Is your spigot
Turned on or off?
Hot or cold?
Emotions
Difficult to
Talk about
Sometimes impossible
To experience
Often hiding underneath
Not knowing how
To properly allow
Tumultuous inner waves
To be seen
To be heard
Remembering a discussion
A young man
All ears
Wanting to understand
Why he was
Unable to express
I shared
Our emotions
A knob
Turning water
Hot or cold
On or off
As kids
Especially boys
Raised to turn
Off our emotions
Or never allowing
Them to
Turn on
Messages teaching
Importance of corking
Big boys
Don’t cry
Crying is
For girls
Be a man
Implying that
It’s never ok
To allow tears
And emotions
Through your
Internal pipeline
What happens
When men don’t
Allow their emotions
To freely flow?
I remember
The exact moment
Reaching the end
Of the
Oscar winning movie
Moonlight
Sitting numbly
Tears rolling gently
Down my cheeks
The main character
Born gentle
Kind and caring
His family
His community
Hardening emotions
Mentally and physically
Beat out
Of him
In the end
As an adult
Coming to terms
The need
Urgent and focused
To be seen
Touched and loved
A simple hug
Allowing freedom’s
Gentle embrace
To be felt
As I look
The abrasive landscape
Of our country
Men’s lack
Of ability
To emotionally feel
Showing up
At every turn
Anger
Rage
Violence
Images violently
Dotting our land
Blood stains
Unable to be
Washed away
Fathers handing down
Jail sentences
To our sons
For some
A life sentence
Trying to outrun
Their father’s legacy
Others it’s
A life
Of loneliness
Enslaved to
The next experience
Woman
Or addiction
What could
Be different
If our sons
Were gifted
Permission to cry
Permission to express
Hurt and rage
Feelings within
Not the enemy
Rather the way
Out of
The pain felt
It starts
A simple message
Everyone is
Emotional
We all feel
Feelings being
The placenta
Attached to us
Flowing from
Our mother’s womb
For some
A lifeforce
Carried on
Throughout our childhood
For most
It was
Violently served
Treating us
As soldiers
Needing to
Toughen up
The focus being
The rough waters
Of life ahead
It’s time
Time to learn
Giving permission
To ourselves
To feel
In doing so
We allow
Those around us
To feel
It’s time
To acknowledge
Other’s emotions
With empathy
Looking beyond
The rage
Trying to discover
What is
Backed up
In their pipes
Unable to be
Let out
Let’s be
Light-working plumbers
Gently unclogging
The growing pipes
Serving as
Revolutionaries
Drawing ourselves
And those
Around us
Into deeper intimacy
Courageously transforming
Those we
Love and cherish
Rick Ellsmore
1.28.20
Leave a Reply