I'm a Growing Woman

PAD Challenge Day 28: Write a death poem. Death in Tolls Slowly love is dying,  not by the four letters  of its alphabets but by  the lack of definition and sense. People are living in perilous  rotations of survival mode where  love is no longer a desideratum. Family trees are splitting after  strong roots dies.  Millions of hearts are vacant. Hatred and jealousy are relocating to a new chamber of the heart  everyday without oxygen to assist  and advance the blood flood. Humanity is facing a flat line too  while the vitals of vile and evil run  extra high and parallel rapidly. Since we can't read minds,  please take some time, read the commentary as you stroll the threads of your so called socials. Listen quietly to what is being said  when said in your presence. Don't forget all bodies can  speak too without words. Can't you see? Unity in community is dying. Respect is dying. Patience is dying. It's Them vs. Us.   Your kin and maybe another friend vs. You. Tenderness

PAD Challenge Day 27:  Write a remix poem. Not All Heroes Wear Capes (This is the Remix:  Day 17) I'm a wonder  woman too. A  true black  steel magnolia. In love with  my black beauty  voluptuous curves, knowledge and elegance. I, too,  marched in  memory of millions  and for generations to come. I,too,  faced black barriers and  broke generational curses. I, too,  broke glass ceilings,  kicked down doors for  another black girl to be fly at sharing her magic.  💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 26: Write a persona poem. Spring Equinox  After I succeed the coldest winters, I change up everything.                               Like BOOM! Have things rise up like the Prince of Peace. Let my children born under the stars of Aries,  Taurus, and Gemini parade around the sun again. I even like to switch up my temps on you. One minute I'm calm, collective and cool  as a bell or hot like a Carolina Reaper. I bring all the bees and butteflies to the yard. I may even let you fly a kite under my sheet of clouds and mild winds. I always increase your daytime  for you to stay under the sun longer with me. I pay for your trees' new clothes and scents like honeysuckle and cherry blossom. I send Bluejays and hummingbirds  to sit beside your windows to to sing you morning hymns. If April cries, it's always  rivers until all of May's flowers                                Like BOOM! Bloom and more bloom overnight. Letting my pollen count  cancel some of you ou

PAD Challenge Day 25: Write a homonym poem. The Sole of My Soul Here I am depending on Every living cell of me to  keep the sole of my soul alive You better love me genuinely now Touch me gracefully beyond your hands Before our seconds becomes minutes  and hours become days for the last time Don't you know, I'm like the day and time  in a year anyway Coming and going Never coming back again Once in a lifetime  until my spirit flies me away I disappear Leaving my deep bronze color  for a darker hue Trading my smooth curves  and tough skin for a boney blueprint  different from the shell I was born in Listen  Adore my songs, fiction, prose and poems Record my motions and emotions  because once I'm gone I'm gone I'll only cross your mind   probably a hundred to a thousand times No longer available to share a piece of mine  I'll feel no pain cry no tears or laugh with you Plant a shoulder or hold up an ear to you For you to lay down your burdens  and lock in your se

PAD Challenge Day 24 : Write a maximum. Maxima My life has been like calculus  alot of Ys after a few Xs Several differentials that  built me better for every rising slope  Despite the limits and curves  I didn't apply for or cosine to I integrated artificial powerful rules  No matter how much of a multivariate I am Though sometimes I'm hard to understand  My spirit is just a derivative of the trinity 💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 23 (two for Tuesday): Write a "(blank) of the Heart" poem and/or "Heart of the (blank)" poem. Beat of the Heart If I hear that lub dub dub over and over  Again--it's a win Heart of the City I'm 'bout to believe Bobby Bland Stand firm on what he  said on the "Dreamer" album And I wasn't even alive in 1974  when he said what he said  "Ain't No Love in the Heart of The City" 50 years later it's like love really is dead No heart and soul of its own Just baggage, blues and struggle  Gon' ahead  Ask around All the people in town  Hey!  Look around Down and up  then back around again Make sure somebody  can see you looking Searching for it Try your left  Turn to my right  Ha! I tricked ya- Had you looking twice! See!  Don't it seems Everything wrong seems so right Look! Across the street on the ground Only place a colored chalked heart resembling love can be found  Cause "Ain't No Love in the H

