#responibility

I walk in strides not held back by the tides

of time and change.

Wading in the waters in neck-deep

lady-like and womanhood’s creek.

Letting its damp floors of muck and grim

not slow or hinder my grind

or forget my sisters treading the same floor

nor those watching on bank and shore

who laid the path and await

for me to lay more.

   - I have a responsibility -

Whether or not I choose to see

closed eyes still have visibility

of fog and clear skies.

It is my job, given by  those

to be born and those that died

to weather and bear the path’s condition

while dispatching reconnaissance

to the future and the past.

See I owe it to those

who came before

to not break the link that

connects us to the far shore.

I owe it to those

that will follow behind

to remain a strong link

that anchors the bank line

     - I, as a woman, have responsibilities, yo -

I am the link connecting those

that come and go -

      just as she was my link.

She being that woman,

maybe mother maybe not,

who explained to me, that

after dropping it like it’s hot,

I must stand as a woman

in cold truth; As I have been

guided, I must become the guider

and my reach must be longer and wider

because the world and waters will

continue to grow.

This is how I pay her back: by not

letting one of us fall through the earth’s cracks,

get burned from the heat of hot droppings,

get caught in riotous fighting, gossip,

and “bitch” callings,

to be a fist for the openhanded,

to the quiet be a voice

yelling to those behind me the water’s cold

but full of life and giving of choice,

   and I must hold the line.

And since those behind

  by inheritance of gender and time

will have the same responsibility

the same pay pact

watch as women and womanhood

unceasingly prosper and grow

from our pay back.

~~

The many Approaches to Happiness

As if nothing had happened. Unmoved, the weather showed itself from its best side the next morning. As if it had never been otherwise. The sun was mute and steady, and the clouds had parted. Still, it had changed something. It had lost its naturalness and was cause for joy, even if it was just a small smile or an informal, exuberant greeting. “Look, the clouds have cleared,” was heard everywhere.…