Kaitlin’s Song
a poem for black & bruised hearts
Baby, you have to see even the brightest glimmer
can escape the grope and the grasp of a black hole.
They took you like a piece of paper and scribbled
their ugly scrawl across you and without pausing
to hear the pain of their pen scratching into your heart,
they tossed you aside - no better than litter.
(But baby, don't you dare listen to their voice.
They are insidious and will work through you,
but maggots don't deserve the apple they infest.)
Your beauty radiates, and though you attract all,
you were deceived.
Don't blame yourself.
(We all fell for the sleight of hand.
A magician's silk scarves can disguise
much, but when you were choking on silk scarves
in your sleep,
they were nowhere to be found.
Vanished -
and that type of magic isn't magic at all
but cowardice.)
Baby, it was all an act.
They led you into a back alley,
and you believed in the magic
because sometimes, beauty forgets that
things as terrible as black holes exist.
They will take you and run you dry and withered.
But somehow,
the stars webbing through their eyes can convince us
they are a glimmering kaleidoscope of light too.
But we have all been there,
and the truth is, any sparkle you saw
was simply a reflection of your beauty
bouncing off them.
So, go, go elsewhere and shine.
Find a constellation. Find a galaxy,
but don't let them occupy any space
because all they are is a black hole
without any regard to what stars they persecute
and whom they might hurt.
Isabelle Palerma 