PAD Challenge Day 22: Write an earth poem. Down-to-Earth I was the kid that many told,  "You've been here before.... "You're ahead of your time." So, I was always inquisitive about  the concept and content of my spirit. I'm quite practical and comfortable  with living outside of boxes. Sufficient enough to move alone. But knew when I needed an advance. Always believed that it was  imperative to know my own  true colors as I disclosed them. Free as the butteflies I admired  and chased as a child. Realistic about where I came  from and how different it will  always be compared to where  my dreams would fly me. Never wanting to be naive,  seen or act as a dumb, rude girl, with no sense of  self worth or self assurance. Friendly by nature  because mean is easy to attract too  but more common and uglier.  Relatable even if my  mother's celestial love and  upbringing didn't mirror yours.  I understood that we all  are chosen ones, ones that could not choose

PAD Challenge Day 21:  Write a trope poem. Apples Doesn't Fall Too Far From the Tree Since my youth I could sense it  As I stemmed and branched out I could really smell it by the roots That the apples on my family tree  We're not all spoiled Rotten to the core  Poor at fruiting other fruit  Filled with fungus and worms... Some are the apple of many eyes true apples for apples  Sweet as pie Got the sauce The juice The butter and the jam A little cider and spice  Depending on how you try to  slice dice or peel back on the fam Not all are apple turnovers  pretending to be peachy Immature and leachy Good at playing apples to apples  with their own branch for the tree to stumble and crumble  Now, how about these apples? I'm one of the golden ones that knows how to teach  one to pick a good one. Like the one we need a day Love you to the core  despite flawed roots  because I'm a descent of the tree   that many thought would fall And I still stand by what  my mother said, many

PAD Challenge Day 20: Write a poem using at least three of the following six  • bear x • collarx • flairx • hearx • praise x • ramble The Attachment  Thinking of the ways  to praise you for bearing  the weight of my hips  against yours as you  embrace every inch  of my torso and pelvic  I hold onto your bare  moonlight skin because  there is no collar for safety  as you ramble about how  my skin...lips... beauty arouses you blushing as I hear you out I think of all of your flairs  over the rhythm of our heartbeats The way you're loving me  has to be the most superior 💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 19: Write an emotion poem. Emotional Rollercoaster  I woke up blushing yellow  Spirit radiant as the sun Expecting no clouds  to shelter my head or heart No melancholy tears to  run marathons on my face  By noon I ran into black deep dark blues  The kind of blues that  automatically refresh your own deep blues Student A tells me  that her sister was  diagnosed with an  aggressive form of cancer Her mother passed  from lung cancer Before her sister  starts treatment her sister tells her "this should be the end of me"... Student B reveals  that her aunt passed  unexpectedly from  the complications of breast cancer last week... I tell them both, grief knows me too well I ache from a series  of familiar losses and Cancer was no friend  to me either I lived with it I lost a part of me I fought back I won  here I am with you  for a reason Clouds floated over our heads and hearts Rain ran a marathon over our faces We passed hugs down like batons Pain is the hurdle

PAD Challenge Day 18: Write a pessimistic poem. Above the Toxic   No matter how much adversity I face  I doubt I'd stop walking by faith And if my last dream doesn't awake  or goal doesn't unfold I doubt that my heart and soul freeze cold When I have another day at life to try and try again  I doubt I'd be a Debbie Downer,  a Negative Nancy or a Jealous Jen Though it may be easy to lose hope I'd substain momentum,  grip tighter at the end of the rope No matter the direction of my fate I'm never falling short of love in exchange for hate  And if misery tries to become my friend I'd shorten up my circle to be my own bestfriend 💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 17: Take the phrase "Not (blank)," replace the blank with a new word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Not All Heroes Wear Capes The world may recognize and advertise one Wonder Woman. But I know several Wonder Women. Wonderful, wondrous women naturally suited in black. Far from steel more like black steel magnolias. Full of poise, grace, and dignity. Unashamed of their blackness and femininity. Known for sprinkling and passing down black girl magic for me to sparkle. Superpowers unmatched. Known for genius intellect, inspiration and uncommon favor Ladies of fortitude Knowledge of occult Pioneers of generational healings Unconditional love The strongest black panthers on earth Warriors of faith The only Queens of Pentacles that knew how to free us Lead us through nonviolent resistance in the civil rights movement. Taught us true resilience. Day and night, fought Jim Crow Countless

