I'm a Growing Woman

PAD Challenge Day 30: Take one of your poems (or several of your poems) from earlier this month and remix it. Write a remix poem. Sticky Notes 2 Self ft. Loose-leaf Paper (This is the Remix) 🗒📝 Sometimes-at-times a 3x3 sticky note is too tiny.  Loose-leaf Paper can tell it all and rule on college rule.  Break it down.  I can go in depth,  line by line, about  the things I tell myself: "Dear Black Girl, remember why you rock and settle for nothing less." I have no choice but to be the catalyst in this generation . Because there are people like Queen momma told me that don't want me to have nothing at all.  Be nothing at all. They rather see me stumble and fall between crevices they didn't survive or build blocks to block me into being a flunkie. So, every time I win, achieve, prosper, I must do what what my ancestors didn't get a chance to do . That's my legacy. Be EXTRA good in a negative world so when people talk about me...

PAD Challenge Day 29 (Two-for-Tuesday): Write a "near the end" and/or "near the beginning" poem. Near the End of Burn Out We all faced many end  of the roads where we want  to throw in the towel Throw up our hands  Hide our hearts  Shield our backs Save our other cheek Second guess our  intentions and purpose  We may even want  to walk away from it  all while it remains  worth what it is worth before we completely lose ourselves or our marbles Until self-care urgently  calls us to gently say It is okay to pause survival mode It is okay to lead your way out of  leading everything and everybody Come back I have a safe place  for you to rest your eyes,  and bones I have shelter for you to ease your emotional intelligence and empathy I have soul food  to fill your soul. Near the Beginning of New Anew Unused Never done On the way I see it clear Scent of lilac  Ready for my tongue Like a drop of honey Feels like heave...

PAD Challenge Day 28: Write a color poem. fade to black I love watching the sun  go down for a nap Can't hear it snoring  or groaning No sleep talking,  fighting or apnea Just a one way mass of  spinning without interruptions Imaginary gyrations along  Earth's revolutions With nothing and no one  to stopwatch its time zones One hour in the  mirror of the ocean  to birthing silhouettes to living and non living things.  One minute the eye  of God within a cloud Stretching crepuscular rays  of heaven down on us One second bashfully  or inquisitively peeking  behind one or many clouds  making cotton candy skies Then comfortably offering a sheet of oranges  we can't peel and taste Taking all of the day's light blues and the city's dark blues with it Quickly fading into black Reminding me of the visible and naked eye light  Hosted by my very own  shade of midnight D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 27: Write a "New blank" poem. A Taste of New Orleans Take me back  Ya heard me?  To the Big Easy the Bayou of St.John watahs . Take me back 'Cause no matter  Wuzham or where y'at? I was  woadie and babi . Ya know? Take me back  where Who Dat, Who Dat?   We dat, We dat! is chanted from the  French Quarter  to the Superdome. Take be back  with a NOLIA clap. Give me that  Bounce- let me  Back That Thang up in the second line. Take me back on a Fat Tuesday. I want Etouffée thighs and Gumbo to snug my Jambalaya soul. Take me back. So I can French kiss  a real Po'boy,  suck on Crawfish let a hurricane  smooth talk me  down Bourbon Street. Take me back  'cause NOLA  was the sweetest  beignet to this  Carolina girl. And only NOLA can do you like dat dere . Take me back... laissez les bon  temps rouler ! D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 26: Write a hermit crab poem. Sticky Notes 2 Self Dear Black Girl,  remember why you  rock and settle for  nothing less. Do what your  ancestors didn't  get a chance to do.      Be EXTRA good so  when people talk  about you,             they are really talking GOOD about you.   RUN,  but do not run yourself RAGGEDY. LOVE,  but do not love without loving yourself FIRST.   Leave a legacy no man can dismantle. Create love. Show love. Give love.              A smile is $0.00. Kindness is $0.00. ☺    Be the catalyst of your generation. 🕇 Remember, even Jesus was envied, betrayed and lied on. 🕇 Don't waste your ⏰and 💰. Save. Build. Repeat. You are not obligated. You owe nobody. You are not responsible for the irresponsible. Play stupid. Don't be stupid. Integrity, loyalty, and authen...

