My body, My power 

That’s what they say anyways 

Beauty like a sunflower 

No matter how much we weigh. 

Beautiful from our head to our toes 

Including our mismatched curves 

What we wear is a form of expression, a way of life, and showing growth

It does not matter what you think you deserve 

I can’t control the uncontrollable 

Like the size of my chest or the size of my figure 

Your opinions are disposable, unlovable, unknowable 

They should be reconsidered, ‘cause they just make you sound bitter.

I won’t dress to make you happy 

OR do what you want me to do 

If I don’t want to do my hair, who cares if it’s nappy! 

But I live in a society where none of these messages get through. 

The way I sit is none of your business

Whether my legs are crossed or not 

If I’m taking up space, I’m sorry but I’m not asking for your forgiveness. 

I’m not the woman of your imagination, But of course, that’s something you never thought. 

My body, My power

So I’m going to do what I want and wear what I please 

Through every day and every hour 

I am a woman, who else agrees?

Behind the naked eye 

We are the same 

The way we cry 

It’s still the same because life is no game. 

Whether I am red, blue or black 

I am the exact same as you 

With that being said you are the same as me 

Beneath the flesh, you are no better 

So don’t pray on my downfall, cause I’m the best I can be 

So don’t be alarmed when I have on a dark sweater. 

We are built in the same skeleton 

Our veins carry the same blood 

The color of my skin is irrelevant

Just because I’m black, I get judged.

The color of my skin holds history 

People believing it's a sin to love someone who looks like me 

Certain features, Certain triggers, Certain chemistry 

People just like me always end “in memory…”

Family 

The people we grew up with 

The people you talk to happily 

The people who have loved you since birth. 

Love we grow up on 

Bonding awaiting to be learned 

The first portrait that you draw with those colorful crayons 

Unconditional love that comes unearned. 

A type of love that we possess 

A type of love that we inherit 

You will always have those people to caress 

And you don’t even have to declare it. 

The only people who will never leave your side 

The people who won’t turn their backs on you 

The grieving and pain TOGETHER when someone dies

The ones who entertain the fantasies we once knew.

Family 

The ones who have been there since the beginning of time 

Until the moment you close your colorful eyes.

An enticing escape

Yet selfishly destructive;

A fear grips my heart

As I take the step,

Prepared to fade

Into the distance,

Into nothingness.

 

A deafening silence

Surrounds me,

Encasing me

In the cage

Of self-created thought.

 

A silent plea to stop,

To return home,

Enters through

The open window

Of my mind.

 

I push it away

Denying any emotion

Wishing to forget

Hoping to be forgotten.

 

The end I sought

Now stands facing me,

A promise of liberation

From all endured

From all to come.

A new strength

Washes over me

Pulling me back,

A forgiven soul,

A forsaken wish.

Mama said don’t play with matches.

She told him not to touch those knives. 

So why is the world on fire, sweetie? 

Why are my ears haunted by their cries?

Can you hear my brethren screaming,

The poor children with bullet wounds? 

What happened to peace and harmony, honey? 

Who spawned Mother Earth’s doom? 

Are those dead bodies not enough? 

How many more children will it take

To break your impenetrable wall? 

When will you listen to your people’s pleas? 

Don’t you know that I lost my friends 

To those fingers that pulled the trigger? 

Don’t you know this problem 

Could not possibly get any bigger?  

So please listen to me before the next shooter snaps 

Before it’s your children’s blood that stains the concrete floor 

Don’t kill another sacrificial lamb

Just because you like your purses a tiny bit thicker.