2024-02-10
by
Eleanor Goldfield
Some people will be torn from you over this - and that’s ok
you are not glue
your purpose is not to keep together what is being torn apart
to hold pieces of oppression in place
Those who take this stand will magnetize some and repel others -
Do not shut down.
Be there for conversation and I am here for debate
with those who are pained by all suffering, and all oppression.
We may all learn from each other, hold and acknowledge each other.
It isn't complicated
But our emotions may be
Twist and writhe tho we may, do not get stuck
Do not be the glue that holds this facade together
as crocodile tears slide down greased palms of colonialist endeavors - no.
What they hope to keep together must be torn asunder
And if that means they must tear away from you and stake their claim in the ruins of the future, so be it.
I cannot promise that the path I take will not end in rubble.
But I can say that I will walk with the oppressed, never the oppressor.
I will not be the glue for apartheid
I will use their wall as a guide
along which to rip,
like staccato etchings on modern scrolls you claim ancient
and from this destruction a construction
No I cannot promise that this path I’m on won’t end in rubble
But it will be the rubble of oppression - and like daisies in clear cuts, there will be life left to live, to nurture and grow.
In a fertile desert there will be olive branches again - between all those who once bore a mantle of a state torn asunder
Some people will be torn from you over this - and that’s ok
you are not glue
your purpose is not to keep together what is being torn apart
to hold pieces of oppression in place
you are not their glue