PAD Challenge Day 16 (Two-for-Tuesday): Write a form or anti-poem. Hourglass Hips Stick out like stanzas  Rhythm like jazz and hip-hop Smooth as porcelain  Anti- Poetry I can't imagine life This world without                      poetry I'd be in a mute pose I suppose  If I couldn't prose I oppose it all Because  When I indulge  I want a sample of it all                  All of its                      Raw                    Sweet                    Tender                  Sufferings                          &                      Woes                  With density symbols and themes If I could                  in repetition  I'd lift my voice  Sing rhymes                   ad lib some onomatopoeias Fertilize your mind                    with irony & imagery Let your optics          Grow through my alliterations & assonances Break you off with a little enjabment Make you smile like a simile Dream that you were a metaphor                until you Wake up wit

PAD Challenge Day 15: Write a middle poem Middle East Breaking news everyday  Breaks my heart to hear  Al Jazeera says the same thing Conflict in (blank) War on (blank) and (blank) Drones and missiles  launched on (blank) by (blank) Attack on (blank) At least (blank) causalities Total deaths in (blank)  Civilians face (blank) and (blank) Refugees require (blank) (Blank) fears (blank) (Blank) accountable for (blank) Women and girls (blank) and (blank) Babies (blank) Mosques, homes, businesses (blank) Rage and more rage between (blank) Fires, amputations, and famine in (blank) Strikes on aid in (blank) Aid delayed in (blank) (Blank) pledges to do (blank) (Blank) will be responsible for (blank) (Blank) accuses (blank) for (blank) There is no (blank) here Just people dying in the (blank) Crying in the (blank) Running from the (blank) to the (blank) Hoping to find a little (blank) and more (blank) While men in power debate about (blank) I think about the lives  destroyed and damaged  How p

  PAD Challenge Day 14: Write an ekphrastic poem. Black Steel Magnolia I met her for the first time on Saturday, June 17, 2023, at 10:30pm, in Charleston, South Carolina at One Hundred and Eighty-Five East Bay Street. In the right wing of the private dining room, is where you can find her.   She’s in an ornate gold frame. I was too distant to decipher  the painter’s name in the lower left corner of the canvas of blended oils and acrylic paint.   Her background is midnight black and purple. She looks like the big momma that many in this generation needs today. Her skin is medium, deep bronze, smooth like silk. No blemishes. Over a U-shaped neck, her oval shaped face owns no smile. More like an RBF.  Perhaps, she’s confused, disdained,  maybe a little exhausted but clearly alert, or just appalled. Her eyebrows are relaxed and medium arched. Her left eye, decorated in pink pastel eye-shadow, is bigger than her left. Her lower lip is heavier than

PAD Challenge Day 13: Write a living poem What it Feels Like...Living Black I'm a gift from Africa/  a curse in America  where I'm loved by the kindred/ hated by the Klan Blessed by angels/ condemned by demons Magical by culture/ copied by vultures Born free but  Skin feels hunting Independent by choice/ colonized by force Challenged with adversity/ swindle by greed Amplified by inheritance/ underestimated by the arrogant Admired by pupils of love/ envied by green eyes Desirable by the honorable/  disadvantaged by the prejudice Accepted partially/ denied by the majority  Heard barely/ ignored widely Seen by many/ unnoticed by a few Mysterious from afar/ suspicious in close view Everyday It is me verses everybody and everything  Everyday  I'm full of struggle and strive A whole rhythm, flavor, style and vibe. Everyday Still weary and wary Everyday  Sometimes worried and afraid  Everyday I fight  Everyday  It's hard It's tough It's exhausting  But everyday I birt

