My Honest Poem (after Rudy Francisco)
I've been using this poem as a prompt for my students, so I thought it was only fair to use the prompt myself.
I was born 10 days early, screaming and eager in the middle of the night in the middle of January the 16th. same as sade, aaliyah, and fka twigs, but I can't sing for shit. a capricorn, the goat, stubborn and a leader such a pretty baby the nurses put me at the front of the nursery (my mom tells me this every time she tells me I am beautiful, which is often). I am 5'9 and clumsy as all hell, my father's daughter (I share his name and wide set eyes and fast metabolism and bad knees, but not his anger or his proclivity for leaving when things get hard) always tripping over shit, accidentlly injuring myself, finding bruises with no origin on my body, how did that get there? but make no mistake- I am far from careless. I'm from Los Angeles, California all sunshine and traffic and palm trees but it only sort of feels like home to me. A total mama's girl and proud of it like, that is my bestie (I only answer the phone when she calls so if you're not her, just text me) we used to be at war and I am so happy about our peace treaty I recently discovered I'm actually pretty awkward at parties a new development that lowkey terrifies me not a lot terrifies me but sometimes I worry that I will die alone and my cat will find my body and eat it he'd waste no time, Tyrone don't play about his food I used to want to die all the time but not anymore and I am so happy about this peace treaty I love 90s hip hop, old school, 2000s R&B songs about desire and infatuation of any genre I love with my heart in my fist and I will never stop doing that. I am a really good friend and an expert at making babies laugh and making myself laugh and not being afraid to laugh at myself. almost everything I write has at least one typo. sometimes the words come faster than my brain can move and who has time to proofread anyway when there are more poems to write and the sun to dance in and friends faces to kiss ? I love my life which is kind of a new development but i hope that feeling is here to stay. I know that I am.