iōLit
  • Who we are
    • In Support of Black Lives and Voices: How You Can Help
    • Book Reviews
    • Love Yourshelf
    • Reading Night 2019
  • Submit
  • Issues
    • Volume 1
    • Volume 2 >
      • Featured Artist_Mia
    • Tales From Six Feet Apart >
      • Featured Artist_Ariane
    • Volume 3 >
      • Featured Artist_Jiesha
  • Online Publication
  • Editing Service
  • Store
  • Subscribe
  • More
    • Contact us

We Share the Same Skin

poem by ZenChristian Mott
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
Picture
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/
Picture

Home

Submit
Privacy Policy
Author's Rights/Terms of Agreement

Editing Service Terms and Conditions

Read​ with us

​Goodreads

Publications

Issues
Refractions

Support us

Instagram
Twitter
Donate
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Who we are
    • In Support of Black Lives and Voices: How You Can Help
    • Book Reviews
    • Love Yourshelf
    • Reading Night 2019
  • Submit
  • Issues
    • Volume 1
    • Volume 2 >
      • Featured Artist_Mia
    • Tales From Six Feet Apart >
      • Featured Artist_Ariane
    • Volume 3 >
      • Featured Artist_Jiesha
  • Online Publication
  • Editing Service
  • Store
  • Subscribe
  • More
    • Contact us