Tongue-Tied

If you can't stand, 
bow. Press your forehead 
to your fingertips, 
concede. 

A higher power you are not,
nor royalty. 
After years in supplication,
the desire to wield worlds,
sail seas, 
be heard when you speak
buckles underneath.

Tongue-tied.

The sun burns backsides
as well as cheeks.

Resistance doesn't age well, and
time cripples all of those who aren't born weak.

We are warned repeatedly all will not go well
if we continue to think above our station.

Truth runs drier than the well–
power will never be shared,
not with us, nor future generations.

Poetics Tuesday| Join my friend, Lisa, and all the other cool cats at d’Verse in some power play.

Artwork: Supplication by Kasali

I found this song after crafting my words, but it really fits quite well.

16 responses to “Tongue-Tied”

Aaron Guile

This is a very interesting examination on the relationship between power and position. Thank you for writing your poem.

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1. Katie Frances Hartless
  
  Thanks for reading it, Aaron, and taking the time to post a kind comment. Much appreciated.
  
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  1. Aaron Guile
    
    You are very welcome.
    
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Lisa or Li

Hey Katie. I needed to read through your poem a few times and need to think a little to see if I can grok fully what you’re saying. Otoh the urging to stay humble and on the other an urge to stay impotent to the overlords feels like a dilemma. Would you care to say a little more what you’re poem is getting at?

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1. Katie Frances Hartless
  
  Hi Lisa, Thanks for commenting. I meditated o power and it made me think of all those who are subservient to it. How it is ingrained in their customs, gestures and way of life.
  
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  1. Lisa or Li
    
    You are welcome. Katie, it is SO HARD to shake that conditioning also. The Audre Lorde poem speaks so well to it.
    
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rothpoetry

Power goes way beyond us and those who think they have it are really grasping at straws! Well done.

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1. Katie Frances Hartless
  
  Thank you, Dwight. A great reminder, really.
  
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Experience Film

No rock is impervious to the river… But can smash the head of fascist pigs any day.

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1. Katie Frances Hartless
  
  Damn! That one was the slap I needed. Thanks, EP. It reminds me how easy it is to act and not really worry about the big picture.
  
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Björn Rudberg (brudberg)

I feel this as a rather dark vision and advise to subjugate to the power…. resistance is futile…. I hope there is a way though

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1. Katie Frances Hartless
  
  Yes, me too. I used to believe it, almost resent when others didn’t reach for change, but I fear I’m losing hope in our power of tyranny.
  
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Carolyn Crossley VixenOfVerse

When we are powerless in the outside world, that is when we should turn inwards. We can be the architect of our own life, with one positive thought after another. Love and light shine in the chaos of our darkening world. We need the intention to create the good life we all deserve. It’s a really thought-provoking poem, and thanks for the introduction to Chance Peña. Tongue tied is a lovely song. ❌️❤️🌹

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1. Katie Frances Hartless
  
  Thank you, Carolyn. I needed that. I used to have so much belief in changing the world, but that inner world, there, hes is my domain. 💜🙏🦋
  
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Melissa Lemay

Knowing when to be quiet and when to speak is a power everyone should learn.

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johnlmalone

there is a time to fight, a time to concede, to withdraw, to just old; and that great line, great in any poem: ‘the sun burns backsides/as well as cheeks’ —

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