MY BODY
When Yahweh knitted me in my mother’s womb
It was for a purpose
Not for your callous unkept hands to touch me.
As if I were a toy
Don’t toy with me
My body doesn’t belong to you
I took a magnifying glass
And poured over every pore
Your name absent
So, then stranger
What gives you the right to cop a feel?
Did our souls speak?
Did our spirits connect like the leaves and the wind?
Did you whisper to me like the birds in the forest?
Did you plant your roots in the soil of my spirit?
What spring water did you fetch to nurture my growth?
That’s right you didn’t
Keep your eyes up here
YOU attacked me like a vulture
And when met with resistance
Your inner child appears as if from nowhere
You cry like a new-born baby
Like I’m your mother hiding my bosom from you
And without shame you throw your toys out of the pram
Entitled to what you don’t deserve
Your eyes are drunk with lust
You cannot see past my celestial shell
Look at me with sober eyes
See past my bountiful breasts
I know my body is voluptuous and my skin
Feels like quilted velvet and as the sun lands on it
You are intoxicated.
I illuminate the essence of power and release it
You inhale it and
Stumble towards me and touch what is not yours with your vile hands.
I reprimand you
To your dismay
You refuse to quit
With the penalties you have suffered, the pursuit only intensifies
The race to my body never stops
Yet if I gave it to you on a platter
You wouldn’t even know what cutlery to use
Should I be eaten raw or well done?
What is the starter, main and dessert?
You, infant, you are still on breast milk
You aren’t even teething yet
You refuse to grow infant
You are in a waterfall of immaturity
You cannot unlock the ocean within me
Stay dehydrated in the desert
Drips from a broken sink.
On the flip I do know and understand you
We are both victims like ants shaken in a glass jar
I was taught to lead with my body
You were taught that you owned my body
The toxic root of our species
I too once dived into bodies before I knew how to breathe underwater
The dive?
Exhilarating
The swim?
I drowned every time, water is still in my lungs.
We’ve both been misled by culture
But you are enlightened and know the truth like the slaves that ran away
But you want to stay on the plantation for scraps
Slave to your flesh,
Swiping right all day praying to prey on the women
Praying the physical turns to emotional
SPOILER ALERT – it won’t
Journey through your soul
Demolish the prisons you’ve created, they’ve created.
Don’t you see, we want the same thing
See yourself, then you can see me
My body is the tip of the iceberg.
Why don’t you want to know me?
I feel invisible
Are you even hearing me?
Why is it when I speak to you
The face that is painted is one of a confused child
And your actions reflect that of a lost soul
Are you hearing me?
My wisdom falls on deaf ears.
I surrender.
I’ve wilted like a dying flower
My eyes peeled to the ground
I see a hedgehog watch it adapt in wonderment.
It escapes the scorpion’s sting
I lavish myself with its power.
And took the sting of the scorpion and laced my four chambers with it
A gracious bull gave me its horns and I attached them to my skull
The lion roared and I inhaled its essence and sprinkled it in my spirit
You’ve turned me into this
You won’t prey on me no more
I won’t lose the fight
What I really want for you and I
Is to have the spirit of love birds
The patience of a penguin
The intentions of a swan
The deep love of geese
Where you will die for me
And keep the body vultures away.
Until you see me
You can never get to touch me.
