The Brooklyn Rail

APRIL 2021

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APRIL 2021 Issue
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Nature’s survival Apparatus


If we could only stretch from the sand
And hold the sunset and be comforted in its warmth
Without drowning in the water
Oh how we would never hope to see the moon or the sunrise again
No man is an island but that's what it feels like
We will never know where we can be
If we are not willing to sacrifice
The risk to thread the unsafe water between two islands
Gives us no hope on what can be achieved
When we tend to lose touch
But never the sensation to feel
So it hurts
To find a new way to reinvent the invented
This is our survival apparatus
We are not supposed to live without touch
However, we have found a way to survive without it.
Because all we need to do is feel
A skill developed in the comfort of quarantine
When another human’s body can no longer provide you with comfort
We tend go back to our own
Despite everything
This flesh stands
Regenerated through generations
This body is instruction manual
And knows how to survive for its own
Our families have always known survival one way or another

Contributor

Camryn Bruno

Camryn Bruno is a 21-year-old spoken word poet, author and Curator at the Bowery Poetry Club. She has performed at the Brooklyn Library, The Apollo, The UN, The Public Theater, The Intrepid, The Apple Store and many more. Her poems explore women’s issues, social justice and community building and strives to help with Black women independence everywhere. 

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The Brooklyn Rail

APRIL 2021

All Issues