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Thick Skin Warmth

This poem “Thick Skin Warmth” is in a sense,  a double entendre. There are two interpretations that I want people to take in from the title and the content. I wanted to personally address how circumstances in my life, forced me to grow a thick skin and contributed to my sometimes hardened heart. I also wanted to address the literal meaning of thick skin, in terms of the weight problems I’ve had with my “big-boned” figure. ( As Caribbean would put it.)  Growing up, I sometimes had aspirations to be somebody-else  or to be treated differently. This poem is a tribute to not only my former self and to the woman I’ve become, but to many others who may have had a rough childhood, difficulty  finding their identity,  have been overlooked, have had weight issues etc.. but despite any odds or doubts, have come out better people because of it. If not for what I had gone through I couldn’t have written this and I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to connect with others who can look back to their past and find the cracks of light that built their spirit of resilience. All things considered, I have the maturity to love all of who I was,  the confidence to love who I am, and the faith to love who I will become.

There is always a spin of positivity for any adversity you face. For me it was that, more thick skin = more warmth.

 

 

Thick Skin Warmth

I have memories in the thick skin I grew
And for a child with big bones
I would chew words
Thrown across dinner tables
Like bread rolls and dull swords headed for destruction in war quarters
I fought soldiers of enemy blood
Camouflaged in family love
Giving harsh hugs
Sharing hushed laughs
Wishing silent good lucks
Then a child grows up
Hoping the thick skin would shed itself off
Toasting the New Years with resolutions
For light pounds
Ground heights to look tall
Light skin to suit stars
Bright mind to pass college and make mama proud
I found self in the dark clouds
Searching for a way out
To skip towns
And drift to sleep with no sound
Of echoing dreams failed
Dropped down to level man’s esteem
Of a woman with thick brows
Big shoulders to rip through a double small
Tom boy with a jean jacket bending gender bounds
Oblivious to gender nouns
Little child
With thick skin
Protecting others from her bitter vowels
A and E
WE owe you for breaking promises
Not keeping us as hostages
Remaining fatherless saved the spirit of this optimist
If I didn’t die by this
Trust I won’t hold on to it
This skin grew thick
My mind grew to compensate
Faith knew he’d be the one
To help thick skin love
Whoever thick skins does
Will love her back
and feel the thick skin warmth

It’s time to be “Young on Fire”!

 

When I started this blog, I made it very clear to express that this platform was the start of my beginning. I’m 7 months into this journey and I can’t even believe what is has become and how I’ve gotten so much accomplished. I may not be where I want to be or aspire to be but you best be sure that I’m on my way and I’m sprinting towards it. Spoken Visions started off being a poetry only blog and has slowly made it’s way to passion features and completely faith-based material. This transition is a result of the intimate relationship I’ve built with God and the part I realize I play to drawing people to His kingdom. If you are a newcomer to this blog I would encourage you to navigate around my page to get a sense of where my heart is and why I do this but in brief I’m a girl who loves God, has a passion for poetry and creating and is destined to raise up a generation of youth who love God proudly, passionately and fiercely.

…This brings me to what this post is to be about, it’s time to be on fire for Christ! Last weekend from June 30 – July 3rd, I was at a conference that Campus Rush hosted called Young on Fire. It was an intense 4 day event in Ottawa full of worship, the holy ghost, motivation, revelation, tears, deliverance, anointing and FIRE! I have never been in an atmosphere so concentrated by a love for Jesus and His holy spirit. Leading up to this conference God has been stirring up a lot in me, leading me towards my calling, planting ideas and allowing me to create. I’ve personally had the fire come over me for about month now and I have no intention of letting it die out! I do however, have all intention of letting it spread wildly all across this nation!

The only way I can explain what being on fire for Christ means, looks like and the impact and difference it will make on our world is for me to express it in poetry! So I present a poem like blog post!

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