Shekel

Vrajavala goundar a.k.a./Dr. Bobbi Anne White

Hiding in the ghetto
Secret codes
different modes
rituals, tattoos


Hidden meanings
Veiled
Secret passes
Locks everywhere


Heirlooms
From a dynasty


Stealing into my dreams,
Ancient past
Tortured each millennium
Memories that will last


This time,
no Christian, I,
no costumes hiding
my reality


shekels, locks tattoos
numeric codes
once was I
a jew


No new reality
Cast from the Emerald Shore
Bonds that lock
Behind the ghetto


Why would a wo/man
Have more than three?
When persecution
Is a reality

written Spring 2001 when I was writing Em-bhargho, after the tragic death of my sister Jeannette. These words appeared in my dreams. I had never seen the word"shekel" before and was surprised to find it in the dictionary.