“Purple Blouse” by Uzomah Ugwu
Uzomah Ugwu is a poet/writer, curator, and multi-disciplined artist. Her poetry, writing, and art have been featured internationally in various publications, galleries, and art spaces. She is a political, social, and cultural activist. Her core focus is on human rights, mental health, animal rights, and the rights of LGBTQIA persons. She is also the managing editor and founder of Arte Realizzata.
A purple blouse caught in between wires
A girl once wore while escaping a part of life
That froze in the heat
Bushes held images that still flee
Body parts mirrored in different sexes
She left because she couldn’t mention
Who she was in broken houses
A man is not a woman and a woman is not a man
Her people left her out at dawn
So by night, she ran
Not knowing how to exit but
only knowing why
She began leaving parts of her that
her culture and country denied
she found a way so she could be herself
and not question why
she held the road tight like a right of passage
she ran fast from what she knew so she could be
what she needed to become and grow like a rose
outside the fence to freedom
what got caught who knows but she needed to move on
and left the purple blouse and forget who she was
