The Walk

by Lala

I hold onto the railing
While I look into sky
Thinking about my life
Seeing it through black and white
Seem worried     What would I say to God?

Taking my time

to heaven

Waiting

By Niki Robergethe

From the Women Moving Forward Program

 

She

who sits

in the warmth of the sunlight

while no one else is there

cool dark shadows linger

the sunlight reflects off her fiery red hair

looking out the window

for a glimmer of hope

she continues to wait

the sunlight reflects of her fiery red hair

looking out the window

for a glimmer of hope

she continues to wait

sunlight reflects off her fiery red hair

looking out the window

for a glimmer of hope

she continues to wait

 

NAS

By Shanci Boyce

From the Women Moving Forward Program

Black & White

Try my life

Call me what you want imma make it

You don’t know what I been through

Scary trees no leaves

Eyes are dark face is screwed

I am

By: Georgina Ontiveros-Ruiz
From Women Moving Forward

I am

I am my mirror, deep and square
I see it blank, an empty space
It looks so cold,
It looks so strange
Its light so dim,
Its face so pale…

I am hungry for knowledge
To empower myself
A place to belong
Where I feel I’m safe,
Where I feel accepted
Despite imperfections
I am eating a cake of protection.

I am my dignity,
I am my freedom
I hide my secrets, my life
Inside this rock you cannot have
I am a pink quartz
With lots of heart
Whose soul you cannot scar.

I am my grandma’s house,
Where I grew up
So warm and loving
My place to hide
Myself, my life…

I am the sea,
An endless ocean
Fulfilled with tears
Where I hide my pain,
Where I hide my fear.

Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long

New single by Erykah Badu from the New Amerykah Part II: Return of the Ankh album

Hennessey (a monologue)

by Amahnee

 

The memories tracing my skin disguise themselves

as your fingertips. When I lick my lips

I taste stale Hennessy-stained kisses,

like bitter grains of sugar,

and wonda

how long before the sweat of your flesh

no longer chokes me? Your phantom smile,

that playground grin of mischief,

still lingers in the shadows.

My breath smells of your promises,

the ones you whispered into my lungs like smoke.

I still cough up the blackened, unfulfilled hopes

and spit childhood dreams unto dirty concrete streets,

pretty rings and first kisses chasing the gutter.

Mommi always said, ‘watch yuhself.’

But images in a mirror aren’t always what they appear;

no matter how long you look.

I try to kill the fear buried in my belly –

but it’s already a dried-up seed, starved of light and love.

 

How did one mid-summa night touch

become my only truth?

July heat pressin’ down

on our bodies like a heavy hand,

strangling the air,

tryin’ to suffocate those sinista sounds.

But nothin’ can drown the symphony of a city soaked

with sweat, rum and lust.

Those cries grab the heavens,

dance around a mango-coloured moon and fall with the stars

like the glitter from my eyes.

 

I smelt you,

smelt you before I saw you.

Hennessey.

 

“KeeP Shining”

Check the debut of Northside emcee SHAD’s brand new video ”Keep Shining” featuring cameos by poet Sheniz, pioneering Hip Hop artist Michie Mee and Womenz Wordz own Amahnee. This one’s for the ladeez!

 

Real talks

by Miss Cola

sex isn’t just sex you know
every man i lay with has left something behind
something that i am left to deal with
sometimes i’d be going through things
and not even know why
It could be physical
it was an s.t.d the first time chlamydia and the second trichonomas

these things went

and could have caused great damaged if i left them untreated

how would i explain this to my future husband
when i can’t have kids because of my careless actions that could very much lead to my dismay
Theres time i’ve felt like im not myself
theres time i’ve felt depressed, oppressed and just a hot mess
i’ve heard the saying that the men i sleep with leave their problems behind.
so why do i do it?
it doesn’t make any sense
it definetly wasn’t worth the risks i choose
i need to wait until God blesses me with a man especially made for me
when i feel its too hard to wait
and i feel like i need someone with me
instead of givin in to my fleshy desires
i find things to occupy my time
and i realize that i need to go back to the basics
when my life was only about me and God
Even with everything in the world
i always feel lonely without God in my life
walking side by side
A living sacrifice for the Lord is what i strive to be
living a life fullfilled
and marching onward to my destiny