This isn't something I normally would have picked up - but great recommendation, Megan! Jill Scott's poetry is moving like her music, and touches on everything - love, breakups, femininity, church, etc. She's very real - took me aback, sometimes. Three of my favorites (to demonstrate the "realness") ...Untitled #1 (Love Sucks)
You constantly break me down,
Cut me open and turn me inside out
Therefore, my feelings are equal to hell
Their foulness haunts me like a backed-up cesspool
Reeking of used tampons
Vomit
Baby diarrhea ditties
Drunken old man's piss
And filth.
Despite the stench
Despite the nausea
I love you still
Please call soon,
Love,
Dummy.
Haiku #5
I hear them say it
Cuss words ain't for no lady
But sometimes shit's real
Carried Away
I wasn't ready to be your mother
Your main and only source of support.
I wasn't prepared to give you all you needed
All that I wanted to give
But I had always dreamed of when I would be
When I could be your mommy
When I would know your smile
The red, yellow, brown of your skin
The texture of your hair
The innocence in your eyes
I dreamed of when i would know your scent
The red alarm siren in your cry
The warmth of your little presence
I always dreamed that I would show you to the world
Educate you about it and the world I try to create for you
I had always dreamed of you
But you came too soon
My pocket and my body just waren't ready for you
So you left
Without notice
Without prepration
Without choice
Gone
Just gone
I never had the chance to acknowledge you while you were here
With me
And there is still the nagging grief
For you whom I did not meet
Gone
Gone before I had a chance to say hello.
Wow...I'm assuming she's speaking of Abortion?
ReplyDeletelove haiku #5. LOVE it.
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