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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
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