Mockeries of Separation (a poem)

By Guest Contributor on February 28, 2014

by e nina jay

Audre Lorde
copyright: Dagmar Schultz

“we must not hide behind

the mockeries of separations

that have been imposed

upon us

and which we so often accept

as our own.”

~audre lorde

racism classism sexism homophobia ableism

any kind of –ism you can think of

‘cause even these words

are a mockery of separation

complex words with complex meaning and complex spelling…

all a word like homophobia or racism

will make a person think

is that this is a word

to be studied

let us take small ideas

thought by small men

make their deceit appear complex

and then use even bigger words to define

what has already become

just a theory, even in this telling

mockeries

we use riddles to solve riddles

use blood to clean up blood

we fertilize crops with dead bodies

and then are amazed

that another

dead. thing.

grows

isn’t that funny somehow?

we may as well laugh at that

we laugh at everything else

like people falling and womyn disrespected

and children who curse and people with disabilities

we laugh at people who are more poor than us

or peoples’ hearts breaking

we laugh at violence…

eye have seen people laugh

because a womon

got her clothes torn

off during a fight

have you ever had your clothes torn off?

was it funny?

.
.

we enjoy other peoples’ humiliation

when they crumble

our backs get a little stronger

we point

we laugh

we point

we laugh

.
.

and we forget that we

only truly recognize

that which we already are

.
.

sometimes eye think god

should snatch our laughter back

‘cause its obvious we do not

know how to use it responsibly

.
.

must we make everything into a weapon?

.
.

we point

we laugh

we keep on laughing

.
.

we are such fools

we can never be separate

yet we spend so much time

making the difference

between me and you

apparent

.
.

my mother audre said:

.. .

“we must not hide behind the

mockeries of separations

that have been imposed upon us

and which we so often accept as our own.”

.
.

thank you, audre lorde

because even as you and me

fight about shit that doesn’t matter

a war wages against us that

never breaks

never gets tired

.
.

we are too distracted

by the incidentals

of a non-existence

.
.

the world is the war

and if we ain’t in it

we are outside of it

and the scale makes it seem

like there are more of them

but there are more of us

there are more

of us

.
.

we’re just scattered and diligent

about not crossing lines

that really don’t exist

.
.

somebody taught us there are

and always should be

tall hedges between our houses

but those aren’t hedges…

.
.

those are churches

those are stereotypes

those are moral impositions

those hedges are the notion

that something outside of our humanity

out-measures the very relevance of that humanity

.
.

there is nothing

significant

between you and me

.
.

we are willing participants

in a war we never asked for

granted

but resistance to the struggle

renders invisible

the resistance inside the struggle

.
.

whether you see yourself as part of this or not

some other person is fighting for you

some other person is risking their very life for you

.
.

wouldn’t it be arrogant of me to conclude

that eye have arrived here of my own effort

my own accord

that eye earned

the right to be here

eye didn’t build no underground railroad…

eye don’t know what fire hoses feel like…

eye have never marched to washington and demanded anything

eye am in the red here

eye owe

something back

we owe something back

.
.

but we are distracted by…

.
.

“…the mockeries of separations

that have been imposed

upon us

and which we

so often accept as our own.”

.
.

she said that over 20 years ago

and look at us

still styling and profiling

still pointing and laughing

still turning away

from one another

.
.

we are still distracted by

the blaze of the fire

even as our own skin

is melting

______________________________________________________

e nina jay is a lesbian/womon/activist/writer of african descent. she uses poetry to break silences around all forms of violence against gurls & womyn, with particular focus on the intersection of gender, violence, race and poverty. As a survivor of rape and incest, e nina jay believes womyn & girls can create powerful community to fight against the violence & constant degradation endured everyday and ultimately develop a long term strategy to take back our humanity.