Alright
It used to be fuck them.Now it’s fuck everybody.
Artwork by: Shain Parwiz
Damn.
Layers and levels
But this shit stays still
I look to move forward
and snatch at peace
They keep coming
Me realizing that love and hate
A condition, fused and terminal
All their talking is irrelevant
I’ll fight them all off
Before I let them take my joy
Never needed their
backhanded compliments
They wanna link up
And hold hands
Guffaws and jokes
But where were they?
When I was detoxing
When fever dreams
Made me feel
that dad came back
Even though he passed
When I was 16
When I told him my legs hurt
He touched it and said I’ll be alright
He never broke a promise
Never did that night
Cuz I woke up
and my leg was fine
Hmmph.
So where were they?
That’s why I fight
It used to be fuck them
Now it’s fuck everybody
A map to bridges
I’ll provide them
Like an ogre
I’ll burn it all
I’ll peel it back
Till I get to the core
And the ones deemed acceptable
are the only ones around
Can already hear them say
bitter and angry
But I know already
that 5% will get this
and 95% are lost
I know now
Where I stand
What I deserve
How I earned it
My own version of:
Peace
Quiet
Joy
Just don’t tread on it.
Author’s Note:
I scribbled this out on the 3rd day of Eid celebrations. A month meant for joy was replaced by quiet and mourning. I had visited the graves of those who had left. When I got home, I dug out some old journals and found an entry about my dad sitting right there on the page.
He passed when I was 16. But that night; fever dreams, legs aching, scared,he touched it and said I’d be alright. He never broke a promise. I woke up fine.
I don’t know what that was. I just know it still holds.
-Shain
