I know that April has come and gone so quickly. April is probably one of my favorite months for at least a couple of reasons. It is one of the first months of spring and spring is one of my favorite seasons right up there with fall. Spring is the time of year when we get out of our winter blues and it brings out all the flowers, nicer weather. Another reason why it is one of my favorite months is because it is National Poetry Month! And you know what that means for me as a poet. I honestly think that we need poetry months throughout the entire year, but that is just my personal opinion.
As many of you know by now poetry means the world to me. I came across it from a very young age. Whether it was reading everyone from Shel Silverstein to Dr Seuss and yes, I do consider them to be poets. Langston Hughes, Mary Oliver, Maya, Angelou, T. S. Elliot, Walt Whitman, etc. The list goes on and on. And as I have gotten older my repertoire of poets has increased. Everyone from Rupi Kaur, to R. H. Sin. That list goes on and on too. When I got to middle school that is when I discovered that I enjoyed writing poetry. It is when I was in 8th grade and we focused on writing poetry. I really credit Mr. Rose, my 8th grade English teacher for strongly encouraging me to write poetry.
From that moment on I was hooked on poetry. I do not know what I would do without poetry in my life. It really came and made my life better in a lot of ways. It encouraged and uplifted me. When I started off writing it was about my grandma’s experience moving from Arkansas to California and my green eyes then it evolved from there. For me poetry is deeply personal and it is like sharing a piece of my heart. Consider yourself lucky if I have shared poems with you.
I thought I would do something a little different. I thought I would share some of my favorite poets and poems. At the end of the post I will still share one of my poems. Lets kick off with some classics. Mary Oliver, Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Let’s start off there. With Mary Oliver I’ve got to say I have some favorites. One of her poems I have come to love a lot more recently is “Wild Geese.” She has a lot of other great poems like “The Journey,” “When Death Comes,” etc. I want to take a deeper diver into her body of work. Here is her poem “Wild Geese.”
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Another one of my favorite poet is Maya Angelou. She was one of the very early on poets I started following. I would say my favorites by her include “Phenomenal Woman,” “And Still I Rise,” and “Caged Bird.” Her poems are deeply personal and amazing in general. Here is her poem “Caged Bird.”
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
As in terms of more recent poets or contemporary poets I have discovered is Rupi Kaur. I was actually very fortunate to see her in person with my best friend when Rupi came to Portland. I do not know how I initially came across her. I think I kept on seeing her poetry come onto my feed on Instagram and then I started reading more of her work. A lot of her work is deeply personal and in a lot of ways I found myself relating to what she was writing. I would say I have a lot of favorite pieces by her. Everything from “legacy,” to “you are too late,” “the underrated heartache” and “friendship nostalgia.” She writes what people consider to be Instapoetry. The poems you see constantly on Instagram. I like how she does poetry and drawings. She is super talented in that way and that makes her stand out. Here is her poem “friendship nostalgia” that makes me think of my best friend who I went with when I saw Rupi Kaur read her poems in person. I love you so much Marcia.
i miss the days my friends
knew every mundane detail about my life
and i knew every ordinary detail about theirs
that us
the walks around the block
The long conversations when we were
too lost in the moment to care what time it was
when we won and celebrated
when we failed and celebrated harder
when we were just kids
now we have our very important jobs
that fill up our very busy schedules
we compare calendars just to plan coffee dates
that one of us eventually cancels
cause adulthood is being too exhausted
to leave our apartments most days
i missing knowing i once belonged
to a group of people bigger than myself
that belonging made life easier to live
Okay, I know this post is super long, but bear with me. I am featuring one final poet R. H. Sin. And I know that he is a poet I have not talked about before. I would group him into the the same category as Rupi Kaur. I think I started coming across his work on Instagram. I would consider it the Instapoetry category. His work is deeply personal too. A lot of his poems are short and simplistic, but he still gets his words across. He has a lot of poems I like and a lot of them are featured on his Instagram. I cannot name any of them, but I will still share of my favorites that I came across more recently. Here it is.
