tribes
save me from the little tribes
the us and them tribes
that say who can’t marry who
that make you take up a gun to defend them
give me those sisters and brothers
in the bigger family
to link arms with
to cluck and strut together
to head off somewhere
not knowing precisely where
trusting that we’ll find the way
. . . together
the kind of tribe we need
with mixed up colors and open doors.
Artwork (graphite powder, acrylic inks and gesso, collage on w/c paper) and poem by Susan Cornelis. Used with permission. © Susan Cornelis. Susan blogs at Conversations with the Muse. Information about her art workshops is found at Imagine with Art.
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Try your hand?
Write a poem of your own, based on the painting by Cornelis, or choose a line from the poem as a starting place. Post on your blog and link to us (we love that), or just drop your poems here in the comment box
- image-ine: tribes - August 31, 2012
Maureen Doallas says
So delighted to see Susan featured here.
L. L. Barkat says
“to head off somewhere
not knowing precisely where
trusting that we’ll find the way
. . . together”
That.
And the painting is delightful. Love the colors.
Will Willingham says
That statement in the image itself, that “without a tribe a person is suspect” — such a profound and difficult truth in that.
Susan, thank you for sharing your work with us this morning.
Monica Sharman says
and it pains
me to remember I
was one in one
of those petty little
(so little) tribes
not only for the ones
I hurt but for all
the arms that could
have been linked
to mine
Susan Cornelis says
Thank you so much for posting my piece here and for all the wonderful comments! You readers are surely part of my tribe.