POETRY & LYRICS
PATRIARCHY CONSPIRED
Go ahead and touch me
Fulfil your desire
Your 'sanctity',
Birthright
A patriarchy, Conspired.
Driven by the assumption that We are for pleasure
Our bodies, mere portals for Your use at leisure
Your hedonistic need
To satisfy that urge
Whether an ass tap, Cat call
Or a look up my skirt
The innocence of your action permits Nonchalance, at best
While our protestations, unheard leave no time to Rest
the fight we've endured, from the beginning of conception
Eve, the 'failed' daughter
Now Punished for Her defection
At least, that's what you say to justify your stance:
"There's no indemnity here, Miss
Blame's firmly in your hands"
"You brought it on yourselves
By being bold but Too weak
Your curves on display, too eager to please
Thus, how can we resist? And deny this natural order?
For it's primitive instinct, Not choice
We're Men, Not marauders!"
So go ahead and touch us
Lay claim to what's yours
Let your martyrdom Continue to eliminate our flaws
With the pious touch of your hand
And your words of derision
Please keep us in check, Sir
Uphold your Patriarchal vision
While we'll renege our 'rights' and promise to remain passive
Suck your dicks at night
Put up with your harassment
And I'll make my skirt shorter to grant you easier access
Push my underwear aside
Even Distribute free passes
For my body is just a portal, just waiting to be ravished
So go ahead and touch me
All my power,
I relinquish.
Photography by Amelie Exton and Make Up by Susana Mota
BROKEN GENERATION
We are the Broken Generation
That’s what they say
Our minds, no time for Concentration
human interaction, we keep at bay
For its our screens that take precedent
in the day to day
The constant swiping, liking, despising
Chastising
Mainly of ourselves
As we compete and contrast our lives
against theirs
If only we could do better
Like them, we say
Shift the weight
Chisel up, Prime our faces
Then we may,
Exceed the expectations we’ve Downloaded
since birth.
For its no longer enough just to exist on this Earth
As masters of contouring, distorting,
purporting
We Mask our true selves
In preference for the palatable
The perfect
Digitally Delectable
For isn’t this a game of popularity after all?
How the ‘mighty’ have fallen
From our parents age to ours
No longer does a job, mortgage or spouse
set the bar
But it’s how many approvals
we can attain
That render us ‘valued’ and ‘worthy’
In this ever evolving game
Quantity, becomes the measure
Our filtered selves; the perceived treasure
But beyond that surface Superficiality
Lays a starker truth…
For we are the broken generation
Anonymous
Incongruous
‘Self-serving’
‘Undeserving’
Yes, we are the Broken Generation.
Photography by Amelie Exton and Make Up by Susana Mota
Insecurity vs. Vanity
She looks in to the ‘mirror’
Of her camera phone
Indulgently gazing
At the poised face staring back at her
Frantically she shoots, reshoots
Then reshoots again
Determined to get that perfect one
The selfie she can post,
To make others envious;
the focus of their desire
But between the final article
And the girl who stands before her
Lies the plethora of filters
The shades, the tones, the hues
Of Sepia, of Aden, Clarendon and Reyes
To mask all of her flaws…
For what she really sees
Is someone to be disguised
A face of inconsistency
Of crevasses
Of scars
If only she could be as flawless,
Naturally
As they all seem
Their eyes so wide
And teeth so bright they gleam
Every swipe, like and remark she gives
Leaves her crippled
Her confidence broken
For it’s one less affirmation for her
In this Instagram competition
Absorbed in to the sea
Of self-conscious ubiquity
Just another victim fallen in to the trap
Of Insecurity vs. Vanity
Photography by Amelie Exton and Make Up by Susana Mota
Photography by Lucia Godinez
RESTLESS CITY (Lyrics)
Restless City
Go to sleep
Close your eyes and count to ten
Don't make a peep....
Peep
Restless city
Don't be afraid to lie
Let the fervour of the day...
Subside
Cease the fight
For it's in the night sky
Where my heart truly aligns
Riding on those Boris bikes
With you...
A brand new view
Of this, London city
Where daydreams evade
And our hopes, they dissipate
They turn to blue
A sombre hue
But it's in the night sky
Where my heart reignites
Riding on those Boris bikes
With you
A brand new view
Of this city
This London city
This restless city
With you
This London city
My London city
No other city...
Like you
Like you
Restless city
Go to sleep
Close your eyes and count to ten
Don't make a peep....
Photography by Lucia Godinez
MINDFULNESS
I sat there in silence,
watching the willowing trees
Sway softly
So gently
In the midday Breeze
So peacefully,
Passively
With much ease
They brought a catharsis
I never knew exist
The leaves, a rich olive green
Coloured their complexion
Though jaundiced, so slightly
by the sun’s yellow reflection
Wrinkled in texture
Their days of youth now passed
Replaced with an age, now set to last
Until they wilt and die
I wondered how long their life had been
A season? decade?
Perhaps 50 years
Of their natural grace
Enchanting the earth
Their presence, breeding life
Prompting rebirth
Of our minds, bodies
And souls
Reminding us that there‘s a time
And a place
Where all the dust settles
And we rekindle our faith
In the paths and journeys
Uniquely Engraved
As part of our destiny
For like the leaves
That sit on those trees
Which whistle and whisper
In the cool of the breeze
Standing right before me
Baring all to see,
There’s a peace and tranquility
That can be found
When we take heed
And Just breathe
Breathe
Breathe.
Amid the silence, we can heal.
Photography by Lucia Godinez
FREE FLOWING
You opened me up
In ways I couldn’t instigate for myself
Burst the bank
So the flood of my emotion
My tension
Could finally spill out
And now it is flowing
Free flowing
With no sign of slowing down
The intensity profound
But equally cathartic
I wish you were here
To help direct the water
To clear up the debris that have risen to the surface
But then I realise,
This is something I must endure alone
And perhaps when my river banks are clean
And the last drop of water
Soaked up with a new promise of flowers and reeds
Budding where the water once engulfed,
We can sit together and admire the beautiful new view
And share stories of the journey
I, myself have been on
And you too.