LISTEN LADY PHOENIX

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Submitted Date 07/17/2020
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Listen, Lady Phoenix

 

Listen, Lady Phoenix,

don't smile because you are uncomfortable.

Don't laugh to prove you are un-bothered.

You are valuable enough to be bothered.

You can look at a nasty utterance

at the lips and call it inappropriate.

You are worthy,

just as worthy as the person spewing tastelessness.

You are worthy.

 

When your dreams are equal to a man's,

but you're told to take your place

and be humble.

When you're rebuked to sit back

and let him achieve dreams so big,

constellations gossip about it.

Remember,

your vagina wasn't involved

in the matter of your purpose.

Your soul shook you to your core

while you were still sleeping,

painted pictures in your day dreams

of being a lawyer, a bad ass with a smile.

Remember,

your vagina wasn't involved in the matter.

 

Listen, Lady Phoenix!

Show the snakes their tongues

without touching them.

Snatch your dream without feeling the need to justify.

Your crown is reason enough

to snatch the stars from the sky,

just so the next generation

can see hope during their darkest moments.

During the moments when

you're one of the six brown people

at your job, and your cubicle

happens to be surrounded

by co-workers who crack tasteless jokes,

and justify themselves by saying,

"Well, everybody is racist,"

and you want to explode from the ignorance,

chew through their

privileged "tongue-in-cheek,"

their half-assed empathy for different

kinds of beautiful,

And

Spit

Them

Out,

and you're torn between

calling them out professionally

and appropriately,

only to be seen as the angry black woman,

or say nothing and allow them to believe

that their poisonous preference of humor is okay.

 

No matter what you do:

Don't smile because you are uncomfortable.

Don't laugh to prove you are un-bothered.

You are valuable enough to be bothered,

just as valuable as the person spewing tastelessness.

You are worthy.

 

When waking up with the desire

to bury the sun because the daylight

is just too damn hard to face,

strugglin' to once again shove yourself

into boxes your family, education, and career

have designed for you,

you shudder at the thought

of placing

your cold feet on the hardwood floors

of your bedroom.

Listen, Lady Phoenix!

You were meant to be you.

Just you.

Your crown is reason enough

to snatch the stars from the sky,

just so the next generation can see hope

during their darkest moments.

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