Pride and Power

(Winning Poem from Poetry Slam at Idaho Falls Art museum with a perfect score of 10 in 2018)

A young couple walks into a store expecting to purchase goods and exit without criticism and judgment. 

But let's be very clear: the biggest issue with expectation is that it can not protect you from reality. 

You see this couple, this young couple is a part of the new frontier, despite the fact that a law was passed in 1967 that these two could legally marry IN DEFIANCE OF the difference in their skin tone. Now people LET US completely ignore the fact that  IN THE LAND OF THE FREE there needed to a law passed to say that these two could find hope, passion and love from one another and BECAUSE OF THAT CONNECTION decide to spend this life together hand in hand without prosecution AS HUSBAND AND WIFE….  But I DIGRESS…

A young couple walk into a store EXPECTING to purchase goods and exit WITHOUT CRITICISM AND JUDGMENT.

Who am I kidding…. You see, I thought I could tell you this story without including myself. I thought i could walk down this beaten path without using my own feet, but the prints left behind on that, muddy sinken path match my feet, and for the past 5 years have been joined by the feet of my best friend, as we walk side by side in Matrimony, some days Holy and other days Hell. 

My Husband, My safeguard, My personal Agent of protection and I went to a store AND Although we seem to be a party of 2, we carry with us the leftovers of events past HOPE, WITH FEAR, AND ANXIETY. If you gaze close enough at our shadows, you will see the others. They are present, they are there.

  HE with his piercing blue eyes and freckles a plenty and I with my kinky curly hair and full lips approach a woman who looks up with SHOCK FIRST... AND Self Awareness SECOND….ALWAYS SECOND. 

She looks past me into eyes that make her feel at home and then to me with an expression of interest. She speaks these words. So, Where are YOU From?

 I hate those words, NO, I RESENT THOSE WORDS. To most ears it is a simple question but to our ears the translation is as follows: YOU DON’T BELONG HERE, YOU DON’T BELONG TOGETHER, YOU DON’T BELONG, SO PLEASE TELL ME WHERE YOU CAME FROM SO THAT WE KNOW WHERE TO RETURN YOU .

Where are you from? These used to be just words. Just words. But not anymore. They can no longer be just words when they lead to someone telling ME THAT I DON’T KNOW WHO I AM That MY skin tone doesn’t belong to the heritage i so gladly claim and the nose that sits upon MY face, you know that nose that i have seen MY entire life doesn’t belong to MY VERY OWN BLOOD LINE and That my hair is too much and unprofessional despite the fact that this is the way it grows out of my scalp. 

I am tired of people telling me where I COME FROM AND WHERE I BELONG. I AM NOT YOURS SO DO NOT PUT ME IN A BOX BECAUSE I WILL ONLY FREE MYSELF LIKE THE GODDESS THAT I AM, WITH the strength FROM MY ANCESTORS THAT LIES DEEP IN...MY...EVERYTHING. 

SO I AM GONNA ANSWER THIS QUESTION FOR THE LAST TIME. I AM FROM THE EARTH beneath us that holds us up when we are weak and surrounds us when we are laid to rest.

 I am from the Sun, with radiance that can bring warmth but that has no problem burning you if you break my boundaries.

 I am from the breeze that reminds you of the faith you hold so dear, because the way I love can not always be seen by the eyes upon your face but can always be felt by the hairs that I will command to stand strong upon your skin. 

I am from the water that quenches your thirst, that washes you clean, and that brings life into our world. 

I am from the Pride and Power of Jamaica, where my mother and her mother and the mothers before them were Born and Bread. Pride and Power that you may bruise but can not destroy. Pride and Power that I refuse to be ashamed of. Pride and Power that despite your lack of acceptance, I will use to RISE UP every morning and walk forward into the future with my BEST FRIEND because when it comes to things that matter, He and I are from the Same Place.