PAD Challenge Day 25: Write a memory poem. Flashback   May I hopscotch back into the 90s, where I was a black gardenia growing up  at 1606 Gardenia because this life, like Fayetteville's honeysuckles, was mesmerizing? My mother was living single. Though it was a different world, from where I came from,  I was still daddy's little girl. I was extra chubby, bashful and cute. My 4C hair was tied from the roots  with Goody's elastic ponytail balls,  plaited with barrettes to seal my tips. I was a Terrific, A+ kid with the  same opened heart and gap smile. A bookworm plus a book lover of Book It! My violin, Kenya and Twist 'N Style  Tiffany dolls were my bestfriends. Lisa Frank Diaries became a residence for my short stories, Haikus,  Limericks and ballads. I love to ride my purple, pink  and white bike in neon  L.A. Gear sneakers then hop  off and jump rope while counting  One Mississippi, two Mississippi . I was never good at Dou...

PAD Challenge Day 24: Write a time of day poem. 3 A.M.: iPray Sometimes-at-times, iWake up at 3.A.M.  iHeard this was the devil's hour,  so iMake it a Godly hour.  One where, iFeel like  the Father or the Son  taps me on one of my shoulders  for me to awake and talk... iTalk about whatever may  wrestle with my spirit  Whatever may irritate my nervous system  Whatever iMay fear in anticipation... Sometimes-at-times, iJust lay in bed.  Thank God that iWas  able to rise into a new day,  survive another day of grief,  in a world saturated in  vile, unholiness, anger, greed, cruelty... Sometimes-at-times,  iMay stare into space, search from floor to ceiling,  looking for one of my Angels,  maybe a relative that visited before, and the sister-friend, iJust lost,  that I've yet to see... Sometimes-at-times,  iGet out of bed,  look out my bedroom window, for nothing at all. iNotice how peaceful ...

PAD Challenge Day 23: Write a book poem. The Color Purple  When I walk by a field  of purple patches; stand or drive by a row  of dangling wisterias; Mother African Violets  gifted to me; I, too, pledge to  not piss God off. I bear in mind the women  I share blood with and  friendships watered to flower sisterhood. The passion God gave them  to harvest stories  unfortunately sowed like  Celie, Sophia, Shug,  Nettie and Squeak. I pray that one day, I, too, won't be the only  person that knows how  they caught a sight of beauty  in life after the acts of  the ungodly and ugly. D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 22 (Two-for-Tuesday): Write a tell me and/or don't tell me poem. Tell Me A Woman Can  The future is female. We can't even sit  pretty quiet about it. We know boys will be boys  until they experience real Women. In sneakers or heels, we got balls to step on the  necks and backs of sexism; Put a chokehold on misogyny; break through the ceilings  before they crash and burn. We got aim. We got ambition. We got ammunition. For the big four E's Equality. Equity. Empowerment. Evolution . Don't Tell Me You Don't See Color Dear people that say  "I don't see color." Please tell me,  if you can, when you can,  what do you see  as soon as your eyes  glance over, rollover,  up and down, at me? I know you're not colorblind,  Or have a color deficiency- at least I like to think . So, tell me,  what do you see  with your own two  little pretty brown,  green, blue and gray eyes, when blinking at me? Am I p...

