My silence lives in the middle of my chest.
Engulfing my lungs into the poeticness of Black.
It inches up my throat,
Clinging onto my esophagus,
Chokingly.
My silence suffocates me,
But my voice still wants to Scream.










© 2015 Kendra Bowman

I am from Fisher Price cars with foot powered engines.
Dolls with no hair,
Barbies with no houses.

I am from give it back!
Give it here!
Alex, no!
Ni Ni, stop!

I am from frost bitten rain and winter coats.

I am from snow for Days.
and Weeks.
and Months.

I am from North, East, South, and West.
The Shinobi.
The Lone Ranger.
With Life dragging me in each direction,
“Stay” is not in my vocabulary.

I am from the Cool of The Bay
And the Heat of The Valley.

I am from Loud Mouths
And Long Hair.
Sarcasm and Activism.
No one speaks for me.

I am from a Cousin of Every Color,
A Sister of Every Origin,
A Brother of Every Nation.

I am from the empty darkness of my room.
I can do nothing but bask in its humidity.

I am from nothing but the Hum of Music.

The Tune of Music.

The Sound of Music.

I am from things unsaid.
I am those unsaid things.

I am from the beat of the drum,
And a dance that will always conversate with me.

I am from the Theater.
From the Backdrop to the Stage.
I am the dusted over glitter on the floor.
I am the glisten of the lights above me.

The Singer.
The Actor.
The Writer.

I am the truest version of myself.

And nothing will stop me.











© 2015 Kendra Bowman

I make myself
Hate myself
When I sit alone and think about Myself.
And despite the Confidence eluding from this Self
I still Spite thy Self.
I'd disown myself,
If it could rid me the Pain of Living with this Self.

I took my life to forget your name.
Drowned in alcohol to wash away your kisses.
Drunk bleach to make your lies spotless.

I took my life to forget your name.

Hit this blunt because you take my breath away.
Lit my skin ablaze to erase your touch.
Slit my wrist to leak our connection.

I took my life to forget your name.












© 2014 Kendra Bowman

He had swallowed me whole.

Lips pressed together,
Wandering hands full of freedom,
He caressed me.

Blind fingertips
Sweet between these foreign sheets,
They roamed my hills and valleys.
They tingled like peppermint soap,

Though not to clean.

***** me,
Lied down of soft comforters,
Lied down like a princess,
Like a beast you defiled me.

And once there was Beauty.









©2014 Kendra Bowman

There is a scream inside me,
And its Angry.
And its Agonizing.
It is ever so Tantalizing.
There is a scream inside me.

There is a scream inside me.
And it's loud.
And it's deafening.
It just whistles through my emptiness,
Never filling.
Cause it's leaking through my bullet wounds.
Lord Jesus,
Help me.
There is a scream inside me.

There is a scream locked up inside me,
And somebody needs to hear it.

Take this scream out of me, Bwana.
Bwana, take this pain off of me.

This scream can stay no longer.










© 2014 Kendra Bowman

I no longer yearn for tenderness.
I only once yearned for it because I thought it was what was right.
Soft,
Gentle,
Love.
Sweet
Between
The Sheets.
With Patient Kisses.
And hands
that Do Not
Hunger.
But I need you to Ravish me...
Because when you ransack me it feels ravishing.



© 2014 Kendra Bowman