like the pine trapped in ice
I’m trying to escape my life
surrounded by white
cold, isolated, frozen
numb, miserable, broken
tired of being the “token”
black person spokesman
for the inequality they refuse to erase
for the discrimination they say to my face
for the women that won’t stop asking can they touch my hair and if it’s mine
for the people that won’t stop saying they’re colorblind
“all”
lives
matter
but how many lives lay scattered?
amongst prisons,
hospitals,
and cement
how many of them are black women and black men?
how many?
♦
Guyleigh Johnson is a writer and Community Advocate from North-end Dartmouth. Writing is a tool she uses for healing, leadership, and implementing change in her community. As a workshop facilitator she teaches youth about the power of words, mindfulness and mental health. As a keynote speaker she often discusses race, trauma, self-esteem, and healing. Her first collection of poetry, Expect The Unexpected (Pottersfield Press, 2016), focuses on inner city youth and the challenges they not only face but overcome. Her most recent release is Afraid of the Dark (Pottersfield Press, 2018), a story that follows a young Black girl struggling with her identity as she tries to navigate her way through a society she doesn’t believe accepts her. In 2018 she won the Ancestral Roots Award for the Written/Visual Arts category presented by the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute. Johnson wishes to encourage youth to see their true potential, step out of their comfort zone, and speak up for injustice. She is currently working on a project called “The Griot In Me” which focuses on Black Canadian History in the National Capital Region, as well as volunteering and participating in various community projects and committees. Whether you follow her Youtube, Facebook or her personal Blog page she is starting the conversation for change. Her purpose is simple, no matter how far she goes in life, she wants youth to be heard, feel seen and she does this by reaching back into her community to educate, take action and support. https://guyleighjohnson.wixsite.com/mysite
♦♦♦
Up Next:
“what it is: rubbish of course, but lit and rather lovely,”
The Litter I See Project 