I'm a Growing Woman

Today, in NYC, the Dear Ms. Hill letters were shared. Fortunately, my letter was one of the ones to be selected to share with the world in celebration of the 20th birthday of “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”. It is still one of my favorite top albums to date. I really learned so much from it, even though I didn’t quite understand or experienced what she poetically expressed; still, it inspired me to read, write, and speak carefully. 💗💗💗


Dear Ms. Hill,

The album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill"  remains fundamental to my soul; a true element of what love, power, and pain is. It made me appreciate being black even more. It made me eliminate all labels and stereotypes and search for my own meaning of true self. It helped me create a definition beyond what I was and what I wanted to be and where I'll stand as a woman, a wife and a mother in this world. It was and still is like an "Introduction to Womanhood 101". I remember my mother exposing me to this course…

Diary of a Grieving Daughter: Journal Entries through Grieving Counseling
On May 9, I experienced the loss of a parent for the first time. It didn’t hit me until it was time to prepare for funeral arrangements, file insurance claims, and sort, and cancel or pay off remaining balances (e.g. utilities, properties, or any other outstanding account). Since this was all new to me, I thought, “what will be the easy and hard part about this process?” The actual loss or handling my father’s outstanding business matters. For me, like many others, it was the death. My father has always been particular when it came to his finances. He never cared too much about spending out of his budget or living above his means. I knew he was a frequent saver that always paid his bills as scheduled and didn’t care much about living off credit or borrowing. With this thought in mind, prior to our private conversation about his finances and burial arrangements, I was at ease about this process. I knew that there…

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…