The Bridge Poem
Donna Kate Rushin.

 I've had enough 
I'm sick of seeing and touching
Both sides of things 
Sick of being the damn bridge for everybody  Nobody 
Can talk to anybody
Without me 
Right? 
I explain my mother to my father my father to my little sister 
My little sister to my brother my brother to the white feminists 
The white feminists to the Black church folks the Black church folks 
To the ex-hippies the ex-hippies to the Black separatists the 
Black separatists to the artists the artists to the my friends' parents. .
Then I've got to explain myself 
To everybody 
I do more translating 
Than the Gawdamn U.N. 
Forget it 
I'm sick of it 
I'm sick of filling in your gaps 
Sick of being your insurance against 
The isolation of your self-imposed limitations 
Sick of being the crazy at your holiday dinners 
Sick of being the odd one at your Sunday Brunches 
Sick of being the sole Black friend to 34 individual white people 
Find another connection to the rest of the world 
Find something else to make you legitimate
Find some other way to be political and hip 
I will not be the bridge to your womanhood 
Your manhood 
Your human-ness 
I'm sick of reminding you not to 
Close off too tight for too long 
I'm sick of mediating with your worst self 
On behalf of your better selves
I am sick 
Of having to remind you to breath
Before you suffocate 
Your own fool self. 

Forget it  Stretch or drown  Evolve or die  The bridge I must be  Is the Bridge to my own power I must translate My own fears Mediate  My own weaknesses I must be the bridge to nowhere  But my true self  And then I will be useful.

..not my future

"Recent improvements in data collection offer
unprecedented insight into the romantic partnerships
of disadvantaged men, revealing higher levels of instability,
complexity, and commitment than previously understood.
Young disadvantaged men are often involved in
casual romantic relationships that result in pregnancy.
When this occurs, most men remain involved with the
mother, are optimistic about the future of their relationships,
and are committed to their children. Economic
disadvantage, incarceration, conflict, and mistrust undermine
the stability of these relationships, however, and
most end within several years after the birth. New romantic
relationships begin shortly thereafter, creating complex
family structures. We know less about the patterns
of interaction between couples that produce unstable
partnerships or about the nature of romantic relationships
that do not involve children. With our growing understanding
of the presence of fathers in nonmarital households,
policy-makers must adapt their policies to support,
rather than undermine, these fragile unions."

A YEAR AGO THIS WOULD HAVE MADE ME CRY! NOW I JUST SHAKE MY HEAD AND PRAY THAT THIS WILL NOT BE MY FUTURE #carryon