I've wanted deeply
to be a vessel
for my people
always knowing I'd wrestle
necessary evils
heyring all your demands
wanting to fix it
put out my hand
And end up getting bit
Theres a line in the sand
feeling I Wanna quit
I think of some of the women
Who inspired me
Writing about them
Posthumously
Remembering how the supported me
when I was down
Seeing them stand ground
Taking the courage
to pick up their crowns
And adjusting the tilted
ones around them
From her I learned
Every child needs a positive adult...
That they are irrationally crazy about.
Positive adults should sponsor a child,
To help them stay young with an imagination wild.
To a child our words are so influential.
So speaking life into them is very essential.
Words can open up or permanently close doors.
When communicating with children, how will you use yours?
She was filled with agape love
Overflowing in all of her moves
Now with our ancestors watching from above
The beautiful Ms Carla Hughes
She carried power within her
The courage to put on her crown
Her teachings advanced others far from beginner
Elevating everyone around
They say birds of a feather
flock together.
So the birds on the farm
shouldn't mean any harm.
Bad birds in the field,
Killing, wheeling and making deals
Makes it hard to believe
The good birds are even real.
Sometimes the monsters
arent hiding under your bed.
They may wear uniforms
and their eyes bloodshot red.
A thirst for a strange fruit,
should be protectors...
instead...
Hunting their prey. Killing them dead.
And in a time where women
weren't taken seriously in law enforcement
A New Era and beginning ...a shift
God moved with divine intervention
Blessing us with Elder Jacqueline Ratcliff.
In a time when being black
Meant that you couldn't win
Stood the Deputy Chief of Detectives
A powerful black woman.
Her influence of change made history
Favored in God's countenance
Having the courage to take up her crown
While adjusting the tilted ones of those around her
If one just stands still
not using patience
they aren't performing out of will
but only of stagnation.
As antiquated as it sounds people,
please choose liberation.
Never elect the intrusiveness of assimulation.
And losing her
Made the community hurt
So remembering her in prose
So her story is heard
Writings that will carry on
Long after I am dust...a must
So strong
They are taken as scripture
Made to songs
Glorious and robust.
The poems becomes hymns
Not just medleys of lust.
Making thine enemies light
no longer bright
And their utterances and mere hush.
I learned how to be
Elegantly abrasive... Gracefully boundless
From the God fearing singer song writer
The Great Otley Mount
Who traveled the world
Performing songs and dance
Teaching boys and girls
They were in God's hands
Taking the courage to stand firm
On Holy Ground
Wearing her crown
Fixing the tilted of those around her
These women clear on parameters
Refusing to be demeaned
Muddied the deepest rivers
And still emerged clean.
I'm grateful for the impact
These women made on me and my daughters
And I would be remiss if I didn't write prose to honor them