To : Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, Asha Bandele, Tananarive Due, Iyanla Vanzant, Octavia Butler ( Maryse Conde, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jamaica Kincaid, Zora Neale Hurston and many more)

Inside the books

On my crowded shelves

Lives God

Written by women

Who channeled

Their gifts and birthed worlds

I've had the pleasure to travel.

Words that have stripped me

Down to nakedness

And frantically I've searched

My flesh for answers

Stripped my mind

Until I've spoken words

That honored my knowing.

Women

Who have challenged to pry

Open my mouth 

And speak my sounds

Into existence.

Women

Who have inspired me

Clamor under rain

And dance self-worth