LIP BLOOD: stories of fire and water

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My lips are a place of deep conditioning

My full Black lips

So much less perfect than my white father’s

So much uglier than those of my white cousins

I love them now

But once they were a psychic scar

 

At age ten I learned to hold them pursed

Like a precocious supermodel

I still do this

Conditioning cuts deep

 

But now I sit before my fire vessel

Raging flame surrounded by a sea of water

I feel my lips vibrate with fire

I feel my lip blood striving for liberation

Reverberating with imagination

Breaking the chains seeking emancipation

 

Lips pulsate with fire and water

Registering the world’s vibrations

Awakening me to my magic

Awakening me to the tantric

 

I throw off layers of shame

Moving into waters of acceptance

Seeking spiritual repentance

Burning with embers of resistance

 

Over the past week

I have navigated waters of mania

I have struggled with balance

Struggled not to create crisis

Struggled to contain my fire

Failing to avoid unnecessary pain

Forcing those who love me to do damage control

 

Lip blood has been an omen

Warning me of catastrophe

Warning me of my dangerous impulses

Alerting me to tantric potential

Reimagining duality within each moment

 

This is a story of fire and water

A story of frenetic extremes

Psychic infernos tamed by mighty tides

Psychic growth deep within my mind

 

I shed my deep conditioning

Awakening to a reality beyond white supremacy

Potent lip blood pulsating with liberation

Conjuring sacred waters of resistance and salvation

Resonating and vibrating

Opening a portal to the divine

–BYPO PHOENIX c)2023