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Fredlissha Westmoreland responded to a letter in topic Write a letter or poem to your Body 4 months ago
Thank you Lauren for everything. For your heart, your passion, this platform. For bringing us together. Thank you.
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Fredlissha Westmoreland responded to a letter in topic Write a letter or poem to your Body 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Thank you Janet. That means much to me. I am always grateful for how writing can really help you unpack some things and also heal from them.
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Fredlissha Westmoreland responded to a letter in topic Parenting 7 months, 1 weeks ago
Michelle this is so beautifully crafted. Thank you for sharing this with others. The dichotomy of a broken bond or blessing is one that others can relate to you have been in your shoes. The lengths some parents will go for their children to keep them safe is unimaginable, yet very real. I hope one day your son is able to read this and understand your decision and understand the sacrifice behind it.
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Fredlissha Westmoreland responded to a letter in topic Write a letter or poem to your Body 7 months, 1 weeks ago
Thank you that means so much, Michelle. Glad to be apart of this incredible writing community. 💜 I am excited for read your words and engage with your works. Here’s to us!
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Fredlissha Westmoreland responded to a letter in topic Write a letter or poem to your Body 8 months ago
Lauren, thank you so much not only for your words, but more importantly for a platform such as this that allows us to share our stories and our hurts and our wins. I’ve needed a writing community for some time now, and although I have not been present recently, I anticipate being present now! I recently was laid off from my job so it’s been hard to feel inspired, motivated, or even myself. So thank you, thank you so much for this beautiful space.
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ftt2019 submitted a contest entry to
Write a letter or poem to your Body 9 months, 2 weeks ago“my beauty”
Barbie doesn’t get the privilege of being fresh-faced
Like Dove models or Alicia Keys
Her makeup must be removed with paint thinner and endless scrubbing
My makeup can be removed with soap and water
But the standard of beauty that was stamped on my inner adolescent
Is an indelible mark that no amount of cleaner can remove
When did I grow such a self-hatred that to
View my own reflection repulsed me?
When did I decide my beauty was no beauty at all
Rather an image needing to be stamped out
Covered with concealer
Layered with lipstick
Marked with mascara
To the point, I don’t recognize me?
“Black is beautiful” was the saying in the 1960s
Yet in the 2000s Black was disgraceful
Black was sinful
Black was not desirable
How will my daughter know her own beauty?
Sometimes I wonder if her acceptance of self
Will be based on her fair skin
Her softer features —
Her DNA reveals she has more African American
Heritage than her dark-skinned mother
Yet to see her from a distance one would not believe
Such a genetic declaration
Beauty in America is fleeting and deceiving
Slender hips slender lips
Fair skin straight hair
When will my full hips lips
Wide nostrils be the beauty mark
That overshadows our Marilyn Monroes
And our Taylor Swifts
Our Ellie Gouldings and our Goldie Hawns?
When will I know, as I peer into a mirror ,
That my Black is truly beautiful?Voting is closed
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This is really powerful. I don’t know the answers, but I do know you are a strong beautiful, Black woman. It comes across in your heart and your writing. Try and forget what society makes you feel, and focus on who you are and what you are about, and remind yourself every day how you beautiful you are. You deserve that. And it is true. Thank you…read more
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Lauren, thank you so much not only for your words, but more importantly for a platform such as this that allows us to share our stories and our hurts and our wins. I’ve needed a writing community for some time now, and although I have not been present recently, I anticipate being present now! I recently was laid off from my job so it’s been hard…read more
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You have just touched my heart. How very beautiful you put your words together in writing show what an incredible and empowering woman you are! I see such beauty and great power through your work. You are moving mountains. Thank you for sharing your intimate thoughts. 💞
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Thank you that means so much, Michelle. Glad to be apart of this incredible writing community. 💜 I am excited for read your words and engage with your works. Here’s to us!
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Black is beautiful. You captured this very well. I could literally see you walking across a stage being fierce and reciting this poem in a crowded quiet room full of people. You definitely have everyone’s attention. Clap clap
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Thank you Janet. That means much to me. I am always grateful for how writing can really help you unpack some things and also heal from them.
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I read this piece again today cause I am proofreading it our book. It is so good and so powerful. I wish I could jump through the screen and give you hug and tell you how beautiful you are inside and out. xoxo
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Thank you Lauren for everything. For your heart, your passion, this platform. For bringing us together. Thank you.
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Aww it is my absolute pleasure. <3 Lauren
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