It boils up
within until it’s spat out
Takes the shape of your own dark reflection on the ground
or the form of a door slam.
It speaks softly and lives secretly on the skin and
behind the eyes
(you’re alone)
(u are)
begging fa air tuh
Breathe.
Tuh Breathe the denseness of falseness
It has an odd way
of weighing you
down but also lifting yuh up
above everyone and errything from a dizzying height
And smudging the inner walls of yuh head
w/ colorful lies
and colorless truths
Let me be at
peace.
Let me
be on the
ground and
light again.
Let me live in the center of myself
where I am never alone.
Mustafa '23 is planning on majoring in Sociology with a double minor in Africana Studies and Creative Writing. While he's the editor for the Op/Ed section for The Muhlenberg Weekly, he's also an advocate for marginalized communities, specifically for queer communities and communities of color. He's also a lover of poetry and plans on going into a career of journalism post-college.
