Synesthesia
By Maureen P. Medina
The beauty of seeing colors in music or music as colors. The perception of togetherness, for there is no one without the other. So why is it that when you see color, you don’t see me? The sun beams down on us, reminds us of its power, but you won’t be humbled. You cling to the shadows and that is darkness I won’t tolerate
because souls fade into a gradient sorted by rose-colored glasses and they’ll burn you to ashes with their pointy hats and sticks or batons and tell you color is wrong, well. The only time white is right is when it’s a blank canvas, a clean slate unstained by your dirty mind.
Maureen P. Medina, a Filipina American, is the author of My Fears Out Loud and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She leads writing workshops, such as a virtual workshop she hosts monthly for Speak the Word, with the goal of healing, strengthening the mind-body connection, and normalizing fear. Maureen advocates for human and nonhuman animals, asserts that all oppression is connected, and—in alignment with the idea that none of us are free unless all of us are free (Fannie Lou Hamer)—hopes to inspire the pursuit of collective liberation with her writing.
Editors’ Note: Maureen P. Medina read “Synesthesia” during the virtual poetry event In This Together 2023. See the event recording here.
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