You see, here’s the thing. Anyone who expects
you to settle for the bare minimum that they are
seemingly only capable of giving will never truly
love you in the way your heart needs and
deserves. I know it’s so easy to choose or go
back to what feels familiar but if that feeling is
not something that makes you feel completely
loved and genuinely desired then it’s time to do
something different.
Old roads will not lead you to something better
and the people who are comfortable with
providing less will never match your effort or be
in a position to do more of what you need.
This year is about releasing what no longer
belongs in your life. This year is about freeing
yourself from the chains of settling for less than
you deserve.
I hope that you can get a glimpse into why I love poetry. It is something that be so deeply personal. I love sharing poetry whether it is from one of my favorite poets or one of my own. It is a special bond and I am lucky enough to share that bond with my own friends and family, including my mom and closest friends. I remember I struggled with a poetry class I took in college because we had to share poems and we would critique each other’s work. Like I have said before, a lot of my poetry I write is deeply personal and to have people look at that and critique it was challenging. I remember everything from writing about my grandpa’s death to writing an elegy for my dad’s friend who died. We had different subjects to talk about from childhood memories to other things. My favorite parts was sending them to my mom for her feedback because I trusted what she had to say. In a lot of ways that helped us become closer. On that note I will share one of my own poems that I wrote a lot more recently. Cheers and I hope that you have enjoyed this post as much as I have.
Poetry as a Lifeline
You gave me a clean conscious and slate
To start over again. It is like everything in
My mind and things piled high on my plate
Have suddenly disappeared. You have been
There constantly through the highs, lows
And everything in between. You gave me
Every breath and you gave me every rose
When all of mine faded and died. You see
Me standing there and made me realize
That I am never alone. You are my lifeline
Day in and day out. You made me alive
When I am barely there. Like a skyline
Above my head you are there on every
Single page being the closest thing I got
To perfection. You see every core memory
I choose to share like a diary entry. I forgot
What life was like without you. So to you
I am grateful. You make my heart less blue.
Tag: maya angelou
Disrespect of Women
There are so many topics we all get sick and tired of hearing about. One of those is the disrespect of women, especially with the whole thing around Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein. It is the 21st Century, but it makes me feel like we are back in the ’50s or something because we are still treating women with disrespect almost every single day. It makes me sick and tired because women deserve better. We have to do a better job as a country and as a nation to take better care of our women. After all, we come from women, so what gives us a right to disrespect women? Tupac pretty much says it the same way. He says “A woman brought you into this world, so you have no right to disrespect one.” And he pays homage to them in his song “Keep Your Head Up” where he raps about how women should be treated better. Here is a sample from that song. “And since we all came from a woman/Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman/I wonder why we take from our women/Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?/I think it’s time to kill for our women/Time to heal our women, be real to our women/And if we don’t, we’ll have a race of babies/That will hate the ladies, that make the babies/And since a man can’t make one/He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one!/So will the real men get up/I know you’re fed up ladies,/But keep your head up/(Keep ya head up) Oooh, child things are gonna get easier/(Keep ya head up) Oooh, child things’ll get brighter/(Keep ya head up) Oooh, child things are gonna get easier/(Keep ya head up) Oooh, child things’ll get brighter…” So he is telling women to keep their heads up and telling the guys to respect women.
It really disgusts me how we can elect a president who disrespects women every day with rape, sexual harassment, etc. The list goes on and on. One thing about respecting women is believing them when they step forward and speak up about those things I just mentioned. That support needs to happen right now. That starts with women respecting other women. I know society has taught us to tear each other apart and to speak bad about each other. That all needs to stop. In other words, we need to have a strong community of women. Sophia Nelson says it like this. “Be a woman other women can trust. Have the courage to tell another woman direct when she has offended, hurt or disappointed you. Successful women have a loyal tribe of loyal and hones women behind them. No haters. Not backstabbers or women who whisper behind their back. Be a woman who lifts other women.” If we start there we can just do about anything. To continue more about this I want to throw in one similar like the one above, which I got from Amber Riley’s story on Instagram (she was in the TV show “Glee”). She wrote “Part of my 2018 focus will be creating deeper roots with my girls we really do need another creating a safe environment where we all feel we can share triumphs and failures.” In other words we need to make it safe for every woman.
