That girl

This is a poem for that girl.
That girl who smiles with her mouth and not her eyes
That girl who has so many dreams but so little faith in herself
That confused girl who forgot to leave her past behind and grow up
Or maybe she simply didn't know how to leave it. Let go and let flow.

That girl who doesn't think she is beautiful. Constantly plagued with her own insecurities and the almost impossible standards she sets out for herself.
That girl who hides those scars, those black and blue marks she claims as her only trophies
That girl who is caged behind their expectations for her
Those girls who are expected to be nothing less than a super woman.

This poem is for those girl's who are going through something.
That girl who has prevailed.
She took those plows you handed to her metaphysical being.
That girl refuses to give in. She is strong despite wanting to call it a day
She keeps on breathing
She keeps on living.
She keeps on taking those steps. One at a time.

That girl is timeless. She is an experience all women must learn.
She is your insecurities, your doubt, your lack of self confidence.
She is that weakness, that is so weak she forces you to grow in strength,
She can be your greatest weakness or your greatest  success story.

That girl... you know her. She is in every woman and girl.

I am a Black Woman

Black something that is always portrayed as dark.
Remember our colonisers called Africa the 'dark continent'.
environmental determinism , labeled me as something beneath everyone else.
So that you could dehumanize me and enslave me
 Negro
kaffir
spade
darkie
 sub human.

Women :

 subservient ,
weak man,
Second,
 extension of a child,
 slave.
object
possession
property

Verse 1

I heard him say. You are unfortunate my dear, to a) be born a women and b) to be born black

Need I remind you Mr that I am blessed

with confidence

with my intelligence

with the curves that you can't handle

with pride and strength that you cannot even begin to comprehend

with determination and ambition 

I work hard to prove to the world that I am just as good.

I am the underdog you overlook

Please remember this face when I become your biggest adversary .

I am a black woman. Am I cursed?

 'Hell to the No'

What I am is blessed. 

God made me me because he knew that I Tiwonge Gondwe can carry the weight of my color and gender

He saw my future and smiled .

 You keep reminding me that I am black

when you follow me in the supermarket

when you ask me if I need help ,just as I enter the store.

When you give me that dirty look and yell 'go back to your country'

Even if you keep it in your mind most of the time. Your eyes say it all.

Didn't you know that your eyes are the windows to your soul?

What does that say about you?

Verse 2

'A woman's place is the kitchen' Have you experienced that?

Have you heard this before?

I have.

This is my empowerment. By trying to put me down you empower me

By telling me that I was born to be an extension of you 

you give me that push...

You build my strength 

You can try to

suppress me

 hold me down

didn't you know that I am a fighter

For I have the strength of my mother and my aunties

And most importantly God

You can never break me!

 You will never win!

I am after all a Black woman,  

hardship is a cross I have been borne with from my conception

I will walk upright

  proud of who I am.

Confident, 

Graceful 

and educated   

You will say I have 'attitude'

I will answer you and tell you that 'I just don't take your b.s'

I've come too far in my short life to let them take my things.

 I am Black Woman. You best remember that!