Poetry

This words means many things.

Then again it can mean nothing.

But for me it has transcended me down an alleyway.

That has stripped me of my rough edges.

Grim looking face.

Plush exterior.

Large waiste.

Jiggly body.

The harsh words that have consumed me to a timeline of anger and hatred.

Poetry has kept me closer to who I used to be.

It also has guided to who I have become

Before I knew about bullying.

Crying because people said that they didn't like me.

Poetry was there for me when I needed it most.

Poetry was there to help smooth out my edges when mama said.

Please do something with your hair.

Poetry was there when my father said stop singing.

No one wants to hear that noise.

Stop singing you should choose a different dream.

Stop singing.

Because he did not want to hear a thing.

Poetry was there when I found out that my brothers hated me for the first few years of their lives.

It was there when I realized tha I didn't have anybody.

It was there when I had low selfesteem.

Covered in cocoa butter and licks of ice cream.

Poetry was here when I said I did not want to be.

Poetry changed my life so much that.

Instead of speaking...

I always put my pen to paper...

Because at least if it was tapered...

I could try to correct whatever was in my favor.

Poetry for me was a gate way...

To a realm of dreams that I did not know existed.

Poetry was my way of screaming without making a sound...

Because who would ever listen?

Poetry to me was a way for me to thank my mother and my father for my creativity...

Because who else passed this down to me?

Poetry was a way for me to express that...

Yes!

I do love my family.

That I love every shade of my red, blue, green, and yellow undertoned

Black family.

That I am proud to be strictly black.

That I am proud to be big and thick.

That I am proud be miss "Yes, I am kicking it."

That I am proud be the black American.

Always trying to thrive past the institutions that said I would never be better than...

Any of them.

Poetry helped me through understanding misogyny and mysogynynoir.

Poetry helped me to understand that I am the black woman no matter what shade.

That I am the black woman who is quiet.

That I am the black woman who tries to be polite.

That I am the black woman who has kept her eyes closed away.

So that no one could see into the darkest chocolatey brown orbs.

These deep dark chocolatey brown orbs that scream.

"What is wrong with me?"

These chocolatey brown eyes that scream.

"I am so sorry"

These chocolatey brown eyes that scream.

"Hello, remember I am still here, under this quiet, soft exterior."

Poetry to me was the way I would be able express my heart break.

My joy.

My anger.

My happiness.

It was able to change me for the good.

It gave me the one thing I loved and lost first.

My voice.