My forthcoming book, When Black Women Breathe, is a labor of love. I'm taking my time with it - feeling, listening, being open and honest, facing what was, and all that is to be. I had to take a look at my own life, as a Black woman, and go back to the beginning. I had to remember where it all began and the path that has brought me here. That is how this poem was birthed.
BLUEPRINT
And if for some reason
you desire to be normal, stop
and give it more thought.
You think it will be better,
like choosing organic fruit over the regular.
It still gets soft in the middle,
and bruises.
Remember when you stood on the porch
at your grandmother’s house,
and thought you’d always stay?
Always mindful of the crooked steps
and wobbly hand rail.
Cars with loud mufflers
sped down the wide street.
Crickets making their noises
on any summer night,
and you laid down
with the sheet pulled up
to your nose, because
you were scared of the dark.
Everyone in your neighborhood
had a story. You just never knew
how to tell yours.
@ArchuletaChisolm2021