Till We Have Faces

Till We Have Faces

Till we have faces which others recognize,
we'll struggle 
for the genuine compliment of competence
not a measure about how we make others feel, 
for promotions and invitations
without expectations of contributing our best,
for our voices to be heard
without our need to call out louder ever lounder.

Till we have faces we recognize in each other,
we'll struggle
to accept each other whether or not we have children
an education, a stable home, a successful health care plan, 
a clean record, a proper background, a promising future,
the right husband or children or pantsuit or political platform.

Till we have faces for ourselves
we'll struggle to wake in the morning and sleep throughout the night.
Till we have faces for ourselves
we'll look in mirrors with doubtful eyes and pounding hearts.
Till we have faces for ourselves
we'll teach our daughters and nieces and students this similar fear.

Till we have faces
we must rise to see, value, and affirm our being.
Our uprising starts now
and continues until we all know our worth
because they'll finally see our faces.

11 thoughts on “Till We Have Faces

    1. Thank you!
      What are you going to submit to the anthology? I’m trying to choose mine after these various edits. What a fine experience this year as well. I’m looking forward to reading yours now!

    2. Thanks! This year was brilliant. I’m finding it hard to choose for the Anthology: but, so far, I’ve set aside “Magic” and “Hour 5”. I would appreciate your feedback 😊

  1. I really like the idea in this piece! What a way to combat the way people have a tendency to dehumanize those who are different from them. You use repetition really effectively throughout this piece.

  2. Thank you, Bhasha,
    I’m just now catching up with the many comments, and it is rewarding to meet so many new literary friends through these marathons. Are you preparing some of the poems that you’ve written? What do you think you’ll submit to the poetry anthology?

  3. i like the repeating line and how you play with different aspects of seeing/being seen and known.It can be challenging to create a strong political statement without sounding angry or hurt or complaining or lashing out; you have turned it around to a positive solution instead of a litany of negatives which to me is far more powerful. Thank you

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