Is it bad to want a love so deep
He buys a plot of land and names it after me?
Apricot blossom and roses surround the perimeter
While lilies and lilac lay the path to my tomb
Carved out of Georgia marble, gold
Limestone and crystal
Peaches, leather, and vanilla fill the air he breathes while
Looking at me. Memories of my skin soft of cocoa and oil
Torturing him like the scorching summer heat in Mississippi
Visions of long hair flowing at the sight of water running Through the light of the fountain he built for me A mile…
When it comes to love, trust in the universe’s divine timing
I opened my arms up to the universe and asked, can you please send me a husband? I want someone to love, support, and hold. I also want someone to support, love, and hold me.”
The universe responded, “This is not the right time for romantic love. You are destined to do so many things before committing to a life partner.”
I went to my closest friends, “ I really want to find love.” They responded, “You have other things you should be doing. I am still waiting for that book about your life to come out. And aren’t you…
There is no such thing as writer’s block when you have an overactive mind.
I overthink everything. Thoughts constantly racing; I used to think I was supposed to somehow slow them down.
What meditation would I have to do to calm my self-diagnosed anxiety? What essential oil would I have to use? What plants should I have in my room? What vitamins should I take?
Those were all helpful in getting me to sleep better but not decreasing the number of thoughts I was having.
It wasn’t until I started publishing consistently on Medium that I realized I was never supposed to think less. I was supposed to write more.
My job then was…
A Poetry Series
Poetry Sunday
Don’t you know who I am?
Don’t you know who I will become?
…
Dear Love,
I am ambitious and daring
Desirous and desired
Lover and seeker
An advantageous pursuit
What I will becomes
What I want is mine
Director and chief, owner of three
Why can’t you see and believe in what we can be?
To want anything is to want me
Give me all I ask
Take my hand
How can you not know
Don’t you know who I am?
Dear ambitious and daring
Advantageous, assertive
Desirous and desired
Lover and seeker
What I will becomes What I…
Poetry
How do we generate understanding
When fighting keeps us
Begrudgingly on our own sides
Of our socially created
Sometimes self-selected worlds?
The harsh words and social criticisms
Keep stubborn parties to
Cement themselves exactly where they are
Each afraid to move forward
To understand each other
Who will move first?
His pain is greater than your pain
But you only know your pain
But I know both pains
But it’s not even that one pain is more than
Another pain, but that you suffer differently
And if only you could understand my pain From trying to get you two to…
Poetry
The sound of the water kept me calm
Lying on the fountain’s edge with a sweatshirt underneath my head
Alternating between writing with notepad and pen-raised to the sky
And notepad and pen resting on my chest
While the rhythm of the water from the fountain kept me at ease
Almost falling asleep
But as the weather grew colder and the leaves started to fall
The rhythm of the water from the fountain was soon gone
Without the ease it provided, an instant wave of loneliness took over
A brief period of sadness
Every time I reached the empty water…
A Series
A Poem For Two Voices
Bold: Read in Unison
Man: I believe in God, the Father Almighty
Man: And in Jesus Christ his only Son, Our Lord
Woman: And in Jesus Christ his only Son, Our Lord
Woman: Forgive me, I am not here/To pray the Apostle’s Creed/But to ask/Can I kiss the Rosary?
Man: O Father who art in heaven
Man: Hallowed be thy name
Woman: Hallowed be thy name
Woman: Your sweet name
Man: Our kingdom come
Woman: Our kingdom come
Woman: My will be done
Man: On earth
Man: As it is in heaven
Woman: Your skin feels like heaven
Man: Give…
It’s time to retire the phrase
“You know what the problem is,” my then-boyfriend said, “I am too good to you, and you don’t want a nice guy!”
“What?” I thought. How could our communication have gone so wrong for him to think that his being nice was the problem?
The only reason why I was in a relationship with him was because he was a nice guy.
Well, that and he checked off each and every box of my boyfriend checklist, and at the time, he didn’t even know there was a checklist!
And it’s a long checklist!
Did he not understand why I was…
Poetry
My mind wanders
Thought to thought instantaneously
Diving deep, sometimes
Other times, fluttering
I can’t seem to steady my thoughts
As hard as I’ve tried
Tired of focus
My mind pleas, “try!”
Trying to catch my thoughts
To write them all down
Is like trying to catch a butterfly
Without making a sound
But nothing can help me
Not even Sir. Philip Sidney
Writing from thy heart gets tiresome
When your heart has been busy
And when your heart’s been busy
And you haven’t slowed down
How do you think you’d be able to write
Your feelings perfectly down?
But…
Jehan Senai Worthy
Educator and lover of the written word, you can find me teaching middle, high school, and college-level courses while writing poetry, short stories, and essays.
