Library books, we tuck and nestle
Forgetting our parents, whistle
Don't look at them
But southern text books, performing
In ballet flats, I popped--performed voice
Give me that trophy, if it means
If it means
First place in my own heart.

Defining myself through opportunity
Its only the best if I'm the best
Mama Bear thinks she has a lot of rights
But she and the dogs
In a large house
I wonder, ponder
If she feels loneliness
Papa, papa lawyer
He argues and debates that case
As I grew stronger and wiser
Riding around around in his Mercedes-Benz
Oh to be in sixth grade again
But I check my white privilege.


Scavenger hunt adventure
I felt everything so intensely
So viscerally
I fought for those brown eyes--blue eyes
To a joyful and steadfast hazel
Love finds you when you don't search.

Everything was so important
So deep, so sensational
Smoking in my bathroom like a bad *****
Alabama.
Philadelphia, we danced a fighting partnership
As I peacefully and hectically
Piece together
The me that has always been there
In Chicago,
But this is by no means
My last stop.

So I cough up my heart
Stained in ****** vulnerability
Empowering those who gaze at me
I dig my hands into the dirt
Because its time
A young woman did so.