The Art of the Writer

Tue, 07/10/2018 - 09:32 -- mottley

When do you feel the most free?

“When I am alone”
 

What do you do when you are alone

“Ya know, the usual… I read, maybe dance, I writ...:”
 

Oh so you’re one of those?

One of those artsy chics

those carefree shawtysse

The ones who listen to Frank Ocean

at 1 in the morning,

with the windows down

in the middle of December
 

Oh so you’re one of those boys,

using big words and all those adjectives,

just to tell people what’s on your mind
 

Describing the simplest of feelings

with words like crestfallen and melancholy...

Why can’t you just say “I’m sad”?
 

Oh so you’re one of those black creatives eh?

The ones who write about black lives

And what it’s like to be black in america blah blah
 

Confessing your love for Angela Davis through rhythmic flows and afros

stretching in all different directions

with your fist pointed to the heavens

Calling upon your brothas and sistas to

fight the power…or as some may say fuck the system?
 

One of those liberals?

Leaning so far towards the left

that whenever you hear that 11 letter word

your blood starts to boil as you search for the right rebuttal to put that,

pesky Repu…

Oh wait, wok wouldn't want to ruffle those feathers of yours, now would I
 

With words like imbecilic and odious

In all caps you emphasize your dislike of “the other side”

and the ridiculous opinions of ALL others who dare to disagree
 

Oh wait, what are your pronouns?

I would assume you support the LGBTQ+ movement

You do believe that love is love right?

Disapproving of the gender binary

and its pinks and blues

Promoting gender equality as your pen secretes

colorful ink in hues of oranges, greens, purples, and all the other colors

in the rainbow
 

Please tell me you are one of those feminist.

Equal rights for women...

Remove the glass ceiling...

Don’t tread on me!...

I’d assume you believe in that.

 

Maybe you're one of those freedom writers

Ya know, the ones who promote global peace

Expressing the need for change

in today’s inadequate society

You brew up quiet storms a flick of your pen
 

Like one of those Long Beach students from Woodrow Wilson High

Writing under the instruction of Ms. Gruwell

To make the city a better place for you and for me?
 

Is that you

Which one of these people are you

Tell me which category do you fall in?

I must know

For they tell you:

“You can have one but not both.”
 

Check one box below

“But I do not fit in one box.”
 

I am a creative

A carefree black girl

Who’s curls stretch towards the heavens

calling upon the angels above

giving me the strength of those

who have walked these same grounds before me
 

Breaking barriers,

intersections that were once halted by bright red stop signs

now flow seamlessly in directions that were deemed off limits

labeled do not touch
 

I am the Malcolm X’s, Afeni Shakur’s, James Baldwin’s, and Nikki Giovanni’s

who used their vibrant vocabulary’s to preach words of radicalism

Words so sweet, curing every inch of self doubt that ever dared to infiltrate

the minds and souls of every brotha and sista
 

I am a freedom writer

telling stories of a better day

A day seeming so realistic

you nearly forget the current state of life in which you live
 

No.

I will not be stripped of my identity.

I will not be poked, prodded and manipulated

until I fit the mold you cast me to be
 

Yes I do write.

I am a writer.

Am I who you may think I am to be?

You will never know
 

One thing writing has taught me,

I can make you believe

I am whatever,

Or whoever I may want to be

Without you never ever feeling, knowing…
 

their she him we he her they…
 

me.

 

This poem is about: 
Me
My community
Guide that inspired this poem: 

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