Strong. Independent. Black. Woman.

A Poem

.

As a little girl

Into my adolescence 

I aspired to be 

A fighter, confident, resilient

Transcendence

I hoped and prayed

But ”twas not enough

I had to try

I had to work hard

I had to do 

I had to fight

And best believe I fought 

.

Little did I understand

All the pain

All the isolation

All the responsibility 

All the self-teaching 

That came with 

My melanin

My knowledge

My worth

Myself

I had to learn myself 

To love myself

And didn’t know if I had it in me

.

Did I have it in me?

The doubt

As was always there

Doubt in my abilities

Doubt in my thoughts

Doubt In my voice

If it mattered

I saw myself as less

The doubt chirped at me 

It howled like the wind in a storm

Rode my shoulder like a parrot

It crippled me

.

Not a woman

But a girl

A fragile black girl

Was I even black enough

Woman enough?

Society, community, neighborhood 

They kept telling me otherwise

Not grown enough

Not proud enough

Not woman enough

Not black enough 

.

My words though few, were still too much

Who talks like that?

White girl

Strong. Independent. Black. Women

Are not like that

They don’t talk like that, act like that

Then tell me why

My struggle is any lesser 

Because you say so

.

Am I not black?

Am I not strong?

Am I not independent?

Am I not a woman?

My book would say otherwise

I define myself

I took on a load alone that you would need a team to carry

So I could shape that fragile black girl into her own hero her own queen

I define myself and I…I am a strong independent black woman

.

Follow me on Instagram @imaginationbyrae or Twitter @goddessishrc for more content. Consider donations to Cashapp: $RaesViolet. Thanks for reading!

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