"Unabbreviated Thoughts"

Last week my friend V invited me to join her at a career day - - she asked me to come and talk to some high school kids about writing…to share with them what we do as writers and what steps they need to take to get there. She told me to bring whatever I wanted as inspiration.

Last night I had the pleasure of spending my evening with some incredible students at a high school in the Bronx. It was wonderful to hear them so passionate about the craft of writing, what schools they plan on attending (or not attending), what their game plan/next steps are after graduation - - they shared their dreams with me and I sat in awe of them. There were a few that stood out… but there was ONE who left her mark~

I met a girl last night that left me speechless~

Her passion is poetry~
Her love is life~
Her cry is for the truth~
Her mission - - to help heal~
Her voice was forceful~
Her words venom~

I used the word Venom~ not that her words were like the poison… but the venom she used to sting YOU/ME with the TRUTH…

It’s a TRUTH that hurts~

This young girl is incredibly wise… she recited a poem that left me speechless and stopped V dead in her tracks as she was surrounded by other students - - she stopped talking to them to listen to her… her voice COMMANDED attention…

At the end of the evening she came back share more of her gifts…

The theme and title of the last poem she shared was "Too young…"

It took a lot for me not to cry in front of her during and after she spit for me… I didn’t want her to see me vulnerable…

But I should have…

I should have told her how her words impacted me~
I should have told her how her words were like a knife piercing through me – stabbing my heart over and over and over again~
I should have told her how I almost lost my breath in a gasp at the TRUTH she was serving me~

This PAIN I felt… I wanted to tell her that the pain I felt had to do with her… or her poetic talent… that this pain I felt…came from the pain I could feel in the wind, in the story, behind the story, in the subject she spoke about, in the girl she was describing - - I became that girl – its the pain I could feel SHE herself has endured or has seen endured by OTHER around her – the life experience that surrounds her - - a life that consumes her.

No little girl should see the types of things she described~
No little girl should see the things she’s seen~


I should have told her that I loved her~

Because in that moment she too became one of my daughters… the daughter I wanted to shield from the pain…a daughter I want to protect. But as her mother - - I will just sit back and watch her… and let her SPEAK… UT SPEAK~ I will watch her – because this TRUTH was hers to tell…

To the young poet I met last night who goes by the name "Unabbreviated Thoughts"

Thank you for letting me see you~
It was such an honor to meet you~

Have you met someone who has touched you?
Who has left an impression in your life?


Peace~