Reach and Remember (For 3rd i)

For every one of you who fought a battle
In her own mind over her own worthiness--

"A moment of clarity where I remember who we were
I stretch my arms to the sky to embrace the sun
To show you that although I will never touch the sun
I can always reach"

This poem is dedicated to the memory of a fellow
Poet who penned those words

Fallen verbs into hungry ears of
A world that loves us coldly to the tender bone
Epitaph of a black woman soul gone home

This is the poem I wanted to write her, but
Ran out of time

You must remember God is with you

You see one august bloodied by too many
Loose words and stolen promises
She clutched a gun to herself
And silenced her wanting heart

I know how she felt; and you do too

And if it hurts to hear this, then you need this word
A hard word
Sometimes a hard word can save your life

You must remember God is with you

Sometimes while reaching for a distant sun you might get burned

By all the people who claim to love you
Love everything about you, but you
Love to handle you like a knob
Until you are tarnished and turned

Because you were just the moment they had before they walked
Into something more important
A forgotten tool that enabled their development
Left for the next man
to hold and release

Can you understand
It is just that you’re so articulate
So passionate
So intelligent

An unexpected concert of unexpected things
Conducted by faith
Accompanied by big sounds
Too big
To be found in a black skinned body
Bloated with stale possibilities
Waiting for the pin drop
Silence to pop

You must remember God is with you

When they say
If only you were more polished
Less rough around the edges
If only your soul was the color of the
rattan sand footstool on which you perch
Waiting on somebody
To acknowledge who you are
If only you were more like us, we’d
Take your sweet song of self
Into our arms and lay you down
Before the banks of the river jordan
and make love to you soul

Long as you
Ain’t misbehavin’
Yet because I chose me
The only sound you hear afterwards
Is the soulless silence

Love was never meant to be battlefield
And though perfect love casts out all fear
In her defiled name every gain has been wagered and won

Still, you must remember God is with you


This is for every colored girl who has considered suicide
After being forced to watch her hope dropped out six story windows
Like schoolbooks, and wedding rings, luck
And babies

This is for every colored girl who has
Been the water bearer
drunk the
Bathwater to carry the dream high
In her belly
For every woman that has kicked her way out the belly of the beast
Which hunts her happiness daily
Who has cried a red sea of rivers
Who has eaten the last supper

And like Old Mother Hubbard
Found her insides bare
From the brutal truth

That we are a tea set

not meant to survive
For anything outside of service
A compliment to the crumpets, but not the chef

You must remember God is with you

When wounded by words and tears you’ve held under your breath
Because when they all walk into the destiny you trained them for
You’re left

You must remember God is with you

No matter what man has never been man enough to love you
For who you are
Because he feared his own betrayal
For every spite you endured like a spider bite
Until it formed a depression in you smooth skin
And needed filling
But how can you fill a hole that once held who you are?
How can you smile in the face of a world that loves to love
Everything about you, but your ownself
How can you carry your cross that marks the spot
Where they even took the life of God himself
`Cept but to

Remember God is with you

after loosing your sons to your sorrow
And your daughters to your shame
And your men to the hate for the womb they feel cursed their existence

Seek repentance
Without silencing your own hurting heart

you must remember that no matter how many battlefields you
Are on you are somebody’s hero
Somebody is alive because you nursed them
Somebody is free because you lived
Somebody walked within your womb through wildernesses to build this country
Remember what is wonderful to the wise
Is meaningless to God
What good are towers when compared with the magnificence
Of the ocean?

Stand up, then, like a woman.

Like David, come in the name of the Lord
Let God’s sling shot
Cast its heart on all those who refuse to let you shine
Because it blinds their eyes to the truth

Don’t be ashamed of your everyday use, but use it
Until it nourishes the brilliance He plans for you.

though it may be hard to touch the sun
Put your weapons away
from you own heart
back away slowly
Reach
And remember