The She In We

What gives me the strength to have my body kissed by the sun

When sometimes all I really want to do is die

You see sometimes I am not strong enough to be weak before myself

Lay my heart as an offering to my future self

The woman I shall become

So don’t worship me for I am not yet a Queen

But perhaps that the greatest ideal of royalty

Not realizing your own strength

I have been used, worn, frayed at the edges

But I reclaim myself in the arms of my sister’s

Whose words glue me back together again

And though my fingers bleed

Still I pray on

In my years I have known incredible joy

But I have also known pain

My lips have been bruised

My heart has been bruised

But I am still HERE

Standing tall

Beautiful and free

So don’t pity me because the width of my thighs

Don’t measure up to your predictions of beauty

They made eulogies before my birth

To wash away your spit and filth

You see you don’t scare me

I am a BLACK panther when you look at me

I will send incantations of ancestral sounds

And blaspheme with the rhythm of my native tongue

Usambondibvunza kuti ndataura chi

And don’t dare ask me to translate

And my feet

The soles of my feet

Are not soft like maiden hands that sleep in gloves

The soles of my feet are thick with my story]

And my skin has scars

Patchwork quilt of memories

And even though the wounds have healed

Still there is an aching where they tore at me

You see

I used to want to hang the skin I am in

Put it up for auction to the highest bidder so I could get rid of myself

But I changed my mind

I LOVE MYSELF
realizing that there is only one woman worthy of being me

Only one woman worthy of telling my story

So take me as I am

Scars

Bruised lips

Broken heart

Courage

Faith

Dreams unborn

Womb level they grow

And as they grow

So do we

When we celebrate the She in We

True Queens

Royalty.

from my poetry collection “Soul Psalms” 2016