For Love and for Country

I pledge to the sea, to the confetti of my body.

I pledge to only one God, the maker of lovers who

Dance in the smoke.

I pledge to the war.

This is my allegiance, I pledge to love. To a string of my guitar.

I barricade a shadow with a wall; on the wall there are names.

I want to eat light from your hands,

Find a place between your teeth to feed a horse.

There is nothing like going for the wind too early.

Time flies, but in the direction of our dreams.

It takes memory to kneel in prayer,

Remember those who passed through a closed road.

You will argue it is untrue till you pledge your body only to

Find your son being fought as snow.

My tooth is loose, I’m sorry.

Love is not fear, I’m sorry.

There is where I’m from that is honey on desert.

Do not mock me, sometimes fleeing is butterfly's wings.

I have never belonged to myself,

Do not laugh at me, someone doctors our lives this way.

That is why you put your son in a boat & he is on the water,

The sea is unrestrained.

Kindness is bitter on land.

Have you been here, have you watched how

A man can bend a girl's body into his church?

Then they will say we do not pour enough sun inside our teacups

& they call us mad.

Everything that is sacrifice is first survival.

I leave you with a map,

Turn to your window & read this poem.

They will come.

They will ask why we ran.

Tell them we did it for our country.