PAD Challenge Day 12: Write a funny poem. I Wish I Could Rap I wish I could rap. I would be on Dreamville because I am a Dreamer from the 'Ville. My name would be something like Dr. DOC. I'd be iconic like Run DMC. An original and distinctive MC. I'd drop rhymes like polka dots. Have number one albums like Hov, In different area codes like Luda. With a flow like Eminem and Notorious, I'd be the new B.I.G. And if you take shots, I'll expeditiously split your W.I.G. Spit lyrics like Pac, Nas, Lauryn, and Lupe. Fashions styled by the college dropout Kanye Storytelling slicker as Slick Rick's Push positive images and narratives, No pill popping or pushing bricks. Catalog feature Rapsody, Missy and Badu Hell, invite the whole  "Ladies Night Remix"crew We'll party, laugh and dance all day. Charcuterie boards, champagne, and moet. Truth is, can't you tell I'm better at being a writer and a poet At least my stanzas can sho

PAD Challenge Day 11: Write a memory poem. A Trip Down Memory Lane Along the path of your temporary loneliness, how would you remember me? Call out my name like  a parent in search of  their lost beloved child. Let every syllable ring  off your tongue  like the words  from your favorite  rhythm and blues. If I became air,  would you substitute  my existence or forever yearn for me? If I welcomed a new age, without your presence,  would you celebrate my DOB,  light a strawberry lemonade  cake, make a wish  for my safe return? Would you buy  my favorite things,  have them waiting patiently  for my arrival? If I left today  and went  far, far away  becoming a  daugther-in-law  to another nation,  a best friend forever  to a beautiful unknown sea, What would you desire of me? What would you  remember about me? Would it be how the sun  rose in my pupils Or how the moon  tapped dance along my iris  while in your arms? How my lips borrowed  poetry from yours? Would it be my leftover  Lancome&

PAD Challenge Day 10: Take the phrase "(blank) Better," replace the blank with a new word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem. I Know Better  I'm not comfortable  with echoing  "hurt people hurt people" because I've been hurt too. Hurt badly like bruised fruit  under scorching Fahrenheit  summers by boiling blood  and troubled waters. Hurt so deeply,  that it's a blessing  that my skin has not  vanished or turned  its back on my  own blackness. My epidermis hasn't  molded or become  too soft to caress,  too exhausted to heal in my own hands  or too dangerous  to my own health. It's good to know  that my heart  can still breed love  and my mind can  remember the sweetness  over the bitter  through it all with  no indications of  lifetime infections. It's a miracle that love is compressed beneath  my thick skin and  tendered bones. All while hurt be  only hurting me alone because I know better  than to hurt people  the way the

PAD Challenge Day 2 (two-for-Tuesday):  Write a love poem and/or anti-love poem. Love In the morning, mid afternoon, and even late  at night, our love  is eros,  philia,  and ludus. I pray it  remains agape, and pragma  for philautia, through storge; never growing  mania for You and I. jealous & wicked Lately, I've being trying  to avoid, straight up dodge  jealous and wicked people. People disguised as  angels and friends. The Mean Girls and Rude Boys. The low key, green with envy  type of gravitational energy. Never happy. Never satisfied. Never optimistic. Always complaining. Always miserable. Always delinquent. Out of control and out of light. No joy. No peace. No gratitude. Low self esteem. Low confidence. Low security. Worried more about other's affairs and home rather than their own. No goals. No dreams. No ambition.  Just intentionally spoiling happiness sad. No faith. No hope. No belief. Don't know what a friend is,  how to make one or keep one. Just use, delet

