Today’s poem was written in response to this picture inspiration from the Daily Post’s Weekly Writing Challenge. The poem’s title is the justice of ribbons.
my heart is ribbons
once it stayed whole
a kaleidoscope of colour and light
blended till no one know who was anything anymoreshredded
by a physical blow made of words
the colours separate
i have to tie them together
hope they play nicemy heart is ribbons
tightly coiled
smaller than it waswhen it was whole
it beat for the whole world
it contained multitudesmy heart is ribbons
and beating just for me almost unravels it
it contains only my sorrow and ragemy once-whole heart
has been braided into cords
twisted together
ribbons sliding against each other
silk saturated in bloodi guard it jealously
afraid to let it travel past the walls
of its bonewhite cageyou’re safe here
no one can hurt you nowbut in my dreams
the trumpet sounds
and in my dreams i know the call
it tells me what i must doi cup my ribbon heart in my hands,
hold it close to my chest
as if it were a small animal I must set free
from its blunder into my busy city lifeI walk on moon-kissed floors to the window
far below
people writhe in a world of grey
stumbling through dark and fog
breathing despair and drinking fearcracked and scarred, my feet
climb to the ledge
and I balance on bent knees, rocking back and forthtrembling, I am a bird afraid to fall from the nest
half-crouched as if the stars might burn me.I tip my cupped hands out over the world
and watch my ribbon heart
spill away from mefrom between my breasts
a rainbow of colour curls out
and around
wrapping itself into each and every life
ribbons wending themselves through homes and heads
bringing colour to the grey
bringing light to the fogmy heart is ribbons
it touches all lives
it contains multitudes
it binds me in love
to all else who suffer.
