*Kintsukuroi: (n.) (v.phr.)“to repair with gold”;
the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and
understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.
Dear you,
You of the fair skin and see-through eyes,
You of the towering stature and dreams’ surprise,
You from the mould of this clay that doesn’t rise,
this clay that doesn’t feel the heat of day;
You were brought up in this land,
this forgetful, ignoring land
that wishes itself pale when its true hue is deep and rich like earth and clay.
I had hoped you were different, earnestly willed you to be,
But the moons have waxed and waned,
And you’ve taken your seat in the game
Unchanged
From the position of your fathers
Disappointment shatters—
shards of stained glass showering the unwilling ground
with their unhallowed presence.
The glimmer of resistance flickering behind your eyes
I thought I caught a glimpse of
those old stormy days of surprise,
your conviction, burning blue,
now consumed by vague, green conformity.
Perhaps I never saw it,
perhaps I only wished it to be true—
I had hoped you were different.
You don’t understand, do you
You acquiesced and you conformed.
My dear, it takes a deep,
gut-wrenching
soul-forming
mind-turning
living
to begin unsinging the brute glories of division
trumpeted by your forefathers,
lamented by our foremothers.
It was never enough to simply glance on,
to dip in and out at will,
to lament and grieve,
but always with the safety distance provides.
No, it’s different when it is your flesh and blood
laying on the table of sacrifice to a godless will—
It’s different when the breath stolen from lungs
is that of one you can’t breathe without—
but that won’t be now.
You have insured against it.
Shrewd, perhaps,
not wise.
You were on the journey— I was sure of it!
Now I am sure of nothing,
only that I hope it is true—
that gold between cracks makes more beautiful for having been broken.
I remember in younger days
when I could see the storm of privilege tear through
your eyes, lacerating your heart
bleeding blood and bile
poison;
poison didn’t scare me.
Now you are without courage to speak the words
that would set you free from fears yet unheard.
You with slander slick on your tongue
looking around for one more to devour,
You are one who would live in fear
Until decrepitude steals you away
Don’t you get sick of remaining in the same old ways?
Don’t you grow tired of the same old things you say?
You who throws daggers at me with your eyes
Pause and consider why I cannot regard you anymore.
One clamps a hand on the wound to ease the hurt.
There was a kinship,
this is the deepest loss,
‘Friends flung near and far’ and still, this cuts with a force unbarred
Now to think you gone
You of fair skin and see-through eyes
Born of this land of surprise.
I was wrong, I was wrong,
Find me singing life’s humble song.
Careful,
let my parting words be
careful—
Do not use lest you be used
and the indignation you subject
be subjected to you,
Lest what shame you bred
curl up and take residence
in your own bed—
unwanted company.
Yet, I’m grateful for you
Lessons I never would have learned
without you
Hues of life I could not have seen
apart from you
Deepness of depths I would not have known
if not for you.
You will not be my undoing
Let the peace I long for be yours as well.
You will not poison me against all of you
For gold fills the cracks,
not ash.