Poetry & Art

New Meanings

I’ve used the same language all my life

Tapping keys on a keyboard

Or pushing a pen along the thin lines of loose leaf

Vocabularies and definitions shifting with age, experience, perspective

Pulling me under an ocean of language

 

I’ve been so hung up on this word

Change

Stuck to it as if it belongs to me

Change

As if the agency I’ve had in the past still applies in the present

Change

A way of copy/pasting what’s worked before

And blindly assuming it’s one size fits all

 

Verbs flutter, run, sprint, hurdle their way through my mind

I wonder what I can do

Fix

Hustle for

Prove

My stomach tightens and all action seems impossible

The same privileges as before

Need not apply

 

What if I’m not meant to

Change

But to

Endure

 

To survive, remain in existence

And stay

 

A word I’ve known without acknowledging

Using all of the other words

When one would suffice

Endure

The chair in the corner of the room

Existing so effortlessly

That it barely exists at all

 

Change

Got all of my attention

Filling up all the pages of notebooks

And the space in conversations

Manifest, magnetize, achieve

Like an obsessive broken record focused on that which is not in my possession

At the expense of what is

 

Patient persistence

Acknowledging the pain

While simultaneously releasing it

A practice rooted in the belief

That I will one day experience something else

 

 

 

Author: Diana Matthews
Email: [email protected]
Author Bio: Diana’s unrelenting passion for feminism and the empowerment of women and girls globally is the guiding force behind all she does. Most recently, Diana was the associate producer and distribution director for “Dream, Girl,” the documentary showcasing the stories of inspiring and ambitious female entrepreneurs. She is also a mentor for GIRLZ, FTW—an international mentoring organization that matches high school and college girls with female leaders. Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, Diana recently moved to New York City and now calls Brooklyn her home. She has a deep love for connecting with others and strong interests rooted in community development and mentorship.
Link to social media or website: Instagram @dianavoyage 

 

 

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