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Tethered

My umbilical scar is hollowed out
Now it's like a tiny wormhole on my belly 
Its a cherished remnant of the coil that nourished me into existence 
I still feel a little tug through my bell button at times 
A reminder that its my lifeline even outside the womb
As it now anchors me to the belly of my mama Ubuntu 
keeps me tightly tethered to her long teat for grounding 
Just like it used to tether me to my mortal mother's warm womb
My cord never ever got to fall off, by the way 
Too busy hang gliding off my navel on the sly
Couldn't even bother to dry up on time 
Stayed moist and chose to germinate instead 
My umbilical cord sprouted a long spine
then took rest between my thighs, phallic 
Its been rather busy of late, generously sowing 
its unwanted seed all over 
It grew and surpassed its intended borders to dutifully trail my legs, my empennage 
I never lay question upon its course, I'm happy to have it tag along 
We've just always been on the same path 
since the very beginning of our being
We were paired up by fate in a shared destiny 
It's the only place I choose to fully lay my trust
its where my truth often holidays, out there it gets to sunbathe in the nude
My new tail is wired to the centre of the world 
Keeps us both aligned and connected to the source
We both feed off the core of the mother
two tiny morula nuts nestled in the same naris 
Always been too deeply grounded in the mother that's our curse, I guess 
My soles been embedded in her inner core for so long that they grew roots 
I've been too long tethered to the land, feeding my soul off its essence 
and learning to walk true to my authentic self
I don't need to be moulded or made into something else 
I bear no desire to be either discovered, conquered or colonised 
My ancestors already took one for the team in that regard 
I was created with an intact identity already in place, don't get it twisted
Been dragging it along all my life to be honest 
And all the while its been tagging me straight to the source 
I might, at my convenience indulge my foreign curiosities
Its a well deserved privilege prepaid with interest 
That was way before the eve of my conception 
My mother's invasion and defilement was never in vain 
Shame and anguish was all she ever had left to nourish and strengthen this golden marrow, that now tunnels my bones 
Just look how soft and supple it made my back, 
that you'll have arched for the sheer comfort of your precious feet 
It's my compliance that thickened my skin in the end 
It has never been your intolerance at all
My obedience has awarded me with spores
and then tiled me up with studded scutes 
Look, I'm just too wild a beast for you to demand for a pet
Even in my death I shall multiply and continue to breathe beneath the grave, 
My worth, that you constantly like to question can only ever be matched by a single grain from a specific type 
of fiery red soil, the one that builds mud huts and termite hills 
those my dearest, are spirit houses
It's that same soil that you greedily burst open and pried apart 
to rip out my mother's entrails
Her blood filled up the rivers and streams of the world at large and they cried it into the oceans 
I don't expect someone like you to understand anything like that 
but I will not dull my shine anymore 
To help validate your superiority complex 
Life runs deeper than human skin and material gain 
that's your lesson to learn, not mine
Meanwhile I'm content to remain coconed in this shroud of fear
you so generous gifted me
I' ll wait for you to catch up
While I remain tethered to the land

Copyright © | Year Posted 2021




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