Kelsey With Some Jo

It was just a log of wood

That floated near me

While I was waiting at

The river

Thinking of wood

I hoped

To light my fire with

---

I took the log

Out from the river

I set it out to dry

It dried so quick

Before the winter

And so I chopped it up

To take and light

---

The log

It warmed me

I felt comfort

Safe

A light

For the night

And dawn

---

And soon

The log left me

Lonely

And cold again

It dried right up

And burnt to cinders

---

Good thing I saw

That river stream

Flowing

And another log

Just floating by

I hoped

To light my fire with

By Maya Angelou

---

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

---

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

---

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

---

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

---

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

---

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

---

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

---

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

---

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Have you ever been

inside a cage

with closed doors

on the walls and

also the floors?

---

Have you ever stood

behind a table

with hungry men

staring at you

from each end?

---

Have you ever laughed

at a love so parallel

yet so alive

and perpendicular

you’re grateful for hell?

---

Have you ever thought

just a bit too hard

to run from love

and still

love so hard?

---

Have you ever?

---

Never have I Ever

When the world inside you

is shouting

with all its might.

Sometimes

it feels good

to stay inside.

Sometimes

it feels good

to hide.

Sometimes

it feels good

to lose your mind.

It’s not something

you want to repeat

but then

it repeats

and repeats

it doesn’t stop.

The thoughts are never ending,

the phase so incomplete

just repeating.

The truth starts to reckon

And you start thinking

And thinking

And thinking

Going further out to sea.

You then find yourself

in the dark

with the water all around.

You see the moonlight

high in the sky

it’s all that can be found.

The moon whispers,

“I get how it feels too.

I know how to swim

and drown too.

Nothing to balance.

The water all around.

Just me shining down.”

So then

I put an end

to what feels good.

I choose to swim.

I choose to feel pain

No longer hiding

I embrace.

I choose to repeat the phase

from a new place.

Then I find myself

in the trees

no longer in the ocean

drown.

No longer pushing

to feel good,

I feel free

Loved

Found

…

“See the forest for the trees.”

– John Heywood 🍃

Say what you want

You can hate me

I’ll carry that weight

Of hate

Because you ain’t* me

And it gots me

Like I got

The grit

That it comes with

Say what you want

You can hate me

I’m just getting

Started

Like I had a baby

Not full of hate

But beside me

It’s my ride or die

What’s inside me

I know what I got

Hate can’t find me

And it gots me

Like I got

The love

That’s beside me

*Ain’t ain’t a word and you ain’t supposed to say it, say ain’t five times and you ain’t goin to heaven. ❤

I thought I knew what I was saying.

Like I could feel my words

Falling into your lap.

And everything I’d think

Or say to you

Would tell you

How I really feel.

But when my thoughts

Became words

To leave me

Somehow they left

You as an enemy.

I only said what

Was inside of me

And you denied it

And said

My words

Lie to me.

My emotions

Were never present

When I spoke

And still

Whatever I was saying

Found you

To leave you wounded

And bruised

And naked.

And my thoughts

Feeling mistaken

Broke and left me

Like I knew what I was saying.

I saw the world

From the eyes of a misfit girl

Full of limitations, disappointments, fear

 

But then, my eyes were widened

To a pop

And the world spilled out some truth

 

So, I took notice

And I saw the world

And how it measured

 

Truth is:

It wasn’t fitting

It was missing

 

It was lost

And gone forever

 

When I saw this

  

I lost the

Girl

 

I lost the girl

And the world

From the eyes of a misfit girl