the ongoing literary battle, but in 2024.
Bear versus man. The fight we never expected. Then again, perhaps it is.
Most of literature is written as Man vs. Something.
Man vs. Nature. Man vs. Man. Man vs. God.
It was about time for such a subject to pop back up within our society.
For all of those who may not know, what is the gist of this?
The concept is: if one's daughter, wife, or sister was lost in the woods and bound to encounter something, would you prefer that Something to be a bear or a man?
Naturally, several women prefer the bear, and when giving their explanations,
they fall into deaf ears to the point where several individuals
are now making the joke of choosing a lion in a cage vs. the concept of marriage.
Well,
I live in a country where there is an ongoing word like an echo, a screaming heartbeat
of outrage,
"Femicide."
Over and over again--
in the posters of missing women you know will never be found,
in the mind of every woman being followed street after street in the dark,
in the rushed heartbeat of every woman alone in a car with a man who tells her,
"My, you look pretty. Are you single? Are you married?
Do you have children? I'll give you a free ride if you agree to come home with me."
No one is arguing men do not go through violence, through hurt, through pain.
No one is arguing the insanity in this schizophrenic world does not somehow
inevitably go
both ways.
Hurt is hurt, no matter the race, no matter the gender.
There is a war going on and somehow we turn a blind eye because ultimately we know,
"What exactly can I do about it? What can I do about everything
that is going so, so wrong?"
Which is exactly the very problem; when we make jokes about what we do not
understand.
When we look away from the bleeding streets instead of doing whatever we can
to make it right.
When we turn against one another, wasting our time and our breath convincing someone that when a bear sees a human in the woods,
they will understand it is a human,
when most goddamn humans
don't.
A HOLE
I dug a hole in the ground for you today
User, taker, false promiser
No matter how many trophies I laid at your feet
No matter how much I bent over backwards
It was never enough
I was never enough
You professed what you did not feel
talked love yet had no inkling
That
it wasn’t only about you
Or what you could get.
Its about what light your candle brings to another’s life
At the end you burnt and hollowed me out
Yet I was unable to let go
You showed me
that
Empty people make things empty
I covered a hole in the ground today
I can walk away now.
There is strength in my legs to carry me.
one step at a time
I don’t need to run
Anger is no longer my crutch
Pain has stopped being my shield
I still have the self doubt
“Why do you carry that? People ask
I reply with a sad smile
Because they do not understand
People with baggage make baggage
I saw a leaf sprout in the ground today
Tender and delicate
Somehow the clouds have parted
The sun is shining again
I have met someone else
He is all colors of the rainbow
Bright and robust
The circle is complete
I have dropped the self doubt
I feel refreshed
My swagger is back now
It took me close to a lifetime but I figured it out
Broken people make broken things
Whole people make things whole