PAD Challenge Day 21: Take the phrase "(blank) Day". Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow  Yesterday, I remember all  of my thoughts of you. They were daydreams of what loving you would  Taste like...Sound like...Feel like... Today, I know... You are Tupelo honey in my Ruby moon hibiscus tea. The Rebirth Brass Band hugging my hips in a second line; And a sample of heaven down my spine.   Tomorrow, if your honey is depleted; Your music is hard of hearing; And your slice of heaven goes back to the sky; I know that I lived  beyond just a dream. D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 20: Write a rest poem. Resting in Peace  Lately eyes been focusing on  resting in peace while living.  Vital as my vital signs,  I've been trying to out sleep  my personal computers and sleep numbers  I mean good,  down to the bones; Flesh healed and refreshed; Muscles relaxed without  muscle relaxers kind of rest. A whole rest without counting sheep by quarters, halves, eighth  or sixteenth like music sheets just to sleep. So much rest and peace  that I don't have to lie still in it  or be hush-hush about it. I can be a solid solitude or happily included by  wholly peaceful company.  I am favored,  not in people pleasing. I can feel sorrowful,  not sorry for you. Peaceful enough that  my no's even know better to be a no show to no shows. More peaceful at reaching out to others that know how to live in peace too. D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 19: Write a persona poem. Black Wall Streets of America   If I come back stronger as the founders  that found me, can I trust you to defend  me, every block by block... My neighborhoods...My businesses... The same black owned neighborhood  and blacked owned businesses  where you didn't have to wait for  or question if diversity was acceptable  because I was established F.U.B.U... You didn't have to be on  tenterhooks about inclusion. You didn't have to go  seeking and hunting down equity when basic  civil rights were obviously overdue. Because you had me... You had me when Jim Crow  was your number one public enemy. You had me through: The fall and rise of the Greenwood District  When I was metropolis as Bronzeville in Chi-town When I was the apple of your eye on  Jackson Ward in Richmond, Virginia  When I was sweet as Sweet Auburn in Atlanta An urban league as Hayti in Durham, North Carolina  W...

PAD Challenge Day 18: Write a response poem. Answer Key Life is a test that does not come with an answer key. We are individual assessments of self; An evaluation of effectiveness to millions. As a whole, we are the experiment of the world; Real word evidence of trial and error. A genus body of students and teachers  in fixed sessions for a period of time. Filling in blanks without warnings and sometimes-at-times with vigilance and aspiration. We are inventors of  factual and opinion based  paragraphs we choose  to speak of and withhold. We are living dichotomies  of truth and false  when multiple choices  does not equate all above, what we live and how we live, with the one out one lives God gives. D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 17: Write a city poem. 🌍 J.A.N.E 🇿🇦 🇬🇭 🇰🇪 🇪🇬  I dream of becoming a jane  that visits J.A.N.E. because  I know there is nothing plain jane  about how the Motherland mothers her children. From the east to west... In kente, I will kiss and greet Accra. Enter her Gateway to Africa with gratitude  Joyride her avenues with my window  descended to smell what my ancestors miss In memory of their captivity  I would weep at the  Elimna and Cape Coast Castles Run to the Independence Square dance like nobody is watching  my love for black freedom Stroll through the Makola Market  for an array of knickknacks  and fabrics that I can't find in America Let the spices of jollof claim the taste buds  of my tongue before I become art  with the art of Nkyinkyim  In memory of General Kofi Annan  and President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah  I'll offer truth and service  to the Akan people  Let them...

PAD Challenge Day 16: Write a fantastic poem. If Poets Owned the Sky If poets owned the sky Oh my What a atmosphere  it would be my dear on this celestial sphere On a cool calling of a morning,  We'll gather our sunlight scatter painted views with Haikus  Water parallel poetrees  til they bloom  metaphors and similies At the peak of noon concrete poetry in motion Set off poetry rolling marquees by the window seats of your plane,  automobile and train Consciously stain  clear skies of the universe  with a free and blank verse Make imaginations thunderclap a rainbow of emotions In the dark of the night We'll open a mic  on cloud 9 at nine  sit side by side  on a Cresent moon Belt out ballads and lyrics From star to star  til the world know  who the poets are D'ElegantOne 

  PAD Challenge Day 15 (Two-for-Tuesday): Write a form and/or anti-form poem.   (a.i.) show me your honest-to-goodness I’ve seen enough fake fake news and fake love   my soul require authentic interactions  show me your state-of-the-art heart not a tweaked trend of someone else’s     kids   When I was a kid… I can’t remember these many kids dying from roaring stomachs louder than a late summer early winter thunderstorm lips cracking and mouths dry as the Atacama Desert…   Kids… killed by kids killing themselves killed by unknowns killed by apples not too far from their own tree…   Kids… Imported and exported across jurisdictions like commodities…   I mean…   Real babies, learning how to play dead in pools of young blood in classrooms gunned down just to stay alive…   Kids.. can’t even define happiness in the sum of their happy meals no ‘mo...  ...

