Why do they hate me?<\/p>\n
I am still trying to figure out why they hate me so much
\nI know my hair is bold and nappy and will never straighten out
\nWithout chemicals and heat
\nBut why do I need it to?
\nit is thick and full and I have the privilege to style it however I want<\/p>\n
I know my lips are full but they help me to speak
\nWords of love in every poem I write
\nI know my fingers are long but strong
\nThey help me to hold onto all the dreams when I snatch them
\nOut of the clouds and serve them up on the plate for all humanity to see<\/p>\n
I know my body is not the model size
\nBut it has born three brown babies who have excelled
\nIn school and in life
\nand so I love all the places where they made me thick
\nLeft me adequately full
\nFull enough to teach them compassion
\nFull enough to be softhearted when so much of the world
\nIs bitter and irate<\/p>\n
I am trying to understand why they hate me so much
\nWhy the thought of me standing up for myself
\nOr even taking a knee would threaten some mysterious thing about
\nWho they are
\nWho they perceive themselves to be
\nWho they don\u2019t want me to be in this world
\nBut it is not up to them to decide<\/p>\n
I have been planted by the waters of life
\nI am meant to live
\nI am meant to grow despite the knife they stick in my back
\nDespite the knee they place on my neck
\nI am meant to thrive
\nI am meant to breathe<\/p>\n
I know my mind is brilliant and that my heart is pure
\nI know that I can collect butterflies when I send out the message
\nOf love
\nI pray that their worms of hate will never swallow it up
\nthat my words will not return to me void
\nthat they have power every time they are read
\nagain
\nI do not know why they hate me so much
\nPerhaps it is because I am so beautiful within<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why do they hate me? I am still trying to figure out why they hate me so much I know my hair is bold and nappy and will never straighten out Without chemicals and heat But why do I need it to? it is thick…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71372,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71345\/revisions\/71372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}