FEATURED POETRY / SPOKEN WORD
WONDER WOMAN
Wonder Woman. I am wonder.
I think about how those words scrolls up the violet screen // In the feminist art wing of the Brooklyn museum // And how my team nicknamed me #wonderwoman
Do you ever think about how // You may wake up in the exact same place on Earth that you went to sleep, // But you'll have traveled thousands of miles in space.
And it’s 3.00am and I don’t know how far I’ve traveled in this small infinitesimal speck of time. // And I know that when you reduce life to black and white you will never see the rainbows.
Who am I in this moment? // I say my name like a spell // In the hushed breath of pre-dawn light // Shift it around on my tongue…
THINGS I WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME WHEN I WAS SEVENTEEN
ONE. // Fuck it. Stop worrying that you can’t // Spread your small hands wide enough to soothe your pain away // Or catch your tears to store in the riverbeds of your palms to remind you of the ocean // And season your wounds when your depression starts grumbling for more of your self worth // Don’t allow the salt to do more than accent the sweets you inhale, // The moments that make you thirsty for more.
TWO. // Don’t have staring contests with yourself in the mirror. You will lose.
More often than not watching yourself stretching your lips up // And hooking them onto the corners of your eyes // Does more damage than good…
SUGAR AND SPICE
Strangeness is a necessary ingredient in beauty, I say // Just enough to make it interesting so you're not a plain Jane // Yet you still grasp on to what the media proclaims // Can't quite fit the mold // Baby fat put to shame
Dancing fingers along curves that define your space in the world // Before clasping at porcelain, ready to hurl and suck in a gut that just tips over jeans, // Too skinny to fit any love in the seams
Praying someday to look, begging someday to feel // That it's worth it-- that you're worth it, that your beauty is real // Pinching in muscle and grinding down bones till there's nothing natural left // But a frown pasted on to a face vacuum sealed with a kiss upon lips // Far too plump to conceal that your words tinge with lisps…
