…AND RAISE BEAUTY TO
ANOTHER LEVEL OF SWEETNESS
You are a fresh flower
bursting boldly
into a hard world
with a softness
strong as steel
Reaching for sunlight
you raise yourself
up from down under
out of the degrading dirt
society has so routinely
dumped on women,
you have transformed
manure, muck and mire
into fertilizer
Spring self assertedly
past winter weather
you bring a sweet fragrant
incense and inspiration
into musty places
stale with the stuffiness
of misogynic sexist
status quos
You blossom, you bloom
you expand and grow
raising beauty
to a bedazzling higher
and healthier level of
light, life and love
Grow on Black rose
Black woman grow on!
—kalamu ya salaam