Bias and judgement are everything a poem by Carmela Coultier
ShareUnseen Lace
They see the heels,
not the history.
Whispers wrap round corners,
but never curve into context.
I am not your shameful shadow
nor a nameless sin to spit.
I wear my past like silk—
stitched with every no I swallowed
and every yes I owned.
Behind locked doors,
I’ve been confessor, mirror, muse—
a keeper of secrets
too heavy for daylight.
But still they point—
those untouched by survival,
draped in righteous fabrics
stitched by double standards.
They say:
You must not feel,
You must not think,
You must not dream beyond the cashmere sheets.
But I do.
I dream in rebellion,
with mascaraed grace,
and red-light resolve.
Because truth isn’t always
where the spotlight lands.
And I—
I am not your projection,
your guilt-cloaked fantasy,
your cautionary tale.
I am flesh,
and fire,
and full of names
you’ll never dare say out loud.
Carmela Coultier
march 2025
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