a week ago, i visited firefly bookstore in kutztown as one of several guest poets before an open mic; the owners hosted this as a poetry night to celebrate national poetry month in their gem of a shop. and they had a great turnout with an enthusiastic, very receptive audience. i literally loved the night, as the vibe was so people-supporting.
the open mic portion of the evening ended with a kutztown university student reading a poem for his grandmother who passed away recently. i approached him afterward and told him his poem was meant to end the night, i felt solidly sure. i then asked him if he would mind if i shared his poem about and for his grandmother, as well as photos of the two of them, and i am very grateful that he agreed to my request. after taking in its lines and especially his elocution, i knew it needed to be put in front of more people in our world. the poem speaks for itself, and to me, it plays a necessary role in the now of our lives across people.
the black girl
by khalid guiden
to the black girl with skin so dark that all light is consumed within her melanin
did you know that no light can escape a black hole
they say it has a gravitational pull that sucks in all beauty
and isn't that the same conceptualization of the dark pigmented black girl
that she's void of all beauty
but what they didn't tell you
is that all light is attracted to the black girl
because it is all beauty that radiates from the black girl
bending and consuming all light around her
the black girl manifests the immaculate image of god herself
and time itself has to stop when the black girl breathes
as she controls everything within her vicinity
so to the black girl with skin so dark that all light is consumed within her melanin
i thank you
you are a true blessing
khalid guiden is a sophomore at kutztown university. as one could possibly nod at in understanding easily from his writing, he is majoring in sociology with a dual minor in psychology and professional writing. on campus, he's the co-president of the sociology club and vice president of the NAACP chapter.
after he learned from his mother that his grandmother had been put into hospice and that she wouldn't live for hardly more than a few weeks, devastation found its way into his marrow. helpless at knowing what to do once his mother told him this news, khalid decided to write a poem for his grandmother.
a couple of days before she passed away, he read this poem to her over the phone. not sure in those moments if she fully grasped what he conveyed to her, he knew he'd done one more right thing in an often wrong-feeling world by giving her this poem as a gift in her final days so that she would sense the energy of his love for her, that it would emanate into her subconscious mind's transitioning space. and already being in tune with thinking along these lines, once i met khalid, i sent him my recent article on grief which i wrote for berks county living magazine's april 2018 issue.
this poem stood as khalid's last words to his grandmother before he told her he loved her and said goodbye over the phone since he couldn't be with her in those days. i cannot imagine any more beautiful of something to give to someone who means so much to you. all the more reason why i am glad to be sharing these words and for young people today to see the immensity of their value and how essential it is for not just themselves but everyone they reach in our shared days across the invention of math and age.
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