I love this song so much! I discovered it on Easter this year.
my fear is that you WILL stop noticing me
between fingers of chocolate fudge and pencil erasers
MY fear are kisses uninteresting- itching
courageous- no, talented- sometimes
my FEAR is you will like everything i say
but forget what i mean when i introduce the many paintings,
polished poems, st. peter’s denial confessed- you are bored now
my fear is your ability to predict me
forgetting that no one else touches these curves
collecting sweet pea bath and body works lotion
conversing at midnight- trying to BE for you
By Carla A.
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Remember the time we laid our hands
side by side and I joked that you were white
like french vanilla and I
coconut
You said to me you did not see color
It did not matter to you
but why would you ignore
brown outside your door
This brown who took white
Befriended it fight with fight
This brown watched the marches
not long ago
This brown pumped the well
this brown who had to learn English
the difference between close and shut
in, inside, into,
sick, sickness, sickly
It was not easy to do.
To ignore my color is to ignore me
I am brown and the eyes you see
will either be loved by you
or not.
That’s fine.
Just don’t pretend you’re colorblind.
This brown survived, this brown of mine.
it dawned on me that i haven’t been honest with you.
i am
beautiful
not because of the stories i can tell
times of embarrassment
when aunties touched my breast yelling,
“come look at this!
she is a woman now!”
not because of the suitcase full of colorful sweaters
perpetual yarn wrapping love handles,
yelling, “exercise!
you are no longer eight years old!”
maybe it is the scar on my knee,
double jointed elbows,
thick eyebrows,
blame-it-on-the-brown eyes making me
beautiful
if the original source of beauty made me
me being me
you being you
then perhaps
the source made us
right
maybe
beautiful
I used to disappear like runners after noon
underneath water fountains on Fairview Street.
Each step recalls the joy of eight:
mozzarella for seventy five cents,
mother begged to see the day of a Salchow,
sister won second place, shaking Lolo’s hand.
Cars disturb the crickets traveling the same road.
A mother, a daughter share a legacy:
The Little Prince,
his common rose, and volcanoes that come up to his knees.
Cole Street.
The same tendencies
all for a picture.
I cannot come out with it
The words on my tongue just won’t slip
I want to tell her to be content
but how can she know He’s got her back?
I am giving advice in my head
I bite my tongue and listen instead
I want to tell her that Jesus loves her
but I hold it in because I don’t want to fight
Instead I think it secretly:
God has you and He has me
from the highest hill to the deep deep sea
His forgiveness is unmeasurable
How can I speak when she may not understand
I want to scream: Jesus has you in his hand
I do not wave a sign that says you will go to Hell
instead I cry out, “Come drink from this well!”
It’s not religion, it’s a long embrace
You can come meet my Papa, face to face
For His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
But I hold it in because I don’t want to fight
________
I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God’s child (John 1:12)
I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God’s temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God’s co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil.. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14).
I have been adopted as God’s child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you know
Who you are?
She wonders if it was because she blew
drops of salty dreams
down his dreadful afternoon jeans
He used to sing Usher down a make believe aisle
caught her eyes in the line of enlisted officers:
How do you say your last name again, Sergeant?
She changed
replacing late night talks with long prayers
or as she called it—- worship
He teased that she would turn into a nun
no longer allowed to lick the sides of his fingers.
He said:
Are you a Jesus freak now?
She wonders if he ever changed
raising hands on the Narrow Way
or folding afternoon jeans