PAD Challenge Day 14: Write a losing poem. L Is it true, when a love one dies, we don't really take an L? We earn irreplaceable divine protection; Win a lifetime of guaranteed guardianship; Gain victory over life and death; Capture messages in dreams  Then spiritually awake to another blessing to count... D'ElegantOne 

PAD Challenge Day 13: Take the phrase "Full (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Full-figured Woman  I never understood  the shape and fat  shaming that came with  being a full-figured woman, as if a plus size should be minus and shapeless- Sketched out of look books  when we are the Goddesses  of the hourglasses.  We can be an exclusive essential to Haute Couture. After being an once upon time,  unaccepted and uncelebrated model  that can now, bodaciously catwalk, Straight rip a runway, bust through New York, Milan,  Paris, and London with grace and a well defined waist sponsored by the assurance and contentment  of her motherland hips. Even if I wasn't one I wouldn't dare  fully question her existence,  her overflow of confidence,  the length of her sophistication  nor the width of her self-respect. Because, maybe like Maybell...

PAD Challenge Day 12: Write a risky poem. Chance of Rain   With the sun playing  hide and seek The wind running  seven miles per  hour around us Fifty shades of gray  clouds lurking staring us down What is the  chance of rain  for us to dance- weather a storm  we did not  prepare for? D'ElegantOne 

  PAD Challenge Day 11: Write a nature poem.   Outsiiide I wanna be a lily to Spring; a sunflower to Summer.   I wanna put my left and right foot out, dip under the rays of the sun;  let my old soul and spirit wander.   I wanna lay under the moon,  cuddle with jazz on the rooftop.   I wanna place my boots on the ground,  allow my hips to become tambourines as the cheeks of my derriere clap like thunder.   I wanna suck on the sweetest  blackest berry that calls me lover.   I wanna sip peach bellinis and eat triangle watermelon  by the Caribbean Sea.   I wanna picnic with a Sequoia  just so that it can throw shade back at me; As long as no bugs, snakes or frogs jump out on me.   I wanna ride shotgun through Alabama and Mississippi. Hum hymns, Bankhead bounce, and do the cabbage patch in sundown towns because it’s a prerogative.   I wanna meander between languages I can’t speak. Read, ...

PAD Challenge Day 10: Write a number poem. 2 Scoops  May I have  2 scoops of  butter pecan  ice cream  please...!!! Mmmm..... make it three. One in memory  of my ancestors who couldn't get  a scoop like me. A second because  pecans are Southern and brown like me. Now, add the third- vanilla at the top Because it is no longer  forbidden from me. D'ElegantOne 

  PAD Challenge Day 9: Write an ekphrastic poem.    she was born with it look at those bright chocolate diamond eyes full of passion and mystery cradling joy you can’t hear through her circle face you can almost see her heart taste the happy of her happiness feel the warmth created from her midnight fleece hoodie and dark brown medium curls  look at her glow all smiles ivory gap-teeth Africa’s beauty mark wide awake kissing and telling the luck and wealth behind her inheritance   D’ElegantOne Self Portrait by Melchiade Domond      

  PAD Challenge Day 8 (Two-for-Tuesday): Write a love poem and/or anti-love poem. black romance   IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK It would say that you are THE BEST MAN at loving me.   There are no TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME  games or one of us WAITING TO EXHALE Because we know a BOOMERANG is real And this is REALLY LOVE, we can’t even locate A THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE.   To the SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU, we ride like QUEEN & SLIM through PURPLE RAIN and burnt orange moons.   BEYOND THE LIGHTS, You give LOVE JONES; I give POETIC JUSTICE. I am your MAHOGANY; You are JUST WRIGHT. And we are simply  BROWN SUGAR for life.     CoLoRbLiNd DiMeNsIoNs  Y Can’t’ You see Love is missing It has a color deficiency Not one size available to fit all Not one bit of true colors in sight There are zero estimates of humanity Ears are extra small to one’s freedom strive Eyes can’t spot the...

