You are the bridge

I tried to find the shape of you in the dark

But your armor felt like I was touching fire

And I couldn't get close enough

To feel comfortable in your silence

Somewhere

Between the past and the present,

I could hear the echoes of your ancestors

Knocking against the walls

Of your self made fortress

You couldn't hear how loud

Their fists banged at the doors

Until you sunk into yourself

And you let the river guide you

The sun was waiting to kiss her

I let my dark side play

As if I was waking up from eternal sleep

I had unleashed the puzzle pieces

That I found so hard to deny any longer

My darkness felt like needles on my skin

I wanted to wash away the feeling

As if the water could make me pretend

That I didn't have sides I wanted to hide away

But I unlocked the chains around her arms and her legs

And I let her wander out the door,

Her bare feet touched the grass

And the flames engulfed her

As if the sun was waiting to kiss her

I unearthed a part of me

I unearthed my sexuality

A quiet rumbling in the night

That goes unnoticed by others

I uncrinkled the can

That shrunk out of shame

I don't need their prying eyes

Holding words that feels like knives

I needed to find my own self

Even if the ocean wanted to overpower me

One minute I'm floating

The next minute I'm inside my own darkness

Crouching down to admire my own body

The way sensations strike the truth

Before the mind can even shut down the fire

I became Medusa

I stepped through the threshold

And I began to accept my inner world

Letting go of the shame

That I needed to hide my soul away

Like a dusty box under the floorboard

Of a house that withstood tornadoes

I became Medusa

The version of her who broke the chains

And found liberation

I am no longer afraid of the way I intimidate others

For owning my depths

The artist has starved for too long

A sanctuary is not truly a sanctuary

When disruptions prevent you from feeling free

To express the cave that lives within you,

Noise and static pierce the flesh

And you lose focus on the world that wants to breathe from your hands

You hand your ideas over to the invisible realm

Before you can even begin to feel what it's like to create something that comes from your unique perspective

You let responsibilities be the excuse for no creation

And it becomes second nature to abandon the colors that creates art

To leave the paintbrush cold without your touch

You feel the fire form

Yet you don't step into the flames

To burn away the voices of limitations

A statue fades into the background

Left out in the sun

Unable to move

Until it answers the call