{"id":450,"date":"2018-04-24T12:56:22","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T16:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/?page_id=450"},"modified":"2018-05-15T11:27:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T15:27:48","slug":"timber","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/previous-issues\/crystallize-review-2018\/poetry\/timber\/","title":{"rendered":"timber."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Black History Month is to blackamerica
\nWhat a menstrual cycle is to a woman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For 4 or 28 days
\nOne is constantly reminded of the pain
\nThat comes from inhabiting
\nThat body
\nThat the blood that flows from her womb runs
\nRed
\nThe color of a flag made of 100% cotton<\/p>\n

For 4 or 28 days
\nOne is reminded of the tears that trail the Atlantic Ocean
\nThat her suffering is as deep as any sunken ship belly<\/p>\n

It is within those 4 or 28 days
\nThat the blood of her ancestors interrupts her favorite white skirts<\/p>\n

Shows up unannounced at the corporate dinner parties
\nBlood will do that
\nPeriod.<\/p>\n

Blood is the biggest silent siren
\nFlashing lights
\nBlue and
\nRed
\nAnd when one bathes in blood
\nOver and over
\nAnd over
\nAgain
\nThat makes one a marked warrior
\nShe wonders why there is no FOX newscaster team to broadcast this war that wages within her body<\/p>\n

But if a tree falls in the forest
\nAnd no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

What kind of foolish question is that?!
\nIf you were to be detached from your roots
\nExpelled from the only home you\u2019ve ever known
\nWouldn\u2019t you go down kickin\u2019 and screamin\u2019
\nInstead she lays on the bathroom floor
\nGripping her emancipated uterus
\nCrying to her porcelain god
\nFor it is the only one that can unchain her from the pain that traces through her spine
\nLike a number two pencil
\nConstantly trying to engrave
\n\u201cI am free\u201d into her memory
\nTrying to forget that it was this porcelain god that served Eve the apple that warm Friday afternoon
\nSwallowing amnesia like the crackhead inhales crack
\nHer sobs are melodic to an audience full of sheep in cheap white collar suits
\nTheir eyes see a body
\nBut no purpose
\nA heart
\nBut no home<\/p>\n

My momma always warned me that in this world
\nYou are born with two strikes against you
\nYour womb
\nAnd your blackness
\nTalk about killing one bird with two stones
\nBlack bird
\nWhy you wanna fly blackbird?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you remember that they cut your tree down over 400 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAlice Luo<\/strong>, Collin Anderson Memorial Award for Poetry<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

“If I could use three words to describe myself they would be: ‘black’, ‘feminist’, ‘rebel’. The most important aspect of being a poet is finding innovative and alluring ways to incorporate the complexities of my identity into my writing. That’s when it becomes more than words on a page. My writing\u00a0becomes my truth, and my words come alive.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The Collin Anderson Memorial Awards in Creative Writing are open to SUNY Cortland students. The awards<\/a> are sponsored and judged by the College Writing Committee.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Back to Poetry<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black History Month is to blackamerica What a menstrual cycle is to a woman For 4 or 28 days One is constantly reminded of the pain That comes from inhabiting That body That the blood that flows from her womb runs Red The color of a flag made of 100% cotton For 4 or 28 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"parent":425,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-450","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/450\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}