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O, blessed border.
O, holy fence.
O, red line drawn
in red ink
on blue paper
by red hands
that shake
over lunch,
over lamb, over
the good wine,
the good stuff you
and I
will never
taste.
O, how they
love us
divided. How they
sleep
like saints when
we are
shouting at each
other
across the app
they built
while we were
working,
while we were
sleeping,
while we were
busy
being
tired.
This side.
That side.
This side speaks
the right language,
prays the right
prayer,
bleeds the
approved color.
That side is
the reason
your daughter
can’t find work,
your son came
home hollow,
your mother stands
in line
holding a
number
that never gets
called.
This side has a flag
folded inside its molars.
This side has a hymn
stapled to the lung.
They told you
this at the rally.
They told you
this on the screen
that lives in
your pocket
like a tiny
god,
like a perverted
gun.
O, the
politicians.
O, the architects
of the rift.
How beautiful
their teeth.
How expensive
their grief.
This side.
That side.
They need both
sides
because every
puppeteer
needs both
hands.
O, the
wedge,
the oldest
tool
in the oldest
toolbox.
O, they will
use
your god
against you.
Why feed the poor
when you can control the poor?
They will use
your dead against you.
They will use
your children’s faces
on a
poster
and then use
the poster
against your
children.
You, on that
side,
did you
notice
the line is
not between you and me?
The line is
between us
and
them,
the ones who
drew it,
the ones who
built
their houses
on both sides of it
and call it
politics.
They want us to
keep shouting.
They want us to
keep pointing.
A whole
nation
that fights
itself
to sleep
every night
while someone
very far above
counts and
counts
and
counts
our money
in their pockets.
Thank you for reading my work!
Hi, I’m Nicole. You can read here a bit about myself!
I am a full time writer at the moment - I write poems when I’m angry, fiction when I’m hopeful, and essays or dystopias when I’m really digging into possibilities.
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I am a published writer. Curriculum of Feelings is a haunting, six-part journey that spans centuries and species, a visceral exploration of the “Problem of Evil.”
Through a collection of short stories, you follow five distinct vessels: a poetess silenced by her world, a slave who finds freedom in language, a tree that witnesses history’s worst acts, a whale carrying a dying song, and a boy tracking a collapsing future. Each life is a lesson in humility, humanity, and pain.
Dividing your lines the way you did was an outstanding move and your spot on, this is great work
Divide the words to further convey the idea of humanity's division. You are such a genius, Nicole. Great poem. Thank you for sharing, have a wonderful day!