Poems

A shattered start

Ferris wheels

Starlight and flashing neon lights

Santa hats and candy canes

Dirty sneakers and chocolate stains

Cotton candy and sticky sweet hands

Toy stores

School trips

And boat rides

Swimming in the tide

Fearless and careless

Holiday fun time

Playtime outside

Sunny rivers

And cold shrivelled up fingers

Where were you?

All I heard was a faint whisper

Were you there childhood?

Or did you slip right under

Those painful hidden memories

Like a child scared of the thunder

Helpless and full of questions

Of what could be the reason for my existence

Grown up a bit too fast

Forced to see all of it fly past

Fast forward

To a life of awkward

A state of mind fed from a sped up time

An adult life lived by a child

Forged in stone, thorns and scales

Tough like keratin and a hardened shield

Made from pain and too numb to feel

This life is a cold spear

Pierced in the heart

For a child with a shattered start.

Angela Yap Chung

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Goddess among mortals

Skin made of chocolate, dark and rich.

Golden and brown, a splash of diamond from the Sun.

Wrapped in elegance, baked with the “fire” of beauty.

Beauty is in your face, heart, and character.

Your beauty is more than my eyes deserve to see,

It is more than the rivers that fills the sea.

You are sacred! God’s pigment is in your skin.

Your beauty is without and within.

With tones ranging from lightest to darkest,

Your beauty brings light and conquers darkness.

Your natural hair is an elegant crown,

Like trees springing from the ground.

Your natural hair is your beautiful crown,

Like roots strengthening the ground.

Black Woman, you are the Eve of the Earth.

You must rise above your pain and hurt.

The Universe manifested at birth.

A divine gift!

Black Woman know your worth…

- Roderick Bromfield