I wrote this post purposefully almost exactly a year after the Women’s March. We went and participated in one in Oakland. It was such a wonderful experience. We went to another one this year (it was yesterday in fact). It was a wonderful turnout at this one and at other marches across the country, even across the world. I think the way to stop all of this disrespect is to continue to speak up, protest and do whatever it takes to be heard because like I said, it is something I get tired of hearing about. In fact, we should not even be talking about it today, but we are! We are going to continue to talk about it always. To quote my hero Maya Angelou “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” So in other words, once one woman or in this case, one group of women, can stand up for all women. It takes a lot of work, but I know we can do it. So here is to the end of the disrespect of women although there are many other groups that are disrespected like immigrants, Blacks, Latinos, etc. and we should not forget that. Enjoy and march on!! I am with you all!
The Disrespect of Women
Women of every race, religion, shapes and sizes
Getting mistreated everyday, not making the same
Amount of money that men are. We are no prizes
To anyone but ourselves. When we have no game
Or hustle, but we bust our asses off just to get food
On the table and make a name for ourselves. Catcalls
From the street when we just simply walk by. Nude
Bodies admired when we are a size zero, but falls
Short when we have any extra body fat. Being called
Bitches and whores when we show off too much skin.
Being threatened, beaten, blackmailed or being hauled
Away when all we said was no thank you. When we grin
We are too easy. When we are frowning we are told to
Loosen up and smile. When we are supposed to please
Men and never ask any questions of why? The queue
Of men allowed to abuse and rape us repeatedly. Sleaze
Balls staring at us and asking us for our numbers when
We said we are not interested or already have a man
At home. They think they can write all over us with pen
Like we are their property and thinking they think they can
Hit us all they want to because we are small fragile creatures.
They lecture us when we have sinned and are too much of
A temptation for men. They think they become preachers,
Luring us into traps. We are told we are not worthy of love
Or respect when we want to be alone and without anyone
Else. Those lies we are being fed will always be outrun.
Getting mistreated everyday, not making the same
Amount of money that men are. We are no prizes
To anyone but ourselves. When we have no game
Or hustle, but we bust our asses off just to get food
On the table and make a name for ourselves. Catcalls
From the street when we just simply walk by. Nude
Bodies admired when we are a size zero, but falls
Short when we have any extra body fat. Being called
Bitches and whores when we show off too much skin.
Being threatened, beaten, blackmailed or being hauled
Away when all we said was no thank you. When we grin
We are too easy. When we are frowning we are told to
Loosen up and smile. When we are supposed to please
Men and never ask any questions of why? The queue
Of men allowed to abuse and rape us repeatedly. Sleaze
Balls staring at us and asking us for our numbers when
We said we are not interested or already have a man
At home. They think they can write all over us with pen
Like we are their property and thinking they think they can
Hit us all they want to because we are small fragile creatures.
They lecture us when we have sinned and are too much of
A temptation for men. They think they become preachers,
Luring us into traps. We are told we are not worthy of love
Or respect when we want to be alone and without anyone
Else. Those lies we are being fed will always be outrun.
True Colors
Everybody knows that song by Cyndi Lauper “True Colors.” If you do not what I am talking about, the chorus goes something like this:
“And I’ll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that’s why love you
So don’t be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful
Like a rainbow…”
Of course seeing someone’s true colors is not always that bright and peachy. We wish it would happen that way, but the truth is that it does not. I have to admit that I learned it the hard way. Sometimes you have to be careful when someone shows you more than two versions of themselves. There is usually one version of themselves when they are out in public in front of others and then the other version of themselves is when they are in a private place or with loved ones they trust. Then there are some people (a rare coincidence I believe) who are always the same. Some people have a need to hide behind masks, but that is for another time.
