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v.j.m.

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calder

it’s not being hit

or thrown

or shoved

or shamed

or ridiculed

or bruised

or scarred

as much as it is the friends

that sat there

each

time

he assaulted me

in silence

or worse

with laughter

because we were drinking

or “[i] instigated it” by speaking up

and standing up

david to goliath

a woman to a man

my 180 pounds of flesh

to his 180 pounds of flesh

–it’s all justified

and glorified

when everyone turns a blind eye

and a deaf ear

as if i’m delirious

as if i’m the dullard

how can you go into town to protest

and come home to cheer on a tyrant

so i’ll be a recluse

i’ll go far away

i’ll disappear

so he can stay

Yoko Ono’s “Cleaning Pieces”

acehotel:

CLEANING PIECE I 

Write down a sad memory. 

Put it in a box. 

Burn the box and sprinkle the ashes in the field. 

You may give some ashes to a friend who shared the sadness. 


CLEANING PIECE II 

Make a numbered list of sadness in your life. 

Pile up stones corresponding to those numbers. 

Add a stone, each time there is sadness. 

Burn the list, and appreciate the mount of stones for its beauty. 

Make a numbered list of happiness in your life. 

Pile up stones corresponding to those numbers. 

Add a stone, each time there is happiness. 

Compare the mount of stones to the one of sadness. 


CLEANING PIECE III 

Try to say nothing negative about anybody. 

a) For three days 

b) For forty-five days 

c) For three months 

See what happens to your life. 


CLEANING PIECE IV 

Write down everything you fear in life. 

Burn it. 

Pour herbal oil with a sweet scent on the ashes. 


CLEANING PIECE V 

Let a list of arbitrary names come into your mind as you go to sleep. 

Say “bless you” after each name. 

Do this with speed, by keeping a constant rhythm, so, in no way, you would hesitate to bless them.

(Source: acehotel)