I'm a Growing Woman

PAD Challenge Day 30: Write a goodbye poem. The Transition  The hardest goodbye was holding my father's warm hand for the last time.  After  he reached for me,   he called out the  angels  by name in the room. He shared his last words the night before. Something like, "They are waiting. I'm sorry, I can't stay. I'm sorry you can't go, but I promise to come back for you." The morning after, everything was silent, even the bird outside the window that  watched me  during the final hours. The only music to my ears  was  the ventilator, the dropping blood pressure, and the c-pap machine. I rather play the Motown music he requested the night before just so that he could sing to me and smile a smile that mirrors mine again. Or talk about the wedding that he wanted to pay for and dance at with me to Run DMC in classic, fresh Addidas. He even said, "Only one of my brothers or your brother can give  you away. If you have children,

PAD Challenge Day 29: Write an evening poem. 6 to 8 From six to eight I wine down with springtime. I may rest by it's dandelions and lilacs- better yet, cuddle by it's budding roses just to wake up and say I smelled them again. If not too fatigue, I may lend it's tree trunk my back, so Spring's breeze can hug my hips and kiss my lips while the Phoenix soul of me lay mellow in a mutual union with jazz fusions. Before my eyes send the sun off to the west, I borrow what little energy and jubilation my bones and melanin are authorized to use to push a prayer for today among the clouds. Because today was more than a good day, because I watched it rollover into a thick, shameless, beautiful black night; smooth like me, with a heart full of moonlight and a little youth for tomorrow. D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 28:  Write a remix poem. The Haikus of Mother Nature (A Nonet Remix) I am your womb of flowers and light Pure water finessing your life Passionate flames of warm love Gales of clear energy Full of bright starlight Throughout mornings Afternoons And late Nights D'ElegantOne  Footnote: I remixed the poem, "The Haikus of Mother Nature", from PAD Challenge Day 22 into a nonet poem. :-)

PAD Challenge Day 27:  Write a Believe and/or Don’t Believe poem. city of peace if heaven had visiting hours, i believe all visitors would extend their stay or not leave at all. Make Believe My heart is too real for the make believe. These rhythms of love can't fake it til they make it. They rather go without a war, and sit in self-love within me than self-pity with you. I'm too full of life to secretly lay down  in a bed full of lies and deceit. And I don't wanna look alive on stage then close a door to see a piece of me expiring  on the floor. I have no interest in fairy tales either. They sold white lies to my black youth and never apologized. When, in au naturale, I'm really too comfortable to play dress up because my spirit is a Monarch butterfly. And my credit too excellent, for me to profit from business relations in a glass house where the writings on the wall will eventually show and tell to say deduct the charades

PAD Challenge Day 26: Write a "Blank" world poem. As the World Turns Look at us, Spinning and spinning, On this merry-go-round of life. Is it too good that we can put our hands up without free falling and getting bruised? Or is it too bad that we  can't  feel the vibrations? We're only in control of our lives- well, of what little we can control. No hands. No grips on this gravity. Gravity is on it's own- holding us down more than the brothers and sisters next to us. Should we be surprised? About how abomination turning parallel with us? Even the seasons are not fair in their periods of time. I'm surprised God hasn't turned Earth upside down yet for at least 7 days straight for us to get it straight in another new space. I'm surprised the continents are not in flames instigating pure hell in memory of evil. I'm surprised the oceans haven't drowned us with their blues or made us choke, possibly overfill our u

PAD Challenge Day 25: Write a thought poem. Caption Bubble I wish I could check into your mind. I would walk barefooted  and tender through your daily meditations; Recite the music in your head; Roll around in your wit; See what you see; plant happy thoughts in your plans; taste your entrée of dreams then skip down to your photogenic memory lanes of pleasure and pain. I would expunge all of your brokenness in exchange for alleviating lyrics while the sun set in your eyes. If I could I would color me in as your sweetest daydream. I would ride your emotional roller coaster just to silence your doubts and  extract your fears. Softly, I would stike a nerve to activate your senses until you are no longer puzzled about the art of you. D'ElegantOne

PAD Challenge Day 24: Write a question poem. What If…? What if the shoe was on the other foot and Native Americans invaded Europe and colonized your country? What if they assassinated ninety percent of your people? Enslaved your kin on your own homeland made you face ethnic cleansing and called it Manifest Destiny What if they named a Chief from every tribe as your Founding Fathers? Would you feel Thankful at Thanksgiving? Would you feel independent on Independence Day? Or full of mourning after a Trial of Tears?   What if the tables were turned and African Descents formed an alliance with Native Americans Rowed boats like the White Lion and Clotila to the coast of Europe Set up ports to kidnap your precious white men, women, and children Cramped and pinned their malnourished and dehydrated bodies down to foul floors Humiliated your men Raped your mothers and children back-to-back across the Atlantic until settled in the New

