Speak, Teach, and Reach a Woman #LiftHerUp

I fell in love with poetry when I entered high school. That was when I was introduced to the poetry of Langston Hughes, who was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry, and Alice Dunbar-Nelson. I was also smitten by the creative style of Zora Neale Hurston, most famous for her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and the way her words tantalized my brain with vivid images that only I could see. I knew in my heart, this was my connection with my past.

Poetry stirred in my soul. I loved how it gave me a creative way to get my thoughts on paper. I loved that there really were no set rules to it and that I always received “A’s” on my poetry assignments. I spent countless hours attempting to solve those poems that hid decades old riddles and relished in the beauty of the sentence structures in the various forms of poetry.

Early this morning, I read that yesterday was International Women’s Day. I read a few articles about the rationale behind Women’s History Month and the contributions of our fore-mothers. I felt such an emotional connection to the past, the sacrifices and their accomplishments. My reflection, then, shifted to what Women’s History Month means to me as a contemporary woman and what my contributions will be to future generations yet unborn. I thought about women in my country and other countries around the world who are still fighting for equal rights and equal pay. Those thoughts hit my paper in poetry form.

I especially love the Haiku, a Japanese 3 line structured mood poem. The 5-7-5 syllable structure makes me have to concentrate to get my thoughts written in their purest form, without all the fluff. Before I knew it, I wrote several poems about womanhood.

Woman, I am She!