Skip to main content

On Beauty

Last night we read poems and essays about beauty in the book edited by Iris Jacob called, My Sister's Voices: Teenage Girls of Color Speak Out. The girls wrote poems in response. 


Standards of Beauty
by Natalie Branch

I’m that girl who never fits in.
I’m not fat nor am I thin.
I’m an African American with light skin.
When I walk out the house, I’m full of curiosity—
Not knowing what others will think of me.
Some may be jealous, others furious.
Me, I’m just curious.
My confidence isn’t low; it’s not high either.
My emotions are building up—like a deadly fever.
People like me because of who I am.
People hate me because I’m not like them.
Sometimes I ask myself: should I stay the same, or become someone else?
That’s something you will never again hear me say.
People say change, but I stay the same.
I am me, and I was born this way.
And this is how I will stay.


Yo! I’m sayin’!
by Deanna Branch

Q: Why you wear yo’ hair like that?

Yo! I’m sayin,
My hairstyle reflects my personality.
When I’m feeling creative, I braid the freshest designs.
When I feel bold, I change up my color.
And when I don’t want to be bothered,
I sweep bangs in my face!

Q: What’s up wit the grandma gear?

Yo! I’m sayin,
My style is sophisticated, sexy, and sleek.
I make trashy look classy and childish look mature.
Yo grandma gear ain’t got nothing on me.

Q: Yo! Tell me what ‘s up with the tight lookin pants?

Yo! I’m sayin,
Ain’t no shame in my game.
I love my hip hugging jeans
and so what if my butt sticks out from my jeans?
Those who don’t like it are allowed to kiss it.
Yo! I’m sayin.


Ghetto
by Elisha Branch

I don’t know what’s a cello
and I listen to a song called Ella
and they want to call me ghetto.

I eat cereal outside
watching people beg for a ride
and they want to call me ghetto.

My favorite food is tacos
and I have friends called pacos
and they want to call me ghetto.

I go to church in my everyday clothes
and our house door is never closed
and they want to call me ghetto.

We praise in the same place
and we all say grace
and they want to call me ghetto.

Get besty with me
and I’m a get besty with you
and you can keep on calling me ghetto.


My Body
by Brittene Harden

They talk about my
hips my thighs my
cute brown eyes.

But in the day-glow
which they will never
know how I flow.

I might be fat, ugly
and sloppy, but you
will never stop me.

One them days when
you talk and laugh about
me that means the only
thing is, is that I’m free.

See you have no
life that why you hurt
others. When in Christ
we are your sister
and your brother.

I never had a person
who hurt me like
you and there’s no
one who will see
me through.

You don’t have to be skinny or white
as snow, but how
I look while here
I go.

I’m thick in the
waist, ten in the
foot 38C on top
and my pride will never drop you
dig.


My Body
by Maya Montgomery

I may be tall and skinny
And I love the mouse named Minnie,

Say nothing to my small feet.
But I will be in that love seat.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Six-word Scary Stories

We've done six-word memoirs. Tonight the Dream Keepers wrote six-word scary stories. Read and enjoy! (Then write and submit your own in the comment field!) A vampire destroys the city with power. —Tramonta Garner (pictured above) One virus. One town. No survivors. —Jaimee Bogard-LaMar, 14 One girl. Many monsters. What's next? —Jaimee Bogard-LaMar, 14 Big zombie eats eyeballs. City blind. —Elisha Branch, 14 One house. One family. Both gone. —Elisha Branch, 14 Knock, knock. Who's there? Killer mysterious. —Derranesha, 12 Baby cries. No answer. What happens? —Derranesha, 12 Ring, ring. "Hello." Please help me. —April, 12 The spooky monster ran towards me ... —Sonya, 17 The worm crawls into the brain. —Sierra The slippery, slimy monster grabs two. —Quintoya Eskridge
Post a Comment
Read more

Write Your Dreams

--> Write Your Dreams by Rochelle Melander Your dreams can be a rich source of stories, images, metaphors, and sensory details for your writing.  Many famous novels began with the writer's dreams. Mary Shelley was staying with Lord Byron in Switzerland during a frightful cold spell. Byron suggested they write a ghost storied. After Shelley came up with the idea of a reanimated corpse, she had a spooky dream: that dream became the core of her famous novel  Frankenstein . While traveling on a train, E.B. White dreamed of a small, adventurous mouse. Although he started writing the story almost immediately, it would be twenty years before he published, Stuart Little . When Stephen King snoozed on a long flight, he dreamed about a woman who kills her favorite writer, using his skin to bind a book. That dream gave him the idea for his bestselling book, Misery .  You, too, can use your dreams...
Post a Comment
Read more

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

Last night the Dream Keepers and I met for the second time this fall. As usual, our time together begins slowly. We would rather talk and eat than write. Giggles abound. I'm tempted to be more teacher than facilitator. Both are necessary--but I sense that the young women work better for the facilitator. Last night we read together the poem, HOWL by Nikki Giovanni from her new book of poems, Acolyte. The poem is dedicated to singer Nina Simone, who write a song called To Be Young, Gifted and Black inspired by a play of the same name written by Lorraine Hansberry. After reading the poem, the two young women decided to write on this theme. Here is their work. As usual, it is moving to me and I hope for you. Young, Gifted, and Black by Natalie Branch I am young, smart, and African American. I know that may seem like a little, but it's saying a lot more than you know. To people like my sister, being young means not having your own voice and always having to prove yourself. To me, be...
2 comments
Read more