One of the worst parts is when you get to know someone and you think you know their true colors, when the truth is that you do not. That is one of the worst feelings in the world and trust me, I know that all too well. There is this quote by Maya Angelou (one of my favorite people who sadly passed away at least a few years ago) and she says “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” I love that quote and I have kept it close to my heart after one of my aunts told me this quote (I did not know that it was Maya at the time). I want people (who are reading this) to keep that quote in mind because there will be a time where you come across a person like that. I know it is hard, but you have to believe them the first time because you may try to deny it all you want, but that is who they are. People have to be careful because there could be that one person who they love and admire so much, but it may be a different story when you get to know them in a more private setting. All of a sudden, they are a completely different person and they are not always who they are cracked up to be.
I hope my readers keep this in mind as sometimes word travels around and you have to think about who to trust. The people around town? Yourself? Or the person you thought you knew? I hope that everybody chooses wisely and keep believing in whoever you trust the most. I know that I have said before that everybody has imperfections, but sometimes you cannot get past them. So this goes out to my readers, whoever you are. I that you all find someone who is not afraid to share their true colors with you and I hope that you are able to do the same with them (as long as it is safe and healthy). The person (or in this case I think it might be plural) who I wrote this about is a combination of different perspectives and situations. It was not ideal, but I have learned a lot from the experience with them. Learn to trust (always) and happy reading!! P.S. Since we are on the theme of true colors, I will add another poem in the mix as well.
No Hero
It was a hard pill to swallow
Because the truth hurts and
All I wanted to do was follow
In your footsteps. The sand
Was sinking me down
Until I could no longer stand.
I felt like I was going to drown,
But there was nothing I could do
To stop the whispers in this town.
Everybody was speculating and you
Were living up to the hype.
I was starting to feel like the new
Girl around these parts. I had to wipe
Away my tears before you saw
Me as weak. I was not your type
Of girl. I used to be in awe
Of you until I saw all of the ugliness.
You were no shiny medal. The flaw
In the both of us was heartless.
And the darkness of the situation
Was twirling off its axis.
Nothing was turning out to be certain
Like I thought it was going
To be. Nobody clearly won
This battle. It does have a lot of sting
Because you meant so much to me,
But we were both down to our last swing.
I could no longer let you see
Things from my perspective because
Everything had to stop and cease.
I paid no attention as each person’s jaws
Dropped to the floor because I never
Cared enough for their claws
To sink into us and pin me as the enabler.
Their golden and bad boy could
Never disappoint them. Your honor
Was never real. How I wish you would
Show the world who you really
Are and how the bad outshines the good.
People always viewed you as godly
And perfect. While I am just
An ordinary girl and I was barely
Hanging on as I was. I wanted to trust
You enough so you would never break
Me into pieces, but I was turning into dust.
Your True Colors
My feelings were hidden from view.
I never wanted to hide what
I was feeling away from you.
Deep down in my gut
And intuition was the truth
That everything was going to cut
Me deep. It did nothing to soothe
My irrational fears of you leaving.
It turned out that I saw your true
Being and colors shining
On through. I prayed for some
Miracle. I thought it would bring
You and I back in rhythm like a drum.
We got out of sync and you were no
Longer a part of this dance. I feel numb.
You and I were supposed to go slow,
But I got ahead of myself and wanted
Too much. You gave me this glow,
But it has all dimmed. The wall
That I built is going back up.
I am left wandering
This world while I suffered the blowup.
You did not have to suffer as much as I did.
You just went on like this was no breakup.
You went off the map and grid.
You vanished and disappeared altogether.
We could do nothing to stop this skid.