Take Me to the Water...

 

Take me down to the river to be baptized.

Let me dip down in the river Jordan and rise anew

Let the rush of the Congo's rapid currents purge my heart of doubt

Surely there are cleansing waters that can heal my weary soul.

Let me lap in the waves of the Euphrates

And wade knee deep in the mighty Mississippi

Can I float to the Nile's fertile delta?

There, basking in the amniotic fluid of all humanity 

I can be born anew.

Surely there a cleansing waters that can heal my weary soul.

Take me to the water

SOLITUDE

original by Kenyetta chinwe(Angela Y. Brown)

I wanted to post this during the Valentine's day season but I was experiencing technical difficulties with my Internet. So, for your consideration here is my take on loving, losing and self-love.

In the silence of my solace
I learn to love you
Not because you are perfect
Because you are you.

In the quiet of my contemplation
I learn to love myself
For who I am
Despite what I think I lack.

It has been said
That love is wasted on the young.
And the older I get
I find it to be true.

When I was 20
Love meant a pretty face, a beautiful smile
A halo of hearts dancing around our heads
And stars in our eyes.

Now all I expect of love
Is a gentle touch, an open heart
Words of respect
And honor

I guess I should thank you
For this solitude in which I abide
Without It I’d have waited to learn
That it’s okay to love you
But not more than I love me.

I’d have never realized
That by embracing my aloneness
I’d find the true beginning of love
And witness its birth inside of me.

And so I cling to the silence
For as long as it must last
I invite the quiet until it gives way to laughter
I enjoy the solitude as it guides me to love

And I love you still
In the midst of it all
Just not more than me

I Write

Original by Kenyetta Chinwe(Angela Y. Brown)

I write from my abundance

I write when in lack

I write when the sun is shining

Or when the sky's pitch black

I write 'cause my soul says I have to

I write 'cause my words are my tears

And when my body has left this planet

My words will last for years

I write 'cause each line conveys a feeling

And each feeling is my song

when I write I'm completely honest

No worries of right or wrong

I write the thing I cannot say

Like what you mean to me

When I write it's not just words

I'm writing my soul free

And when it's all over

And I pass into life's night

I'll leave these words to tell my tale

"I Write"

Performance Art

Original by Kenyetta Chinwe(Angela Y. Brown)

My performance art
Is my performance heart
Pretending to love this life I am living.

Acting like my nine-to-five
Is all that I need to keep me alive
While down inside my soul is dying.

Putting on the show
So folks won’t really know
That in reality I am a sellout.

I sold my hopes and dreams
For a loaf of bread and a pot of beans
And the comfort that comes with a weekly check.

But now that I’ve counted the cost
And surveyed what I have lost
I’m trying to figure out how to buy it back.

My performance art
Is my performance heart
Trying to convince myself I don’t miss the stage

That it’s alright to work for the man
As long as I get all you can
And “so what” if I end each night crying.

Mourning the loss of my creative fire
And all that burning desire
Now eats away at what’s left of my sanity.

Trying always to ignore
The pain bubbling deep within
And persuade myself that ambition is vanity.

But is it vanity to crave elevation
To want to climb out of your situation
And live a life where you can get paid for what you love to do?

Who said “I’d always have to work for somebody”
And never really get to be happy
Tell me does that seem fair to you?

My performance art
Is my performance heart
Putting on shows daily for the masses.

But this performer’s tired of this act
So I think I’ll pack my sack
And move on down the road to happiness.

Show’s over!