Angelique J 

Many FACES OF A WOMAN 

You wanna be me so bad right ? 

Behind the flawless eyelashes, the coated lipstick, the heels, the Gucci bags just for when I go out at night 

But what is really lurking there in the darkness 

can you see the light 

My inner beauty on the inside 

I try to hide 

Because my man man man 

Can’t feed my kids that lay sleeping  in the bedrooms next to mine 

But he asked for my number and he was feeling my vibe, my energy , the way my thighs ignited a fire inside of his eyes 

But you see, I’m just trying to maintain

My childhood memories and wake up in the morning and release some of this pain

When I started this journey I was just 7 years old 

Creole little girl in Los Angeles playing  outside games 

That’s when he touched me 

So I ask myself as a grown woman with little girls of my own 

How to become free

And it’s so many other girls & boys in the world hiding behind the shadows of rape, molestation, penetration 

That I am here today to get up and heal this nation 

Because movement can start a fire 

That  catapults healing from these predators, 

lurking search for their next victim 

It hit to close to home for me one day 

So to all the little girls/boys that never went back home  

and haven’t learned how to pray 

Somehow you’ve lost your way 

I implore you to talk to someone about the situations, revelations, & escalations of many many real lives 

Abuse cuts deeper then knives 

And it leads the path to grown men & women in relationships that don’t define their worth 

Waking up from the floor

daily with black eyes 

With babies standing by watching 

Because love didn’t live there no more

I beg you to have strength enough to leave and never look back like I did 

You see Mr. right will never be Mr. wrong 

Start over again form the beginning 

Put yourself first and before long 

You will see that light within 

Is the peace you can teach your children 

so all of you 

have a family 

you can really call your own

For all the little girls with no voice 

“Teaching all of us to have HOPE “

Free Verse