I dare you

by Kashiana Singh / May 26th, 2019

I dare you to let me live again
I dare you to heal your amnesia
I dare you to look into my tears
I dare you to bear being alone
I dare you to die without regret
I dare you to cross the last port of entry

disappearing into windowless tents
I watch, your lethal aides come and go
As caravans move excruciatingly slow
tent to tent, growing miles of dissent

I huddle under my red coat
and hope, the specter would keep away
souls astray, soles of my shoes, in fray
collective phobia, anger serves as our moat

puppet like from camp to camp
plunged from home to home, city to city
reclaiming my words, mapping a geometry
hardened wails are key to survival as a tramp

I dare you to let me live again
I dare you to heal your amnesia
I dare you to look into my tears
I dare you to bear being alone
I dare you to die without regret
I dare you to cross the last port of entry

When Kashiana is not writing, she lives to embody her TEDx talk theme of Work as Worship into her every day. Her chapbook Crushed Anthills by Yavanika Press is a journey through 10 cities. Her newest full-length collection, Woman by the Door was released in Feb 2022 with Apprentice House Press. Read other articles by Kashiana, or visit Kashiana's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, May 26th, 2019 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.