We Share the Same Skin
poem by ZenChristian Mott
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I believe that in his past life
my older brother was a moth that they share the same skin sleep when the sun is awake & active in the dark, navigates angles of moonlight but when man made lights interfere my brother like moths get confused & distracted by artificial glows emitting from his computer screen. Some moths build cocoons until ready to enter the world but others will burrow underground until they mature into adults. When my father left after the divorce, my brother retreated lived his life out of the confines of his room burrowed into the uncertainty of what it means to be a man. In my past life I was a butterfly. We share the same skin They are important to the little things in life, like flowers & weeds like I’m important to the little things life like family and friendships. We’re always awake flying through sunrays but resting at night underneath the moon. We have a normal sleep cycle, so the rest of us must be as normal as people see us. My whole life my brother & I have been deemed opposites by nature family saying he’ll never amount to anything but you have the entire world in your hands or he’s too reserved yet you’re so outgoing you’d think the way they compare us that we ain’t family like we don’t come from the same womb. The way moths & butterflies are never seen as related but they come from the order “Lepi-dop-tera” meaning scales & wings the way my brother and I come from the same scars & wounds. People ask me: Is he slow? Why doesn’t he say much? Does he have friends or ever come outside? My response is: Don’t you know some moths live their best lives inside of a home? Because it’s safer than being attacked on the street? My mother calls his hole limbo. Says he’s cold blooded. Got demons sleeping in him beneath his ribcage but we share the same skin, so I know his demons better than him, they are rejected light & he bares so much in him because moths are only cold blooded when stationary. It’s when they take flight that it becomes warm. He doesn’t deem his inner glow worthy enough to navigate his life by & I see his confusion when the light starts to bulge through his skin. Like growing pains. Like getting to know yourself. Like accepting yourself. But how can anyone expect a moth to find its way to the sun if it’s never seen light’s face before? Our mother designed him the path but our father never cared enough to show him how to navigate it. But I’ve always been my brother’s keeper, keeping him from running into the porch light, the computer screen on the nights I break my sleep cycle, burrow myself into the ground just to witness his laughter break the silence. His smile becoming the strongest force to light up the sky. No one sees him, but I do because like moths and butterflies we share the same skin. |
About the poet
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ZenChristian Mott is a 23-year-old poet, spoken word artist and instructor. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia but Florida, specifically Jacksonville and Tampa have become home. ZenChristian is a recent graduate of the University of South Florida with a BA in Psychology and Creative Writing. In 2016 she started slamming at Wespoke Slam Show in Tampa and went on to make the 2017 slam team. In the summer of 2017, she traveled to Louisville, Kentucky for the Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam and to Denver, Colorado for the National Poetry Slam. Wespoke is currently ranked 12th in the region and 13th in the nation. ZenChristian finished out her last semester of undergrad as President of the most diverse open mic on campus called The Poets at USF. Now she works for the university and is one of the two 2018 Writing Trainers for Heard Em Say Teen Poetry here in Tampa, FL.
Instagram: @everything_zenchristian Website: https://www.zenchristianmott.com/ |
