I’ve sat here writing this over and over again
Finding new words to tell your stories
Different styles, different ways
Some more poetic than others
Yet, none of them seemed to express enough the greatness of you all
Stories full of strength and weakness
Contradiction and truth
The stories that made me see the God in you and within me
And also the stories that made me wonder “How could it be?”
In the midst of it all
The realizations that have come about made me see
That no matter how the story was told
Or the words that were used
I was still telling a story of me, not just you
Even though they were woven in different ways
The pain and the glory were nearly the same
From the brilliance that lie within
To the sabotage that overshadowed again and again
We both struggled with acceptance of who we were
Or how to begin a new story of her
There were times that you showed me of our cursed surrender
To remind me that it has been me who is chosen to remember
To remember the beauty of the black within our blood
The black womb
The black girl
The black woman
Who have struggled and fought to rise above
You have taken me on a journey to see the beauty that lie underneath all the black pain
And in each story shown to me, there is a beautiful duality
Lived experiences of heaven and hell
I am honored that it is me who gets to restore our inner truth
The truth that it is your blood flowing and fueling me
And for that I say thank you
You have birthed so many, not just me
Yet I am just as guilty as many as to not truly see the gifts you have bestowed upon me
Though the ignorance of me was no fault of your own
It was me, or it would be better to say the lack of beauty I saw within me that made me reject you
Seeing only the generational curses that had passed on
The truth revealing that it was just a symptom of disconnect
A mere reflection of the disconnect I felt from self, from others, and especially mother Earth
Because it is there we share our inherited magick of black
Carried through our wombs and passed to our children
I intended for this piece to speak only of your stories
But as I connected with you
The compelling feeling of gratitude took over
The words formed here are exactly what needs to be read
An ode to the black woman before me and after me
Who continue to bless us with their magick
Even when we do not see
So today and forever
I say thank you to the black woman
To the generations of women who felt betrayed by others but also themselves
You flow through me so that this wrong I can right
To throw away the shame and to let our black light shine bright
These words do not nearly express the gratitude I feel
So I’ll just say it one last time
Thank you to the Black Woman
ABOUT SHERRIA
A forever student of the universe, I use my art as a channel to share, inspire, and encourage the collective to find the God(dess) within. The only time I could truly express myself was when I was creating another world on paper. The ability to just let my mind roam free with its imagination was the ultimate freedom to me.
It was through my imagination that I found truth. Truth of the subjective within the objective. It is where my truth could be expressed with no question to the rhythm of my strokes or the rhyme of my words. It is an inner expression of me and the many stories lying within my DNA.
The process of my art is inspired by the world and materialized through an open, clear mind ready to channel the words that flow and the images that appear. It is there, in my meditative state, where I am connected with the inner core that holds the wisdom, the experiences, and the feelings that inspire my work.
FOLLOW SHERRIA
Social Media:
instagram.com/SherriaNicoletteMusings
facebook.com/SherriaNicoletteMusings
Email:
WorkwithSherria@gmail.com
