The wooden stairs creak more
My edges grow, leave, and grow again
Nostalgia becomes a person who haunts my daydreams
As I grow older
I vacate my hometown
I vacate my familiar faces
I vacate the room that I had
Transformed into sanctuary, into surgeon’s table
Into confessional with no accepting father on the other side
As I grow older
I recognize how nigga I am
How Africa I am
How women who runs with the moon
How women who is silenced by stars
How magically masculine I am
As I grow older
I will try to be beacon of hope
I will try to ingest the knowledge of
Every ancestor and their friends and their enemies
I will try to love myself
Completely, every painful bit
And every glorious piece
As I grow older, I will be…
Interested in poetry?
On Saturday, Feb. 18, VOX is partnering with Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) to celebrate Maya Angelou’s legacy with And Still I Rise Teen Spoken Word Workshop (1-2:45 p.m.) and Poetry Slam (3-5 p.m.).
Bring friends, bring poems, bring yourselves for an afternoon of art not ego and inspiration! IT’S FREE!
VOX welcomes Atlanta-area teens’ original poetry for publication. Just email your work, along a headshot or piece or accompanying piece of art, with your name, age and school (if in school) to Sarah@voxatl.org.
