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- Herausgeber: BooxAi
- Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
- Sprache: Englisch
Dive into the uncomfortable and uncertain world of Branden's debut poetry collection, a winding journey through layers of emotions and experiences. In this carefully crafted anthology, Branden eloquently weaves together the complexities of identity, love, pain, and resilience. As a black, queer, Christian minister and social worker, his unique perspective sheds light on the beauty and challenges that come with living authentically, as a plurality, courageously embracing the spectrum of human emotional and psychological experience.
In "Chrysalis" you will receive an invitation and be inspired to explore the rolling landscapes of the heart and mind, where each verse resonates with authenticity and vulnerability. Humility, embarrassment, and weakness are on earnest display as Branden reveals, in first person, some of the most intimate details of his life in hopes that the reader will discover untapped potential within himself to grow through excavation of the scariest and deepest parts of oneself.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Branden Polk
Chrysalis
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2023 by Branden Polk
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Published by BooxAI
ISBN: 978-965-578-571-5
CHRYSALIS
BRANDEN POLK
INTRODUCTION
Denaus Plexipus. Otherwise known as Monarch Butterflies. The bright colors, oranges, and blacks mingled together, with their unusually large wingspan – as butterflies go – offered a touch of hope during a very uncertain, unstable, and unsustainable season. Why? Well, it’s because they weren’t always butterflies. It’s because they were something else and then transformed into a greater and more authentic expression of the thing it was before. I still feel like a caterpillar; don’t get me wrong. But I am also experiencing a process that I must go through in order to become a beautiful, courageous butterfly.
What is that process? For the caterpillar, the cocoon, or the chrysalis, is where the temperature is turned up. I know that when I was in grade school, we tended to skip right to the part in the National Geographic documentary that captures the new creature’s miraculous emergence. No one ever stopped to ask the most obvious questions about what the actual fuck is going on in that oven! I’m convinced now that they didn’t tell us on purpose because it’s at least Rated R and therefore not suitable for children. This poor, unsuspecting caterpillar is enclosed in a tiny space where it is basically melted, ‘deconstituted’ and liquified. Doesn’t sound so great to me.
My inaugural book of poems, entitled Chrysalis, is written in the first person. It is an exploration of discomfort and uncertainty. Of beauty, wonder, and love. Of joy and loss. The ups and downs that one must go through in order to gain the strength to emerge as something different, authentic, weird, vulnerable, and real. REAL. The hope is real, but so is the pain. The sorrow is real, but so is the love. I am sharing with you some of my most treasured and complex memories, my clumsy journey through identity discovery.
It’s my belief that we are all still learning, as we squirm around in this entangled and encaged life, that breaking through to the outer layers is not an exercise of weakness. It is rather a mercy or a grace that somehow constrains us, compelling us to push free, to unfold the left wing and the right wing, spreading them out as far as possible, leaping into the next beautiful, extraordinary, and dangerous chapter.
FORBIDDEN LOVE POEM
Broken heart tonight,
That wants to sing songs.
With memory so close,
Yet twinges of pain twisting and digging,
As dissonant tones unheard
Scream, mobilizing louder feelings.
The aforementioned grieving heart,
Was once in love forbidden,
Allured by ONE soul.
Intoxicating, but pure —
So pure is the addiction.
Unrestrained, perpetual affliction.
It is a fire that cannot be wavered.
Unquenchable, unsatisfied flame,
Scarring very deeply — in a place
Seen only by God.
Almost perceived by another – human.
ALL THAT WE’VE BEEN GOING THROUGH
All that we’ve been going through,
It’s not hard to blame it on you.
Yes, you had us sitting in only negativity,
For yourself – you took all that you needed — from me.
Think this is funny? Are you amused at my reaction?
Criticized and abused.
The truth is —
That you are so down on you,
Jealousy-ravaged like a toxic goo.
Time still rages forward.
We need to say, ’Thank you’.
We want to say ‘Thank you’ —
For letting us go.
It’s not worth more time spent.
We need to say ‘Thank you’.
We want to say ‘Thank you’ —
For showing us the truth.
