Hot summer days and warm nights pass by so quickly. You stop for a second and realize how much time has passed and wonder what you have done. What have you changed? What has changed in you? As the days roll by and the nights come and go in a flash, we dance, we write, we raise our voices, we act out our dreams and put pen to paper to conquer our deepest fears. We have been busy creating and recreating ourselves. But…sometimes it gets hard when you can’t find the words or your body won’t move the way you want it to. Sometimes it gets even harder when we can’t communicate with each other but want so desperately to be heard. Do you feel us? Do you know what we mean? Perhaps you have been there before? But, we keep pushing forward. Step into our world for a minute...
Hidden in Plain Sight
I notice a lot of people never notice me
I’m too silent and reserved
I don’t talk loud enough
I don’t walk slow enough
I don’t
I don’t
That’s all I hear
You don’t try, you don’t kiss, you won’t have sex, you won’t hold my hand
I always felt like an outcast
I never did anything right
I never kept my hair up
I never kept my nails done
I bit my nails
I can’t do my own hair
I’m not materialistic
I never knew to cross my legs when I sat
Hey, I didn’t even know that you were only supposed to wear black panties under white
All of these things were supposed to take away from my womanhood
But it didn’t
I am a woman
-Giselle
If not dance, then what?
If not me, then who?
Why would I smile?
When would I live?
Where would I shine?
If not me then who? who? who?
Searching for that forgotten feeling
that lost memory
that promise of forever
the chance to fill that bliss that love brings
white, blue, green
something borrowed: my body
something blue: the color of love
reaching a mutual understanding of life
something old: my soul
something new: me
--Br-yee
A young lady looking for dance trying to keep it near her heart
Trying to graduate from a young lady into a proud woman of happiness
Hoping to shy away from shyness and speak out so I can be heard
Keeping me and my family proud of me seems to be my main goal
And knowing that I will exceed it makes me feel good
To know that all that aside
I am just a girl trying to be a good woman
--Rijke
3 comments:
Women, I love the poetry! The performative prose suits the performative bodies, the performative identities. Thank you for sharing your innermost feelings and baring your vulnerabilities. It takes great strength to show your weaknesses.
Jah bless!
Patricia
Even those among us who may appear downtrodden and unassuming are blessed with gifts in body and spirit. Find, recogiize and utilize these gifts, for they belong not just to you, but to your family, your community and your fellow man. Nurture that which enables you to rise above the ordinary and become a catalyst in the expanding evolution of humankind.
Continue to shine your bright light. It is not in a locked box, but shines for all to see. You may never know the lives you touch and this is not important. Know that you have touched others.
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