ASP RETREAT #2

SHELL/TER

AssataMakonnen Grade12

BaltimorePolytechnicInstitute

Do you ever wonder why the caged bird sings?

Idk, Angelou had her theories but maybe it was just nice to be somewhere safe. Maybe it was just nice to be somewhere comfortable, somewhere where you didn’t have to think because thinking is dangerous, y’know?

Like, things start to unravel when you take a closer look, y’know?

Like how a melody might wind around your soul & whisper nothings so sweet but come to find out that the saccharine was just meant to hide the fact it was actually empty.

But a song is still a song. Just as much as 4 walls make anything a home. It is safe to stay with what you know.

Aiming too high is a disaster when you are struggling against the air with clipped wings. So might as well keep your nose down now before you nosedive on your way out.

So, let’s stop chasing the stars

And settle for The Black Nothingness of space in between

Tricking ourselves into thinking we are satisfied

But there ain’t no hunger like a dream

Ain’t no itch like the panic that your life is almost over but

You’re still singing.

There is nothing like the way a drug will masquerade itself as a habit

& promise to love you

There is nothing like the taste of metal bars against hot skin

It’s easy to cheap out on dreams if you forget your heart has a stomach

That your soul has a mind

That your brain speaks a language that can only be answered by a home with no bars a sky with no holes a sun dripping free down your back

Now how ‘bout that?

Or will we stop chasing...?

At some point, cold becomes our love language, & we sing it softly. Never knowing, perhaps, that We keep out growing. Demanding new wings, Instead of simply asking for the key.

PhotobySarahPobee

Grade 9

BaltimoreCityCollege