Words Inside My Head...
SHINE by Kim El
(Kim’s Redemption Poem)
Written by: Kim El ©2006
Response to the Killings
Written by: Kim El ©2001
It was like the moon opened up her mouth and told me, “This is who you are.”…
Placed me next to the sun and a star and said, “Shine!”
So I did and a love returned inside of me like when I was a kid again
It had me stepping out of shadows layer’d in sin.
And in an instant a light came into my life
It pushed years of psychological abuse to the left and to the right
Then suddenly my molecules moved and shifted
I felt blessed and gifted…Have you ever felt this way?
Well, maybe it’s because the Moon never came to you to say, “Shine!”
See, like many women who walk this earth,
I have been wearing the blackness of my skin inside out
Always ready to scream and shout about nothing and everything
My spirit wanted to sing. But for years I have been on the edge of darkness and light
Contemplating the wrongness and right of this world
Then the Moon said to me, “Baby, girl…it’s time for you to fly!”
And she asked me why I stayed hidden in the shadows
Told me that only God knows what’s on the other side of my day
Asked me to feel his light when I meditate and pray
And to know that the same sun that melts the wax
Also hardens the clay…Hey! Have you ever felt this way?
I’m here to tell you today… it’s your time to Shine!
Now when my life is stressful, and my Angels tell me to “Be still”…
I know it’s my inner glow that will help me heal… so
when it’s time for me to go out on a date it will be with just me myself and
I won’t hesitate to celebrate because now I’m walkin with my
Spine and solar plexus straight…wait! Is that me in the mirror with a smile?
You better know it is and even though it took a while
My inner shine is gonna help me travel that extra mile…
Oh yeah, I’ll still meet brothers on my journey who will stop me and say,
“Hey, sistuh you got a nice behind!”
But this time when they see me… they gonna have to recognize my Shine!
When he woke up that morning
he didn’t know that this would be his last day to wake up
thinking this would be
his last day...
then there was gun shot spray
everyone ran away & there he lay
Brothers r u listening?
this was his last day
Sisters did u hear me?
he passed away
accepting pain, death & dying
as an alternative way of life
gangsta strife
you know, don’t leave home without ur gun or knife
he bragged about having so many women
but now he’ll never know the love of a wife
he was hustling for his seeds
but a father is what his babies really need
now there's blood on the ground over crack & weed
i was at a non-violence meeting for peace
while shots rang out in my neighborhood &
the statistics increased
i'm on a mission to save one at least
its' no longer just up to the police
see, this brother didn’t get a chance to say goodbye
now his soul is on the other side
and some might call his death
Statistic Number 3, 245
but where I come from
we call a death like his
Genocide
Natural Naps & Drum Beats
Written by: Kim El ©2014
Africa
you keep calling me
like my mama did
when the street lights came on
i hear you loud in my ears
& i better come when you call
because there might be
consequences
for being disobedient
yes, i'm running home to you in my
mind
your sun be tannin my skin
my hair be flyin free in the wind
i smell your sweet yams & collard greens
cookin slow
yes, i know my history
& glad to be representini'm
a powerful people with a colorful past
Africa
i'm not gonna be the last to sing your
song
i hear your drum beats
& i'm running home to you in my mind
i wonder what i'll find this time