Barefooted

I think I need to hear a woman
A beautiful and earthly woman
On some grey and wet Seattle afternoon
After we’ve made love and napped
Playing the fiddle on my porch
Barefooted
Her hair wild and natural
Her body warped in a sundress and sweater
....Yes....
I think I need this in a deep way
An ancient and genetic way
To recenter and heal these wounds
Not the physical
But the deep and dark emotional lesions
Generational lesions
Gashes going way
Back to the horse and buggy
Back to the emerald fields of Ireland
To the dozens of forefathers who came before me
Suffering and clawing
Fighting to feel something warm on their cheeks
Some semblance of leisure and art and free sex
Each passing a piece of his anathema
All of his God given maledictions onto the next
And finally onto me
The final weight bearer
The heir to a curse called poverty and ignorance

I need to hear this woman
I need to hold her tight
As she conjures up song after song
Healing melodies from earth's very core
Words and tones and lips that might just lift this curse
Finally and forever
As she teaches me humanity and love and ambition

TA Harrison is a writer and philosopher on the autism spectrum. A world traveler, a veteran of combat, and the product of an impoverished Midwestern home, TA has lived the life this poetry beautifully paints. Follow TA on Instagram @deadbeat_dinner_party