PAD Challenge Day 23: Write an appointment poem. Every SunDay With You Same place Maybe not the same time But I'll be there to glow with you Bask under your glorious beams Tango and merengue with the life of our reflections  Calculate my  rise over run Gift my morning and evening prayers to you Borrow your warmth  to shield my heart from the cold wars of the world For the seconds or days you'd hide your rays I'll color the circumference of my heart yellow-orange until you reappear Front and center Touching my soul with optimism in hope of another  sunny day. D'ElegantOne

PAD Challenge Day 22: Write a nature poem. The Haikus of Mother Nature As Earth I am your womb of Flowers sustenance and light Your halo for life As Water The life of me, for you, replenishes freely to finesse your cool As Fire Passionately, I transpire love and light to warm the heart of you As Air High inspirations to your respirations and cheerful energy. As Space Full of starlight, so bright throughout your mornings, noon, and early late nights. D'ElegantOne

PAD Challenge Day 21: T ake the phrase "(blank) Me," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.  Color Me In blank spaces Let me be your canvas Align your gifted hands along my motherland curves Gently rest me above your easel Go easy with my prime Take this still life of mine from primary to tertiary colors Let the birth of this love abstract welcome Renaissance  and Impressionism Fear nothing in line Get out of control Design your heart  symmetric to mine Dip and dap in  quick-quick  slow motions  across every inch of me Halt your internal touches  Resume  in your ideal right angle Turn me carefully acute then obtuse Brush all the plain away                             Color me happy                Color me joy                              Color me beautiful Gift me appellation for the world to love in the honor of your name D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challengd Day 20: Write a love and/or  hate poem. From the Bottom of My Heart Sincerely My dear If I say I love you I mean it from the bottom  of my heart to my aorta I'll show it with rhythm and blues and rich, thrashing reds Forever  My dear from my upper  and lower flows through my elations  and woes  You're  locked in these chambers  of love The Hate You See Everyday it's getting so good society is becoming so great at it like it's safe, a life challenge that requires effort or a trend that people should keep in rotation It's getting so damn good that people don't even have to say I hate anymore Can't you tell? Look at the blood getting thinner The water getting milky It's so raw, Grade A, almost one hundred percent at showing the ugliest feelings You don't even have to read between the lines It's boasting and sprouting, Swirling and sprinting You can easily turn it on or turn up to turn on with it Quickl

PAD Challengd Day 19: Write an animal title poem. Blackbirds If we were blackbirds Not royal African Descent Could you would you Attempt to steal our crowns Wring our tails Stretch our wings Clip to oppress then tie us down If we were blackbirds not black men, women,  and children Would you could you Call our black beauty  what you call it now Mistake our magic as a sign of death Toss itty bitty crumbs to Detain us for your wealth If we were blackbirds Not black diamonds and pearls Would you could you Bill us for our bills Try to shoot us down Silence our morning hymns Nix our midnight calls Or lock us in cages Until our totem power and vibrations are nowhere to be found D'ElegantOne

PAD Challengd Day 18: Write a an ekphrastic poem. b&w In monochrome,  of true equality, I see a big, beautiful, black woman with permanent black girl magic. This sensual view of me is a mystery to you. Too bad You can't smell the sex, be the sex between me, myself, and I. You can't taste or feel the sultry either but you're welcome to imagine what it's like to caress to arouse, and lose yourself in the house of rivers that I run. You can't test the durability of my soul but you're welcome to see its sterling silver setting and sense the light of this panache from afar. Too bad these pixels are witholding some deep skin and colorful secrets: Like the temporary fabric resting on my blackness,  or the crimson heart keeping me alive that is bigger and brighter than the diamonds in my ears and around my neck. Or, my gentle, youthful hand, kind to the hair strands that lost dead ends from the residence of my resilent shoulders. Or

PAD Challengd Day 17: Write a waiting poem. Wait for Love Here I am waiting for another heart to join this love affair Wondering what colors A pair of hearts will beat together Flamboyant or soft pastels? Only time will tell but time can't really tell me The month, day or year that love will happily appear There is no map to identify love's geography No answer key to answer love's questionable whereabouts Sometimes signs are barely clear enough to see love's true expressions Voila, Abracadabra, and Ta-da are not supernatural enough to plant love easily in air The only miracles of love are in the words of a prayer By patiently waiting for the love I deserve I know it will always be there D'ElegantOne

