Untethered

what anger in defiance
what sympathy in doubt
emotions steady try us
demanding every shout

what sympathy in doubt
what pleasure in our pain
demanding are our shouts
such hazardous terrain

what pleasure in our pain
mere thinness to our skin
such hazardous terrain
such unrelenting din

sheer thinness of our skin
the ruptures and the breaks
such unrelenting din
mistake after mistake

we rupture and we break
we stagger and we shine
mistake after mistake
inhabiting our minds

we stagger and we shine
we live our lives on spin
inhabiting our minds
and undermining limbs

we live our lives on spin
and thrive until we grieve
we undermine our limbs
then get the strength to leave

we thrive until we grieve
emotions steady try us
we get the strength. we leave.
what anger in defiance.

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“‘Untethered’ is both a personal and a communal poem. I am recently widowed, so am feeling highly untethered from my previous married life. But the poem is also concerned with the isolation we’re all feeling because of the COVID-19 situation. The struggle is way too real and way too much.”
—Allison Joseph

Black Lives Matter Anthology

“To arrive in a place.

And this place in which you have arrived finally: a place you have always dreamt of arriving”

—“Using Black to Paint Light: Walking Through a Matisse Exhibit Thinking about the Arctic and Matthew Henson” by Robin Coste Lewis