For the many me's - who see in you, identity.

Placing the power to define your identity in the hands of others only makes you a prisoner to their definition.

I can’t really give her any advice, but I really feel like I need to talk to her. I need to let go of the burden on my shoulders and talk about how much I’ve changed and how much I’ve lost myself. 

Analysing and navigating through a range of identities.

This poem delves into the insecurities that people face when they imagine what their metaphorical “box” may have inside.

Things I could do with my time: Cook nshima and kapenta. Cook visashi. Crotchet products from chitenge. Knit products from chitenge. Speak to my parents about a history they had long left behind and refuse to revisit. Speak to my father about his life in Egypt. Speak to my mother about her life before my father. Speak to myself. Things I do instead: Have an existential crisis, several crises.

“I wonder if being in a romantic relationship is the unquestioned prerequisite to being accepted-then-respected in most societies. It's almost to say that if you're "with" someone, you must somehow be lovable, or at least likable.”

I am a woman in her twenties with big dreams en route to a beautiful destination and carrying her shitty ovaries, unwillingly, but happily with her.

You are the Most Kind and Most Merciful, bountiful with forgiveness; Your Illuminating Light floated me back up towards the glimmer of shimmering sun rays peeking through…

I felt like I was a superhero being able to help everyone. But I wasn’t a superhero…

I‘ve been trapped in this narrative of “not fitting in” and disliking myself so much so that true self-love has been foreign to me. In fact, it’s been so much easier sitting in this place of self-hate than working towards anything else.

Hip dips galore. Stretchmarks spotlighted. Acne scars untouched. What does it feel like to love myself without inhibition?

I had a voice in me that kept telling me to go on… Was that God?

2020 spiritual reflections

My creativity longs to dance with the winds of my thoughts.

Though I am a mother, I am an individual who believes that motherhood should not strip away your identity; it also should not stop your internal and external growth, success, and fun.

I’m relearning how to love and honor my inner voice and spirit; I’m reprogramming the negative thought patterns and destructive self-talk that triggers self-doubt to rear it’s ugly head.

Good things can and will happen to you.

Feel empowered in your own skin.

Choose which line speaks to you…