Mystics by Hannah Siden

October 6, 2022
Poem name: Mystics Poet name: Hannah Siden Poem: Disabled people... are modern-day oracles. It’s time people listened to us. – Alice Wong We have seen the guts of humanity & tossed bones onto tables for fortune telling. Our scars — the fabric of our blackest nights — rip to reveal galaxies beyond. Don’t you want to know your future? Or did you always avoid that booth at the fair? The one where you entered a room behind a room; where incense fogged your way back. Come, let me tell you of the path ahead. I won’t pretend. It’s through marshes slow as flies on an August night. It requires an arsenal of machetes & rope you did not pack. It dampens your bones & weighs on your lungs, heavy as air before a summer rain. But come, be brave. Palms up. Let me speak of what I’ve seen. Eventually, when you pause on thepath, you’ll find the stars also shine more brightly than before. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Hannah Siden Hannah is a poet, writer and filmmaker living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, BC). You’re welcome to find her on Twitter @hannah_siden or at hannahsiden.com.