Verbal Intimacy (unfinished)

Spark conversations quicker than a matchbox

You ignite my senses without even taking a look

You erect me 

You perfect me
You soothe me
Your consideration pursues me

To provide me with verbal intimacy

We talk about everything from applesauce to african apartheid

Jumping from who framed roger rabbit to what about tears when I’m happy

I close my eyes 

& allow my body language to speak to you in a zillion different tongues

Sandalwood tickles my nose 

As your verbal intimacy keeps me dancing on my toes

It was easy for me not to worry about me because I believed that other people didn’t care

Until I realized that you begin to stare

Into my soul

& you looked me into my eyes and asked 
Are you hungry?

Me?

I looked to my left & my right

& then landed my eyes back on you

You hadn’t even blinked

I said
Yeah
I can eat

You replied with a smooth 
Let me feed you

& that you did

I ended every situationship with every around the way girl who was wrapped in eye candy & cheap costume jewelery 

In an effort to feast on your soul food

Traded their twerking for tradition
Ignored all of my inhibition 
& fell

I’ll tell you now

I followed Anita Baker’s lead & I’m taking a vow 

To continue giving you the best that I got
Truth be told
Sometimes I don't like you
You become distant when you're scared
Defensive when you feel lonely
Angry when you're hungry
& 
Cranky when the world has gulped the last ounce of your energy away
It's terrifying to think that as you are loving hard
The person on the other end may feel you're doing too much
Or smothering them
I will always value your vulnerability
Without treating it like a disability...

If This Isn't Love... (work in progress)

Have you ever been in love?

Love that shines a light into the deepest depths of your insecurity

Love that asks you to strip

Not your clothes but to keep your heart, spirit and goals exposed

A love that is so powerful that you can’t even find the words to explain it

All you can do is stare into their eyes 

Shake your head 

& ask GOD to keep you still so that you don’t mess this blessing up

I told myself that I would stop watering myself down

That I would not stifle myself in any efforts to be noticed 

or seen

or appreciated 

I decided to become the sunflower that regardless of anything I wouldn’t stifle their growth

or my sanity

& then the most beautiful thing happened

Love showed me their scars

Love introduced me to the loneliness

The pain

The extended laughter

& the stormy rain

Love looked me in my face & said 

“ I don’t expect you to stay, everybody else has already left…”

I actively listened like a child to their favorite bedtime story

I grabbed love by the hand

Laid my head on love’s chest and stayed there until the beat of love’s racing heart slowly calmed

Love whispered to me 

Softly

I read the chapters of your story that you don’t want to read aloud, not to shame you but to show you that I am here to protect your weakness

Then love asked me to promise not to bruise love in an attempt to heal myself…