Free Me

Free me

Free me from this body that has been held down

By the chains of misogyny

That hold me down to only the sexual

Views of my body

By the chains of Eurocentric ideologies

The see me as angry instead of passionate

That see me as different.

Rather than beautiful

Free me from being trapped in a body

That has been judged so long

The soul inside has forgotten how to dance

How to communicate with the land

As my ancestors have

A Nigerian princess that has forgotten the weight of her crown

How it used to shine in the sun

How she has forgotten the meaning of that light.

Free me from this caged mind

That has forgotten how to fly

Slip into a trance that

Transcends space and time

Teach me to write in a language I have long forgotten how to speak

Put me into a state of forever

So I can access the great women that came before me

Allow me to reconnect to the roots

That have the oldest source

God is a woman and that woman is Black.

Which other body could give birth to

This beautiful rich land

Filled with trauma and taken for granted

She is everything I am and

Everything I lack.

I tremble at the thought of their spirits moving through me

As their energy becomes my strength

I feel it as I dream while I am awake

I walk down the street but I am not alone there

My feet connect to the earth just as their past breaths become my air.

I can feel them everywhere.

Begging me to be everything I’m meant to be

Let them speak through me

Free me

Let their history become my story.

Let their words become my poetry.