submission

if you stay still
and stay silent,
it will be okay

your silence
must not be
assertive,

nor your stillness
self-important

they must not
make any 
STATEMENT

signal
submission,
then things
will be okay,
no one will
hurt you

they will hurt you
but only so much

never more
than necessary

stitch

it is slow, this stitching 
of life together;
jaggedness everywhere

I am forever 
reciting, remembering,
reminding myself:

it is not
'blood is thicker
than water' but

'the blood of the covenant
is thicker than 
the water of the womb'

the fabric is stained
but the thread is strong
I fold the cloth over, resolute

gather my soldiers together 
in tight stitches
these new wars we will win