Eyes darting across a blank canvas
Where do I begin?
Heart filled with words yet spoken
May this blank canvas embody these unspoken words

Blank—filled
Empty—whole
Bright—yet dark

Words unheard
Accounted for within

Sankofa,
Let’s begin

At the age of 16, poetry, cacophonic, became an outlet for me.
Emotions that once felt so distant, merely a faint and infant shadow, stand beside me today at 23.
Hello, friend, it’s been a while; I thought I would not be graced with your presence again.

8 letters
3 words

I am trapped in a square
4 corners
each pointing in different directions
my square holds my tears
my disappointments
my i cants
i am trapped
as my tears drown me
they overcome my square
my disappointments taunt me
while my i cants continue to define me

My thoughts tucked away in the deepest part of my mind
My mouth sewn together by my unspoken thoughts
As I open my mouth blood seeps from the stitches that hold my mouth closed
I mumble I mumble
Praying someone will hear me
But the mumbles are my words that no one will ever hear
Why can’t you hear me
Why can’t they hear me
My voice
my power
striped away by the silencer
I mumble I mumble
Why can’t you hear me?

I knock on the door
You dont let me in
Praying you will accept me
You chose to Reject Me
(Is that love?)
Change after change
I am still not enough  
You treat me like a useless puppet
You throw me away
(is that love?)
Daddy daddy
Stranger stranger
For God has given me to you
For thou has “cursed” you  
I ask for love
You give me Pain
I ask for your presence
You hand me resentment on a silver platter
Daddy Daddy
Is that love?

Little girl
Optimistic in life
Lost
Little girl
Naive as can be to the cruelty of the world
Little girl
Aspires to be what she is told
Little girl
Through her eyes she sees
Rainbows butterflies and unicorns
Little girl
No longer little
Big girl, all grown up
What does she now know
Nothing