Get Back! (a poem)

Get Back
Cast in stone
your words
build walls so high

I huddle in the shadows
of the weighty matters
of your opinions

breaking
my back
every day workin'
workin' for the man
hunched
beneath the heaviness
of your glare

weighing me down
in this place
where you give advice
I cannot fathom

where you’re comin’ from
as I lose all sense of direction
and struggle to rise

above the weight
of your voice
telling me to
get up
get down
get over
whatever I have been
using to keep me from falling
down
where I split
a part
the futility of trying to get back
up holds me down and I cry

there ain’t no gettin’ up
from being down
so long
I can’t see beyond
the wall of sorrow
pinning me here
to this belief

there’s no up
side looking down on me

you remind me
of my limitations
holding me here
on this side of the street
where I will die
if I don’t get myself
straight

straight
I laugh
crooked teeth
black
with nicotine and neglect
I cough
and flem spills out
and you step
back

back to your side of the street
where I don’t scare you

as much
I know

I know
I scare you
but you don’t see me

hiding here
behind the wall of your opinions

holding me down
I gasp for air
but you don’t see me

hiding out in your opinions
building walls
cast in stone.


Get Back (A Poem) Audio Recording on Thursday night by Louiseg88