The Sun and Her Flowers (14 page)

when i go from this place

dress the porch with garlands

as you would for a wedding my dear

pull the people from their homes

and dance in the streets

when death arrives

like a bride at the aisle

send me off in my brightest clothing

serve ice cream with rose petals to our guests

there's no reason to cry my dear

i have waited my whole life

for such a beauty to take

my breath away

when i go

let it be a celebration

for i have been here

i have lived

i have won at this game called life

-
funeral

it was when i stopped searching for home within others

and lifted the foundations of home within myself

i found there were no roots more intimate

than those between a mind and body

that have decided to be whole

what good am i

if i do not fill the plates

of the ones who fed me

but fill the plates of strangers

-
family

even if they've been separated

they'll end up together

you can't keep lovers apart

no matter how much

i pluck and pull them

my eyebrows always

find their way

back to each other

-
unibrow

a child and an elder sat across from each other at a table

a cup of milk and tea before them

the elder asked the child

if she was enjoying her life

the child answered yes

life was good but

she couldn't wait to grow up

and do grown-up things

then the child asked the elder the same question

he too said life was good

but he'd give anything to go back to an age

where moving and dreaming were still possibilities

they both took a sip from their cups

but the child's milk had curdled

the elder's tea had grown bitter

there were tears running from their eyes

the day you have everything

i hope you remember

when you had nothing

she is not a porn category

or the type you look for

on a friday night

she is not needy or easy or weak

-
daddy issues is not a punch line

i long to be a lily pad

i made change after change

on the road to perfection

but when i finally felt beautiful enough
their definition of beauty

suddenly changed

what if there is no finish line

and in an attempt to keep up
i lose the gifts i was born with

for a beauty so insecure

it can't commit to itself

-
the lies they sell

you want to keep

the blood and the milk hidden

as if the womb and breast

never fed you

it is a trillion-dollar industry that would collapse

if we believed we were beautiful enough already

their concept of beauty

is manufactured

i am not

-
human

how do i shake this envy

when i see you doing well

sister how do i love myself enough to know

your accomplishments are not my failures

-
we are not each other's competition

it is a blessing

to be the color of earth

do you know how often

flowers confuse me for home

we need more love

not from men

but from ourselves

and each other

-
medicine

you are a mirror

if you continue to starve yourself of love

you'll only meet people who'll starve you too

if you soak yourself in love

the universe will hand you those

who'll love you too

-
a simple math

how much

or how little

clothing she has on

has nothing to do with how free she is

-
covered | uncovered

there are mountains growing

beneath our feet

that cannot be contained

all we've endured

has prepared us for this

bring your hammers and fists

we have a glass ceiling to shatter

-
let's leave this place roofless