Ties That Bind

from Speaking of Love by Ami Mattison

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lyrics

Ties That Bind

i.

two women talk and tie colored strings knotting unknotting the ends
bowline loop short-end sheet bend for unexpected complications
how to connect one thin piece to another secure yet easy to undo knot?

like skilled fingers knitting learned movements answers
are known yet unspoken things which is why
winding conversation is familar to me

they speak of binds of family and mixed blood thick
violent as ocean continental divide ancestral drift
and the silence
one woman says
I'm tired of living all the hard stories

her past lies as slithering pieces cut
and fallen or hanging still from her wrists

she quits the task making frayed parts fit

ii.

two women
my friend and my lover let silence hover like bad memories thought discarded
until the tug and pull of remembering slips tighter around their necks
how to slip free from this bind is as simple as swapping strings for cigarettes
letting smoke curl from their fingertips

they speak a language of long pauses and fingered objects

there are no secrets here

like the cut and burn of rough rope the tender tear
is enough and as much as a woman's hand bound
to my thigh and another to my breast and the weight of her touch
feels like healing

iii.

in my disbelief I have told tangled lies about my past
futile convolutions to obscure who I am and who
I might become

truth unwinds as threads of other women's survival and my own

throw me a rope

I will bind my body to your corded flesh
press my lips to your smothered breath
untie my past
ungag my tongue
I will speak our names

we can live
unbounded and let
loose voices
winded
carried
as secure faith
against
unwanted ties

credits

from Speaking of Love, released February 10, 2017
Written and performed by Ami Mattison

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about

Ami Mattison Nashville, Tennessee

“A spoken word force to be reckoned with” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Ami Mattison is “a powerhouse poet...sexy, funny, funky, and yet substantive." (TheTennessean).

Touring since 2002, Mattison has performed at various art venues, festivals, conferences, colleges, and universities throughout the US and Canada. ... more