PAD Challengd Day 16: Write a city poem. City of Lights Every night black and gold French kissing millions Sprinkling glitter on bridges Dazzling like diamonds  down boulevards With an Effiel Tower spirit In haute fashion Louvre is my heart Waiting to hold your  hand  bourree l'amour from Place de la Concorde to Arc de Triomphe Romance your ears by River Seine until it's time to say au revoir . D'ElegantOne

PAD Challenge Day 15: Take the phrase "(blank) Story," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Love Story Whenever, wherever you are If you have time, I have time Bring your whole heart I'll bring mine We'll build mutual trust Laugh at pasttime lovers Show and tell our scars, dreams, and ambitions Exchange our secrets and fantasies Play our rhythm and blues Share the last of the last of little things Invest in our tomorrow I'll be ying, if you be yang We'll joy ride our highs and lows Sing on and off key like lovebirds Be each other's shelter through the rain We'll spark fire and desire infinitely Share light internally I'll be Simile, if you'll be metaphor We'll dance poetry off blank pages without losing the beat behind the His and Hers that make our love story. D'ElegantOne

PAD Challenge Day 14: W rite a "from where you're sitting" poem. Outside of My Outside From outside of my outside, where I'm sitting, a Navy blue chaise has my back. Nina Simone's Mood Indigo is nursing my feelings while I try to reserve a free smile beside a visiting ray from the Sun. As I sip on a cup of lush hibiscus, rose hips and orange peels, the life of the honey in my cup seems sweeter than the Black life I'm hosting. Sitting still, I'm still dying to house laughter with the wind while daydreaming that my own natural born rhythm would just grow violet from the mystery of the darker blue hues that comes with being Black. I thought the natural gravity of this world would be the only excessive forces exerted on the human body. Sad to say, Newton's law can easily underline the differences between a constant and multiple objects. Down on Earth, a list of humans can't. Up from Earth, I wonder what God is wonderin

PAD Challenge Day 13: Write a Lucky and/or Unlucky poem. Wishbone It's just my luck that I walk away with the short end, but I won't break. Chain Letter What is there to break When all of your promises We're never valid D'ElegantOne

PAD Challenge Day 12: Write a poem using at lease three of the following words: convict, great, play, race, season, and voice.   An AA in A When I'm not in America, the first question I am often asked is: “What is it like to be an African-American in America? Sometimes-at-times, I pause to think what I should or should not say. Sometimes-at-times, I want to play it off and nonchalantly say, “Oh, it’s not that bad. I’m ok.” Sometimes-at-times, I do not want to reply, just ig ‘em and escape. Or would that be the rude, obnoxious American way? So, I politely say: Every day I feel like I’m in open season . My black life resembles wildlife. I feel like an endangered species, threatened by terror and the errors of American history, more vulnerable to those that prey as I roam the land of the free, home of the brave. Every day, there are great debates about my race , American’s loose change and ungodly ways, as if I created the Black Codes

PAD Challenge Day 11 : Write a prime number poem. Matthew 7:7 Dear God, As more wickedness arise and arise/ Please/all I ask of you is to/ keep me from wolves in sheep clothing/ false witnesses and prophets/ Do not let my spirit be masked as a serpent to those I serve on behalf of you/ Let humanity witness  serenity, courage, and wisdom when they circle me/ Keep my lips an instrument of peace and unconditional love/ Lead me where I shall go/ for all I know/ you will never forsake me Father/ For my days are numbered/ do not let me waste your glory embedded in me/ Keep me meek in mind/ my endurance elastic through every trial and tribulation/   As I continue to seek patience and sympathy in your world/ keep my heart pure and true Father/ lay me beside still waters/ lift my head above trouble waters/ place me on the path that I should follow/ for I know, what you have for me is for me/ and I shall forever strengthen myself/

PAD Challenge Day 10: Take the phrase “Get (blank)”. Replace the blank with a word or phrase. Make the new phrase the title of your poem.   Get the Chance Everyone will not get the chance to grow old and gray. I am nowhere near lucky; I am blessed with a life that symbolize good omen, faith, hope and love like a green leaf clover.   I am fortunate that I got the chance to take my first steps, say my first words, color in the lines and spell my full name. I got the chance to see my first set of double digits, a perfect 10, with a poem in one hand my violin in the other, and a dream to become a scientist or a doctor.   At 13, I got the chance to become a teen, experience my first crush and kiss. I got to see Sweet 16 candles lit just for me to blow and make a wish. I got to take my first drive to 1606 Gardenia Avenue where I promised my mother that I would make it out of high school before becoming a teen mother like her and her mother,

