I WANT TO WEAR YOU

I want to write you a love poem

But how do I not sound corny, not sound clichéd?

Its hard …

But I want to find a new way to say to you that I love you

For you, I will circle the earth many times over

I’ll find words in native languages,

like Walpriri , like ‘’mapenzi’ in Swahili,

I’ll swim through the zambesi

travel miles and miles down the River Nile…

Sit with Bedouins in their camps

and learn the word for ‘fire’ in their dialect,

So I can write love songs about my burning for you

Then I’ll string these words around my neck

and wear it like an amulet from the Chipibo tribes

With copal wafting through the air,

I’ll let tribal elders inscribe symbols onto my skin,

that speaks of this palpable , tangible ,intangible kind of love

And then…

I’ll go all out and wear this love around my waist

The way , you creep from behind

To wrap your arms around me

when I’m washing the dishes,

and we’d be swaying, saying out loud

our dreams and our wishes

you purify my hands in warm soapy water,

my heart, with your rapturous laughter…

I want to wear you like comfort

like sleepy joes and ugg boots,

Fleecy hoods and cropped tops,

I wear you proudly like hip hop to a novice rapper

Or like sweet imaginings

Imagine J Dilla and Fela playing a game of table tennis

And they be smashing it!

Making beats with nothing

but breath and ping pong balls ,

you’re like my dipthong, like the vowels

where you can be ‘o’ and I can be ‘e’

we’ll drop the ‘L’ and ‘V’

and watch this shit to go viral

I want to wear you like the most comfortable flanellex pjs,

Then hold you up with pride like a rare vinyl to a dj

Then I’ll dance to your rhythms

hands clap, feet tap to the rhythm…

of you

And I’ll hear you everywhere

In all the sounds and all the silences

I want to wear your heart on my sleeves,

so you can see how I weave through life

With you on my left and my right,

Like badges of honour,

I wear you proudly throughout all the seasons,

Because for me baby..

You’ll never go out of style

And with you, I don’t even mind using words like ‘forever’

No fear that this thing will turn sour,

and I’m left looking like a fool for love,

Cos I know I’m just at school for life,

I’m learning, I’m teaching- the art of loving

You’ve got me fully enrolled

and I must say that you are my favourite subject.

See, I’ve had men try to control me , own me, disown, subdue me,

tone me down

Told me I was too sexual, too friendly, or too flirtatious..

My very smile was contentious

Treated me like I was a burden, judged me for my choices

Hey I was just learning to find my way, my many voices

But these men who were insecure in themselves,

They made me feel like I needed to shine just a little bit

less, to keep me in my place

Unaware of my own brilliance

Unaware that I am a LIONESS

But you, you celebrate me

Like everyday…u tell me I’m your Goddess,

That I don’t have to only show u my best

You will still love me through my mess,

that I’m divine no less and

I can exhale and show you

my true face

You are a God

And together we write the creation story

Every day for seven days

my skin chronicle these tales of

your tenderness,

every hair follicle bearing witness to this reverence

Every day for seven days

You part head from heart

Plant feet to earth, and give birth to presence

Then u offer it up to me ,

attached to a chord

Connecting you to me, connecting US to God

Every day for seven days

You remind me to be grateful even of that fact,

That our parents f%^$& up

That broken homes were training grounds,

That healers can emerge from the rubbles of verbal assaults,

That when parents use children as pawn in their war games,

Then perhaps, on some level,

They’ve sacrificed their own peace

so we could learn to soar on the wings of childhood wounds

The miracle and wonder of,

Broken hearts made stronger,

brighter by the scars that have healed over

them

And that this can only happen,

if you hold your heart out towards the light

At the mere sight of your sweet smile, I photosynthesize

Like Chlorophyll, you fill me with your energy and insight

My king, Let me come down on one knee

and chant devotion in your name,

please wax and wane your twin flame onto my shadows

so even the ground can be blessed by our Oath

I was once a gypsy princess,

my dress made of festival threads and desert dust

But now I became ‘US’

The rest became ‘Her Story’

When you became my king

And I don’t even mind g a word like ‘forever’

Because forever is still too short time a to be with you,

My love.