I'm a Growing Woman

PAD Challenge Day 30: Write a closing time poem.
P.M. (Poem Meridiem)
there is no final hour no shortage of pages there is no closure for black lyrics and I this is a lifetime “Con Te Partiro" with no whispering orchestra no choir mothering and fathering harmony no distance intervals waiting for the arrival of a fat lady to sing these verses come from the crevices of black bloody bones dismantling ungifted cycles these are gospel hymns that’ll never meet the top ten these are answered prayers rejoicing total praise with warm finger snaps, rounds of applause for the truth written boldly without a dare, a screeching glory, an uncertain Amen or a mumbling hallelujah these are side-by-side alphabet lovers walking page to page by faith these are syllables of grace taking the wheel of change to resurrect a discounted soul with no byline or necessary accolade in mind just pure joy riding shot gun through every beat per minute carefully around all life’s mountains and low-key valleys where the opened in…

PAD Challenge Day 29: Write a response poem.
The Variation of Dreams (after Langston Hughes’ Dreams)
Dreams are life Dreams are lungs breathing air twice
Dreams are songs you want to sing out loud Dreams are black skin wearing freedom proud
Dreams will make you cry Dreams will make you ask a million questions “why”
Dreams will make you sore Dreams will burn your fingers down to the core
Dreams will have the world laughing at you Dreams will have the world throwing cash at you
Dreams can be sabotaged Dreams can be camouflaged
Dreams can be manipulated Dreams can be stimulated
Dreams can just be a daydream Dreams can calculate a new mean
Dreams will never be, if you never be, The dreamer beyond the dreaming scene
D'Elegant One

PAD Challenge Day 28: Take the phrase “(blank) Wave,” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem.

Never-ending Wave

Children,
Heavenly born legacies;
Flowers with ancestral souls
Shifting a pastime of struggles
to triumph;
Seeking future with
every blink of an eye;
Practicing freedom with
every precious breath,
persistently growing to be
a new never-ending wave.

D'Elegant One

PAD Challenge Day 27: Write a story poem.

He Said, She Said He said when I’m not there,
his king sheets become ice cold
he feels black and blue all through his soul
his plate of insecurities eats him up, day and night
his temporary desires drinks him out of his pockets
He said ever since I cut him off
his common sense ain’t been right
he said sorry to press you only when
I’m sick and distressed
I know I’m a man in some ugly-pretty mess
I know we both want soulmates like
Nicholas Sparks’ Notebook
and Brown Sugar’s Sidney and Dre
I know we shared our pain
I know we shared our dreams
I know we shared Friday nights lights
and Saturday mornings like it was the end of our time
I know I’m still defining the man in me.
I know your still trying to trust and unravel your heart
again, after he broke it without reasons.
He said I know- I know,
I only call and text at my leisure
Invite you to dine, sip wine,
And share my music with me,
listen to your poetry, then I disappear
he said I know my heart is on freeze
li…

PAD Challenge Day 26: Write a relationship poem.
My Blood
I want my blood to stay thick Thick like the cotton king and gin of the south Thick like poetry slammed out of a poet’s mouth Thick like the cruel oil that fueled the Atlantic Slave Trade of my ancestors Thick like the black lives matter protesters Thick like constitutions, fighting between black lines  for liberty and justice for us Thick like asphalts, Blueprinted for all black everything to occur where no one can’t walk over us or we feel ignored Thick like cement shoes, But our feet ain’t the ones glued Thick like 8mm tire thread, rolling deep to lift one up drop another off to reap  Thick like curry oxtails in Caribbean stew Thick like black legacies saving the souls of HBCUs Thick like summer block parties lit by Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick Thick like Nina Simone's greatest hits Thick like Nana’s neckbones saturating loose leaves of collards greens Thick like melanin girls with Botswana hips and non-colla…

PAD Challenge Day 25: Pick an intriguing and/seldom-used word, make it the title of your poem.
SpottieOttieDopaliscious
She is goddess; a woman with a diameter heart for the black circumference. She distills latitudinal love from her scenic ocean. She can sporadic brown sugar and cream. She is free verses over southplayalisticadillacmuzik. Her natural roots story tells her spiraled life. Her emotions are abstracts engraved with caution tape. Her womb is a garden that bees try to colonize and buzz about. Her hips are sweet buttered sculptures. Her spirit is jazzy hip-hop beats baptized and equalized per the notes of her footprints..............................

D'Elegantone