  PAD Challenge Day 9: Write a persona poem (for an inanimate object). Pen & Paper I never knew what a ride or die meant until I met Pen & Paper . Some true comrades. My poetry tribe. Real and reliable as my creator; Never ignored or fronted my feelings; Never judged my baby steps, Or laughed at my stage presence. Just a trustworthy duet that invited and accepted me as I was at the age of seven. We produced a picture-perfect threesome in between rhyme and rhythm. Galloped for meters after meters from Nursery Rhymes, Haikus, Limericks, Acrostic poems to Free verses. They fostered my heart, became my ideal of “village”. Something like the big sister and BFF that I fantasized about. They lifted my soul as I lifted them. They cradled my passions; Housed my dreams with no vacancies for sabotage or manipulation. They never ghosted me, but I could hide out and be free for FREE even if nobody cared to hear me read. They ma

PAD Challenge Day 8: Write a metaphor poem. Your Java Fleurs Your pictures on the ‘gram Tells me you don’t  want just any aroma in your cup or care too much about drive-thrus. Come here, let me double espresso how much I’d like to be your private Starbucks Encourage euphoria as I dress up Be your favorite caffeine stimulating your dopamine just to keep you up. Make it extra dark or blonde for you Stir my own sugar below the rim be your crème de la crème Tell me, how you like it, whipped or steamed? 7 days a week? 3 times a day? Once in a while? Don’t worry, I don’t want you to lose your sense of taste or smile. I’d like to switch it up Be your Misto on Mondays Mocha on Tuesdays Hot Chocolate on Wednesdays Cappuccino on Thursdays Dolce Latte on Fridays Oh la la,  for the weekends, I will be your Early Grey in the mornings, Your Peach Tranquility at midday, Your Chai at night. And if you're on-the- go, I’ll travel lit

  PAD Challenge Day 7: Write a villain poem. Internet Trolls Supervillains from Marvel, Detective Comics and Disney have lifelines on the World Wide Web and Apps with no capes. Monitors, tablets, and mobile screens are their sweet escape; equal opportunity under anonymous accounts and pseudo names. They follow, friend you knowingly knowing they are vicious, vindictive, broken foes with minimum or no genuine human interaction to expose. Instead, seeking validation and salvation in the land of Wi-Fi with psychological sadism as their high. All day scrolling and scrolling, they stay trolling and trolling trying to control narratives like they for real for real know you like they know you know you; when they are just squares under squares with wicked hearts fueling offensive wars going nowhere, wasting time; causing inflammation to bodies and souls; Injecting anxiety, pain, self-doubt, and inadequacy into minds; Awaking childhood

PAD Challenge Day 6:  Write a Change and/or Don’t Change poem. Coming of Age I can't repeat this year again not even in another phase Just be gentle with this wide spirit and the steps awaiting at the center of this stage Down to the days of ahead, To what I release or save Let new knowledge tell my wisdom, You have nothing to be afraid Just open up your heart Stroke softly through the waves before all the music fades Because even the art of you will always change. Constant Variables I wish everyone could see how you constantly average out to be dysfunctional in every equation. You're never equivalent in the areas desired or welcoming as you appear to be. Your expressions never define the summation of community. You don’t add anything to anyone's life. You just subtract, cause chaotic division. Hell, none of the integers that hang around you can commonly factor "unity" from your soul. Because it’s always about you, yourself, and yo

PAD Challenge Day 5:   Ta ke the phrase "The First (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem. The First Sounds Today I beat my alarm clock by 1 hour. I didn't get a chance to snooze for another 10 minutes or lay awake, wishing that my right arm was stretched out, touching my soulmate's body; keeping their body warmer with mine; making them feel secure within the locked doors of my home and the rhythm of my very own heart... Instead... I woke up  holding myself to the first sounds of warning sounds Two fire trucks......... One police car followed by an ambulance then 2 more police cars--- all outsinging the hymns produced by the sparrows and  cardinals outside my window. Coaxing me to think: What happened?  What's happening this time? God knows the world has seen enough... heard enough series of unexpected drama and trauma? What now....? what is happening outside of my outside? Was