She understands - Connecting with Maya Angelou

I titled this

Before I wrote

Words that generated as I read

Consuming and producing

Words

In and out

Maya understands

I read her story

And while reading

Let myself open up

Releasing blocks

Letting them drip off

Like melting icicles

Then I saw

And she described

In such earnest detail

The yearning for

What was understood

And the confusion of

What wasn’t

The secrecy

The running away

The shame that was placed

No projected

Onto our small bodies

Maya

How is it that you knew

I want to learn more

At the same time

I want to leave you were you left

With the mister

Shrinking in your rear view

I want for you to be okay

For those two incidents to be the last

Those things happened so often for me

The touching

The running

My life wasn’t threatened

Which made the attention more tender

I too craved that tenderness you spoke of

The touch

The attention

A gentle knowing

That I existed

That I mattered