To Be (poem)

To be Black-idiosyncratic-Muslim-girlchild is to be lost and found
The depression and the depressed
The religion and the sinner
The lie and the truth
The psychosis and the psychotic
The fruit and the infectious weeds
The tear and the retraction of sadness
The ache and the needle and the stitch
The family and the estranged
The kitten and the lion
The poet and the poem
The ten and the zero
The date and the dated
The empty pot and the full belly
The wink and the snicker
The dead and the reborn
The onion and the dry eye
The contradictor and the contradicted
The hopeless and the hopeful
The key and the shackle
The fear and the fearlessness
The plentiful and the impoverished
The lonely and the accompanied
The present and the gone
The accepted and the rejected
The dying and the life support
The moon and the sun
Son and the daughter
The decision and the interjection
The charged and the acquitted
The stability and the “torn-up-ness”
The glue and the fracture
The bee sting and the lavender oil
The parched desert and the cool tsunami
To be Black-idiosyncratic-Muslim-girlchild is to be optimistic and worn out
Tired and well-rested
Suicidal and content
Diamond and steel
Lilac and azure
Peaceful and American
Refugee and citizen
Tree trunk and twig
Scared and wide open
Disease and antibiotic
St. John’s Wort and Prozac
Holy Cow and leather wallet
Beach and busy city
Serenity and chaos
Prepared and oblivious
Heat and shade
Shadow and original being
Death and life itself
Itself
It-self
It
Self
It
Enough