Tuesdays with.... (#3)

This Tuesday's poet is one I discovered while I was in high school. My mother shared a book with me entitled Black Sister which is a collection of poems written by African American women. There were many poets represented in this collection (including my Ms Nikki G) but this poetess' verses stood out. Sadly, she lost her battle with cancer in April 2010 and died at the age of 69.

In her memory, I would like to share the following poem with you. This is a poem I performed as a monologue in my college Drama class (scored an A+... my teacher had a knack for spotting true talent). As always, I pray you will relax, reflect and enjoy. Ladies and gentleman, the talented Carolyn M. Rodgers ...

A Poem for Some Black Women

by Carolyn M. Rodgers

copyright 1992

i am lonely,

all the people i know

i know too well

there was comfort in that

at first but now

we know each others miseries

too well.

we are

lonely women, who spend time waiting for

occasional flings

we live with fear.

we are lonely.

we are talented, dedicated, well read

BLACK, COMMITTED,

we are lonely,

we understand the world problems

Black women’s problems with Black men

but all

we really understand is

lonely.

when we laugh,

we are so happy to laugh

we cry when we laugh

we are lonely.

we are busy people

always doing things

fearing getting trapped in rooms

loud with empty…

yet

knowing the music of silence/hating it/hoarding it

loving it/treasuring it,

it often birthing our creativity

we are lonely

being soft and being hard

supporting our selves, earning our own bread

soft/hard/hard/soft

knowing that need must not show

will frighten away

knowing that we must

walk back-wards nonchalantly on our tip-toeness

into

happiness,

if only for stingy moments

we know too much

we learn to understand everything,

to make too much sense out

of the world,

of pain

of lonely…

we buy clothes, we take trips,

we wish, we pray, we meditate, we curse, we crave, we coo,

we caw,

we need ourselves sick, we need, we need

we lonely we grow tired of tears we grow tired of fear

we grow tired but must always be soft and not too serious…

not too smart not too bitchy not too sapphire

not too dumb not too not too not too

a little less a little more

add here detract there

lonely