choices…

i hope you know you matter now chosen by no one belonging to yourself

i hope you know
you matter now
chosen by no one
belonging to yourself

i hope you go on
living in skin untouched by anything that your
sovereignty did not bless into your existence
and breathing air that holds no can’ts
and carries no words
of how a woman
should or should not be

– choices

– butterflies rising

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a woman’s worth…

let a woman have her own worth

let a woman
have her own worth.
let her value be found in who she is.
not in who she is to a man.
not in who she is to whom she supports,
or serves, or takes care of, or carries weight for.
not who she is in the context of anyone else’s story.
just who she is. as she is.

bare,
alone,
unburdened,
beautiful,
and worthy.

– butterflies rising

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solidarity…

It was the way he just stood there and wore
a badge next to Mr. Carlos and Mr. Smith
as they raised their fists.
Support, but, a quiet and humble support.

He wasn’t “allowing” them to be equal, or “giving” them
some sort of power, he was simply saying…
You are already equal, and I support you as you
step into your own power.

And that felt right to me. Genuine. Pure. Like an
acknowledgment that oppression of others is really just an
illusion of “betterness” built up from some mix of arrogance,
ignorance, internal lack… unconsciousness. And it’s such
a condescending thing, the idea that we “let” other people be
worthy… as if it’s ours to decide.

And it wasn’t just in that moment, he stayed convicted to
what he believed was right and good for the rest of his life,
And he was rejected for it, for the rest of his life.
But he stayed convicted to what was right and good.

So if in my life I have that same kind of privilege
because of something as surface as my skin,
then I hope I carry that same kind of courage and
conviction and humility in the depths of my being.

– Peter Norman / Solidarity

– butterflies rising

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revival…

love will always outnumber, overshadow, and overcome

hatred feels thick,
and noisy,
as if it imposes and takes up space.
but i have to believe it’s just the absence of things…
like an emptiness raging against itself.
that it’s no substance of power.
that it doesn’t get to make a permanent home here.
and that those who harbor it are surely not powerful,
and that they don’t control this space.
that love can always fill the air.
and if those who are hellbent on hate
won’t grow, or change,
that awakened voices will bring revival
to this place.

no matter how loud or heavy that
hatred can rage, i have to believe it hasn’t won…
and that love will always
outnumber, overshadow, and overcome.

– butterflies rising

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