PAD Challenge Day 8: Write a major event poem. Eclipse   Be my moon Meet the light of my curves Be the center of attention  Claim my areas Be my shadow For earth to see 💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 7: Write a luck poem. Lucky Enough Living in these times of wars, famine, disasters, diseases, anxiety, disrupted sleep, mental anguish, addictions, Convictions and inflictions Deceit, hatred, cyber negativity, little patience and little stability, We are all lucky enough to be alive. Lucky enough to find peace between  four walls if we can't find it four streets away. Lucky enough to discover love, split it down the middle or into subunits for someone else to know it too before luck runs out. 💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 6: Write a minimum poem.  3 5-7-5s When It Comes to Being Human the least I can do is be kind in a world of mayhem and distressed  Minimum Wage impossible to save, but possible to spend  then be broke again Rock Bottom  i don't know why i fear the lows in life when God  is always on time Rivalry   the least I can do is pray for you while you loathe  without reasons to 💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 5: Take the phrase "Tell (blank)," replace the blank with a new word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.  Tell Him by Lauryn Hill I was fourteen when I first heard it. The last song on the album,  The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill .  Number sixteen. A hidden track. A precious gem  to my treasured soul. A classic musical love letter. My first four minutes  and thirty eight seconds was on a Saturday morning. On days momma didn't press play,  it became repetition  on my RCA CD Walkman  in my room  where I would  daydream.... imagine Jesus Christ listening, smiling with soft,  angelic tears,  mirrored to mine, knowing someone  loved him wholly after the world  blatantly hated him. 💜D'ElegantOne  Artwork: Everything is Everything by Clarence Haywood Photo taken at CAM Raleigh Museum 

PAD Challenge Day 4: Write a mistake poem. Margin of Error Since I could  spell woman Define it  Study it Categorize it  as I become... I've been swimming in sampling pools. Pools of cool waters. Pools of lukewarm waters. Pools of fires. That's the life of this black woman. A normal distribution  of civil rights battles,  consistent reports of inequities  and inequalities, televised and advertised, for the whole majority to see. Even with high standards deviated, abnormal women empowerments,  peace and security stayed a slope. My high peaks  and curves,  still viewed  tightly and close, by the means of the Mean ones..... In a pool of women and men, what makes me any more different? In a pool of blacks, am I black enough? In a pool of plus size, did I fuck up the weight of the average? In a pool of academics, am I that intimidating? In a pool of righteousness, is a virtuous women that comical? What is my true percent of error? If I shrink my sample size what is the probability

PAD Challenge Day 3: Write a musical act or artist poem. Rapsody Her birth name is Marlanna Evans. She is The Idea of Beautiful . The Beauty and the Beast of poetry over the heartbeats of hip hop that roc nations. I would call her the GOAT but it’s too cliché. Though she is Ali in a male dominate game. The Black Mamba  and really, really, She Got Game . A true wonder woman along 9th wonder. To her, hip hop is not just a commodity. And when she said “culture is everything” I can tell by the way she shared Laila’s Wisdom That her love for the culture is not a monopoly. You see it in her style. You hear and distinctly see the I’m black and I’m proud , real loud in her soliloquies and unapologetic philosophy. Listen to her Eve, black girl magic is no sin or mediocrity, it always perseveres and prevails! Grammy or no grammy, I can respectfully call her, Queen, because she fits the Crown without exploitation and dumbing herself down. 💜D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 2 (two-for-Tuesday): Write a happy poem and/or sad poem. Free 99 Happy is shorter than happiness. Does this means that it's easier and  quicker to research and find Like an item... a daily necessity  Try it out..try it on... for awhile...no hidden fees Unloosen my lips For a smile to set itself free After joy comes back around  peeking at me  because weeping at night has kept me incognito  In private browsers  browsing every consonant and vowel vowing to self  that once I find happiness again  I'll never lose it I'll remain content  in a constant state of happiness  Only if I hold every syllable  underneath my tongue Spell it out quietly while Hiding every letter like a prayer  so the devil can't recite it Or play hangman and  fill in the blanks of my feelings  with fear that happiness  ain't for me no matter  how much authentic joy  I dispense  Set up to spin off  every time and everyday  I get to smile even  if it's too much  too bold  or t

PAD Challenge Day 1: Write an optimistic poem. The Love Optimist One day love will meet me  Outside of the corridors of My occipital lobe. A full canvas will unfold, one only I can narrate. I'll know all of its colors. All of it's past blues, Current pastels and future  neons of a lifetime. You'll be lucky if I decide to share a hue  from the sentimental motions  It gives me. Because the sound of it will only be heard  by me and the lover  that choose to make it 💜D'ElegantOne