Burn
You, girl, with eyes like glowing fire, with lightning woven into your bones, with gears turning and grinding too fast and too bold, we need you quiet. Don’t you know your voice is kindle in fire that will burn you to the ground? Don’t you see the way we build empires on the white flag of your broken spine? We only tell stories of the women who bow at our feet, kiss us clean. The rest we bury. The rest we leave behind. If you burn, we will spread your ashes over all the others. They will not find you. We like you best unmarked, unseen, unheard. So quiet
down, keep close, wipe the war stripes from that pretty little face. You have always been good. You have always been kind. Burrow into what you know, you are better when you stay within the lines. We are on your side, singing love songs while we paint targets on your back, anchoring our sailboats to your ribcage, we watch you laboring over seeds and laugh as we pull petals from what later blooms. You, girl, with head held too high, with a mouth that will not smile, we need surrender. We like you when you’re easy the kind of disappearing act that never comes back. So quiet down, or you won’t make it out alive.
Morgan Flitt, Marketing Intern for Nourish
Morgan Flitt is a current senior at UNC-Charlotte studying marketing and sociology. She has found her love in the performing arts and in poetry since she was in high school, and has only recently returned to both crafts. She joined Nourish at the beginning of January and has been inspired by the fiercely feminist, unapologetic she works for and around. Nourish has given Morgan the gift of inspiration, providing the space, support, and encouragement to bring her full self to work each and every day. The second poem is for the warrior women she has met throughout her life, but specifically the warrior women at Nourish.