"Doppelgänger" - 3/05/17
a woman I admire told me she had a "sister-crush" on me today
as she ran her hand across my cheek and said she would
miss me, close as we've become our orbits intersecting
unexpectedly chats about our actual sisters, mothers, music, self-image
churning into a kind of holy commentary on
the more common tendency for women to be at odds with one another
I hear talk of this or that bromance and usually it's tongue-in-cheek a
deflection from actual intimacy but an impressive solidarity nonetheless
but in this blue light, we bask boldly in each other's surfaces my friend's
awareness of our similarities and soul-overlap constituting a kind
of secret redemption overcoming centuries of women
snickering cutting each other down competing
it shouldn't be "empowering" merely to assure each other we're worthy
And yet in our brief, beautiful confiding
that is exactly what it has been to look into each other's eyes
different sides of the same coin my whisper to your wail
to know soul is soul and womanhood is shared
courage is collective even when we're separated
I will look across the great expanse of stars and sky
grateful for our stratified insight
a woman I admire told me she had a "sistercrush" on me today
holding back a tear as though it was forbidden
to let herself be seen and respected by me, her quieter doppelgänger