  PAD Challenge Day 7: Write an intense poem.   icu in this serious unit of two operating on love we nurse each other without any sudden emergencies of what to become icu easily as the provider for the way you are you love like heaven i have no broken heart to break out into tears for no congestive heart failure to compress my life expectancy no broken bones from falling in love with you because we agreed upon a walk through no organ failure every day vitals are normal in fact the life you breathe around me creates space for new oxygen to live and another 24/7 of life support specialized in unconditional love   D’ElegantOne       

PAD Challenge Day 6: Write a reaction poem. Clapback Do you want a Biggie flow  while I hit you up lyrically  like 2 Pac Hit 'Em Up ? Takeover the lies you told  Straight Ether you like Nas Too bad I can't chant you're Not Like Us   because Family Matters I want to believe Jay-Z when he said "We all lose when the family feuds" because I love winning I may just exercise my rights to Help you free your skeletons from the closet you think is hidden  behind your walls of disguises  --------------------------------------------->It may set you free  Shake out your lifetime rugs  from the secrets and ugly  ways you swept away  --------------------------------------------->It may cleanse your soul   I'm not suppose to speak over the dead  But God bless your mother's soul On that final call She warned us all About the knives she pulled  out of people's back for you So many lies been told So many conversations unsaid Even you...

PAD Challenge Day 5: Take the phrase "After (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem. After the sauna house... ...I can paint a new hot and cold picture about life for you; Leave you with no writings on the wall. In one hundred and fifty  to two hundred degrees Fahrenheit,  my pecan tan skin, cinnamon roll breast and  homemade fluffy biscuit bottom was blazing hot.  As I rest upright, I welcomed an out pour of my  natural black honey glaze along the plains of my sweet melanin. Reminding me how much of a sizzle this woman can be.  Hot like fire. An ignition of inspiration and love. Best at self-rising on her own with no limitations or additives. Learning as I wish that it was easy to not sweat the big stuff  as it is to not sweat the little stuff... Wishing more that I could sweat  a lifetime of grief out of the valves of my heart  Sweat the fear of the unknowns out of my bones Sweat pain ...

 PAD Challenge Day 4: Write an unexpected poem.  High Expectations Nonchalantly and sarcastically,  Why do people say you are doing the most? Am I not supposed to excel? Why do people say you’re over the top? Am I supposed to sleep or drown at the bottom? Why do people say you are doing too much? Is it because they are doing the least or nothing at all? Why do people ask where are you going now? Like my two hands can set a stopwatch to God’s vision. Why do people ask what more do you need now? Am I not supposed to not want anymore because I don’t need you? Like I can block God’s blessings. Am I not supposed to be magical? Or would you rather see me become unexpected mess? A model for your amusement A perfect example awaiting your condemnation A hopeless individual A poor excuse A collapsed dreamer Broken down deep between the darkest walls of misery for your company to keep With a soiled soul a weak ass mind weak ...

PAD Challenge Day 3: Write a short poem.  nip it in the bud Spring encourages me every night that I can be a bud and tomorrow  I can wake up and BLOOM! Be a whole damn Cherry blossom  D'ElegantOne 

  PAD Challenge Day 2:  Write a "from where I'm sitting" poem.  Office 4015   In the middle of the Capital District Square I feel like one of the righteous oaks in the City of Oaks Hanging on tight Far from not becoming soft wood As I do what is right with what was left My evergreen soul struggling to remain greener on both sides As I eyewitness the nip n’ tuck to the government circle Straight down from the supreme to the subordinates No local anesthesia followed by analgesics This stings…   In the middle of this despair after every cold-blooded miscalculation has been set to subtract the circumference of evolution Who has the cure for this cutting pain? Who can birth a new legacy of hope? This stings more…   In the middle of this city’s Capital square We, the people, are rediscovering That we, the people, are not the radius of this circle We were just a chord to some a temporary diameter a segment ...

PAD Challenge Day 1 (Two-for-Tuesday): Write a "Best of Times" poem, and/or write a “Worst of Times”.   Best of times Growing up Saturdays were golden times Teena Marie was square biz And mom’s hotcakes were the hottest to melt Country Crock butter Confirmation of my adolescence transformation Something smaller can make something large and fluffy a delight Simple enhancements without too much alteration I, too, can be butter To a good ole fashioned world A good source of energy Smooth enough to activate the brilliance off the top of my head Rich enough to add more flavor to history Be essential to the vision my ancestors left for me to see That a little drizzle added to the best of both worlds never really could hurt anybody   Worst of Times Could it be found at  the Door of No Return? A forced, freedom-less ride along one of the 36,000 voyages, To create the greatest Americas’ horror film? Could it be the system it...