For Ashley...

Pretty/black/queen
Gap-toothed
Her eyes they are truth
Her mouth spits fire
Spoken words about her mommy in heaven in class
It caught me off guard
She has lived a life harder than a thousand women
Never flash or fake or fall, you are blessed from beginning
Wish I could have birthed her from my womb
No need to pray I know she will grow into a woman powerful beyond measure
So young, once viewed life as a tomb
Sometimes she operates as timid as a mouse
But she is a beast shooting threes and taking charges in front of the house
...with grace

Thoughts swirling in her mind, a painful past grabbing at her
Scared she feared/shame
I revere you ‘cuz even when she didn’t have to, she chose to live life
‘Cuz life for her has been lost and cold and scary
As weary as her days without a home on the street
Could've turned into a lion
Strong enough to remain a sheep

In another life you must have been an empress holding her own
Jewels adorned in her crown, soldiers lined at her thrown
In this life you are more than a broken woman of 18
More than anyone’s definition, not a statistic, you are a queen
More than paperwork and court cases
As social workers and counselors they flip through your pages
As adults ignore the pain in your eyes
No need to look for a safe haven…Make this world your paradise

NAVIGATE THROUGH THE CHAOS...

I decided on an affirmation to help me carry out my plans for the 2nd half of 2011. I have much in store for the summer and the fall. This transition has been some years in the making as I stop giving my energy out without properly replenishing it. My life as an educator, woman, mother, friend and lover has often left me exhausted so I'm getting to a place where I am able to balance all if these things. I am excited for my creative projects brewing because they have put a light in me, a glow like no other. Anyway, back to the affirmation. I am content and more energetic because I am mastering navigating through the chaos: the chaos within me, my immediate surroundings and the world at-large. This summer will be the best one yet and the fall...well...I can't wait.

Wild Woman with Wild Hair and a Wild Mind

Getting ready to put together a chapbook of some poetry that I had tucked away in a drawer somewhere. The whole poetry scene has become watered-down and some of the creativity behind it has not come from a genuine place. However, I do what I do for me so I'm excited by the inspiration/motivation and nothing more. Getting ready for what I've decided to title. Wild Woman with Wild Hair and a Wild Mind. Much thanks to the men and women that I encountered at the Leeway Foundation's Writer's Network. Great Energy always feeds me.

Thankful for Encouragement

I recently had a talk with a good friend of mine about tapping into potential and upward mobility. We both agreed that we had to start picking the brains of the people who were in the positions that we wanted to be in. We also agreed that we would internalize the right moves and discard the wrong moves that we observed. I've been doing alot of that lately. It's always a humbling experience when someone gives you a word of advice, advises you on what actions to take and compliments and encourages without expecting anything in return. This is a great example of a right move to adapt.

A quote that inspired me after a Writer's Event I recently attended

If you’ve got art that’s helping people escape their problems, then you’re dealing with art that serves the interests of those who want to continue to oppress you… Art can be educational, it can show solidarity with others who are struggling. It can have a spirit of resistance or expose oppression and deal with institutions that don’t serve the community’s best interests
— Emory Douglas

FINALLY FINISHED... I call it "Bitch's Brew"

A POEM FOR MR. SCOTT-HERON...

 If you aren’t having no fun, die, because you’re running a worthless program, far as I’m concerned.”- Gil Scott Heron

Factory Nigger

They never could 
understood
Or maybe never tried
Called you a junkie and a genius
You opened my world through the Vulture and The Nigger Factory
A black man standing in the fields
Unafraid
Struck out on his own
Without apology
Without validation
Fuck 'em for painting you as a novelty
As an enigma 
And nothing more
How painful your world must have been
To be a survivor of the revolution
Waiting in the other world for us to turn our televisions off...