Intolerable

Intolerable

By Kelesha Richardson

Stare into the eyes of a young queen

Oblivious to how powerful this image would be when seen

twenty plus years later and now she understands

how powerful and dangerous what lies within her is.

She doesn’t bow when she is supposed to and knows the best ways to listen.

Her audaciousness was planted within her before she know what any of it meant.

Hereditary tenacity and the God given grit at times can make even her eyes glisten.

Twenty plus years later but now she understands the simultaneous liberation and oppression of what she was

taught would mean power; “the great equalizer of men.”

Her ancestors are in awe, though not surprised, that she would climb so far and so high.

They are proud and relieved.

Grateful now more than ever for the way that she was reared

Continuously progressing and finally understanding why she is so feared.

Her back is safer broken and she is not allowed her own tears.

Her eyes were made to be averted

her mouth crafted to be sealed.

Her heart is not supposed to be warm

Her stature is not supposed to be revered.

She has no right to her own femininity

And how dare she be attractive?

Her spirit was supposed to be easily broken

But it cannot and will not happen.

She was not supposed to be able to conceive complexities.

Her tongue was supposed to stay captive behind her straight white teeth

Which will always be an impossibility, fortunately.

Kelesha Richardson is an English teacher at Wagner Middle School. Kelesha joined the Philadelphia Writing Project in 2016 attending the Invitational Summer Institute.