils so hot, she wouldn\u2019t hear your words<\/p>\n
Over the screaming stream<\/p>\n
That pours from her ears.<\/p>\n
Blame her.<\/p>\n
Blame it on her eyes.<\/p>\n
Always disapproving;<\/p>\n
Never patient.<\/p>\n
Her glare sears so deep,<\/p>\n
That your skin, your flesh, you bones ache.<\/p>\n
Blame her.<\/p>\n
Blame it on her words.<\/p>\n
Always violent;<\/p>\n
Never understanding.<\/p>\n
Her questions punch you,<\/p>\n
Until your lungs no longer have the will to give your lips answers.<\/p>\n
Blame her.<\/p>\n
Blame it on her body.<\/p>\n
Always closed;<\/p>\n
Never welcoming.<\/p>\n
The way her hips, and her thighs and her stomach and her butt have grown disgust you.<\/p>\n
Blame her.<\/p>\n
Blame her for not enough gas money<\/p>\n
2 am daddy isn\u2019t home<\/p>\n
no phone calls for months<\/p>\n
your threats<\/p>\n
my tears<\/p>\n
this relationship<\/p>\n
Blame her.<\/p>\n
Always accuse;<\/p>\n
Never apologize.<\/p>\n
Paint her so dark with sin that you appear an angel.<\/p>\n
Blame her.<\/p>\n
Blame her..<\/p>\n
But I know the truth.<\/p>\n
Oh, I know her temper.<\/p>\n
Always commanding.<\/p>\n
Never afraid.<\/p>\n
Her anger cries so loud because she is alive and fierce and wonderful.<\/p>\n
All those things she could never be with you.<\/p>\n
I know.<\/p>\n
I know her eyes.<\/p>\n
Always searching.<\/p>\n
Never deceived.<\/p>\n
So wide and brown and beautiful and knowing.<\/p>\n
Never fooled by the lies that you told.<\/p>\n
I know.<\/p>\n
I know her words.<\/p>\n
Always so powerful.<\/p>\n
Never delicate.<\/p>\n
She speaks from her mind and her heart because she is real and she is honest and she is alive.<\/p>\n
I know.<\/p>\n
I know her body.<\/p>\n
Always cautious;<\/p>\n
Never submissive.<\/p>\n
Her curves so healthy and beautiful because she is a woman and not an object. She is not here on earth to please and conform and agree.<\/p>\n
She is here to love and eat and care and be.<\/p>\n
I know.<\/p>\n
Always accuse;<\/p>\n
Never apologize.<\/p>\n
Paint her so dark with sin<\/p>\n
But I know its your blood on the paintbrush<\/p>\n
I know.<\/p>\n
I know her temper and her eyes and her words and her body.<\/p>\n
And I know that they are to blame for everything great about me.<\/p>\n
So sure, go ahead, blame her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A good friend and I facilitate a visual art workshop at a juvenile corrections facility in Highland Park. We had to take a break\u00a0this summer because of her internship in DC. I miss them\u00a0a lot tonight. The\u00a0boys\u00a0taught me vulnerable. In honor of them, I am posting the first poem that I read with them. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1669,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cbrp-2013"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1669"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16294,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5079\/revisions\/16294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/dcerp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}