The Day Liberty Was Disrobed
The serrated voices of the mottled fear
in those syllables
the smattering cacophony,
the syntax and semantics of unspoken fear
as if everything which makes sense around you
except for you:
except for the voices in your head.
We plead them, hear us once
just once,
before they carve out the pointy conviction
and chiseled them to suit their needs
to mold it back in the cookie-cutter hold
caulked by the hands of this unforgiving world
carving out the words from your tongue
which is free and unabashed
my rusted tongue unable to form words
You hold nothing more than a muted opinion
falling on deaf ears standing on the curbside
stained by the blood of the unspoken and the untold
the collective conscious
living and breathing for generations
have lost their sanity
staying on the rim of the edge
of darkness and grim
a shade darker than
the limestone shade of death
How do you speak?
How do you voice your opinion anymore
when the epitome of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
the one which stands by the Golden Door
has been scratched and engraved
a playground for graffiti carved by the immoral hands
to satiate the unending hunger
the Cerberus of wanting
those who hold the leash to freedom
are now guarding our speech and thoughts
refining the solemn words
written for centuries
those with their slithering tongues
and taloned fingers
are scraping and scratching
the last bits of life
from our solemn statue—
the epitome of liberty.
BIO
Megha Sood is a Pushcart-nominated Award-Winning Poet, Editor, and Blogger from New Jersey. An Associate Poetry Editor at journals MookyChick (UK), Life and Legends (USA), and Partner in Literary project “Life in Quarantine” with Stanford University, USA. Over 600+ Works featured including Poetry Society of New York, American Writers Review, Kissing Dynamite, and many more. National Level Winner Spring Mahogany Lit Prize 2020 and Three-Time State-level winner of NJ Poetry Contest 2018/2019/2020. Recipient of Poet Fellowship from Martha Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing (MVICW) 2021. Co-Editor ( “The Medusa Project”, Mookychick) and (“The Kali Project, Indie Blu(e) Press). Author of forthcoming Chapbook ( “My Body is Not an Apology”, Finishing line press, 2021) and Full Length (“My Body Lives Like a Threat”, FlowerSongPress, 2021). Blogs at https://meghasworldsite.wordpress.com/ and tweets at @meghasood16
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