Barrier
Flagged - Words in Exile: Entry 2
This word was flagged by the U.S. government for erasure in 2025. Click Here. Or not.
barrier–string of fake pearls slung on a doorknob. who said you couldn’t just step over? a pigeon lands on the fire escape. mint grows through the chainlink.
the barrier’s just cardboard, wet. I peel it back. keep walking. someone spray-painted OPEN HERE- arrow pointing at nothing. my lipstick’s already smudged.
lace curtain, half-torn. sparrows fly through the gap. listen: the world keeps its appointments– jasmine sambac at dusk, a door propped with brick. this is what I’m saying.
"Barrier" a banned word
Threatens traps imprisons walls off
But poetic surrealism realizes
breaks through with
"lace curtain, half-torn.
sparrows fly through the gap."
And "a door propped with brick.
this is what I’m saying."
We are beyond barriers
Even when you ban saying "Barrier"
Woman. Women. Underrepresented women.