Sun Kissed Shoulders-- A poem by Tonisha N.

Sun Kissed Shoulders

It's something that I must get off of my chest when it comes to the softness of my black sistas.

We have allowed ourselves to become stone.

We have buried our emotions so deep within ourselves that most times we aren't sure if we have any.

We have been indoctrinated to believe that as a black women we feel no pain, but we do.

We feel it our bones every waking moment, we feel it in our heavy eyelids, we feel it in the soles of our feet, wee feel it deep within our spirit!

Yet, we NEVER speak about it.

We never allow our emotions to manifest themselves into tears to cleanse the soul.

Instead, we continue to bury them in liquor bottles, weed blunts, between sheets, and church pews!

We allow ourselves to be silent sufferers then have the audacity to be angry when no one ask "Sis, you okay?"

We faithfully answer with the centuries old rhetoric of "Yeah, girl, just tired."

We say it to convince others but most importantly ourselves.

We say it as if the woman that looks like you, walks like you, speaks like you, and have endured the same struggles as you can't see pass that soulless "Yeah, girl, I'm just tired."

It's like if we allow our emotions to seep through our pores we somehow become vincible.

We are afraid of humanness.

We are afraid to show our weaknesses because at every twist and turn they've been thrown back into our faces.

Still it's a must that we do it because the softness of our souls are in jeopardy.

The sun can't penetrate the essence of who you are if you're afraid of it.

Bask in your humanness, allow the sun to kiss your shoulders so that the magic that you were born with in your bones becomes so powerful that your descendants can be whomever they choose without fear or judgment.

Written by Tonisha N.