To start living,
you have to shake off the dust of yesterday
and refuse to let it define you.
We are not our failures, we are not our mistakes.
We are not our incomplete sentences or lost words.
We are our future,
shining bright.

-Rhia Clay

Dear brown girl,
Without placing judgment, think about what your face looked like before you were born. Pay attention to what it tells you. You’re a warrior brown girl.
your inner emotional world shifting.
Everyone experiences their version of truth and you’re here to shift it.
Existence is an endless array of joy and pain
no need to agonise
Brown girl to be seen is not a penalty

Brown girl, hear these words and know they're true
You were born a warrior, with strength imbued
Your face before birth, held a wisdom untold
Listen to its message, let its power unfold

Your emotional world, is ever changing and vast
A reflection of the truth, that you hold steadfast
You're here to shift perceptions, to challenge what's known
To create a new reality, one that's truly your own

Life is full of joy and pain, a journey we all share
But there's no need to agonise, or feel like life's unfair
For you, brown girl, are a gift to this world
A shining light, waiting to be unfurled

I
can’t
Tell.  if
The      sky
Above       Is real

Or not          Quite there

Quite near                            Enough
To hold                                                   The stars
In the                                                                             Palm of
My hand                                                                                         And be
So glad                                                                         That I
Can see                                             The light
That shines         All through

The night.       Will it

Go out? Will it?

Will      it?

Go
out?

I can't paint a pretty picture
when destruction looks me
right in the face
but
I can't paint a black picture
when I see hope shining
through the human face.