Audacious iam

Recently I performed the following poem at the Annual Sister Song, Let's Talk About Sex Reproductive Justice Conference 2019, ATL, GA. https://www.sistersong.net/mission

eight things i wished my mom had taught me about and for my body:

one.

your body is a river

sacred like baptism and scripture

holy like grandmothers praying sooo long

you’re grown now

two.

your body will always be loud

be fresh

be dope

and all the time

your body will be exact

magical and whole

know

that your body is the truth

your melanin

does not tell lies

three.

somedays

you will not recognize your body

or like it

or even yourself

but this will be the part

when you

at your ugliest

and most fragile moment

when the mask is off

torn open

with all your wounds

for the world to see

is when you will have to

dig yourself out a carcass

and shift shape a body

to move

to breathe

to be

four.

your body will tell you how to save itself

you will just have to listen

five.

your ancestors prayed over your body

rebuke men who prey on your body

too young to understand the growth in your belly

nor the sin of men

no weapon formed against your womb

shall stand

six.

they will protest your cervix

use it for their service

tell you to speak only when spoken to

they don’t have the right to

you have the right to choose

seven.

one day you’d fear birthing bloody babies

for the thought of burying bloodied black boy bodies in america

and crocked politicians will try to force you into motherhood

whether you choose other-hood or not

they will try to tell you

what to do with your body

meanwhile cops will continue to hunt down

black and brown bodies

but never forget

that you get to choose

you get to choose

you get to choose

eight.

you get to choose

so choose sight

choose fight

because they ain’t coming to save our people

it’s time to level up

they don’t see us as equal

but some of y’all out there is thinking

i’m trying to sale y’all freedom

but my god sense is telling me

that I can reach ya