SLAY QUEEN- MORE THAN A TAG WE GIVE

My kid sister on an average day make videos
of her dancing or singing
Updates pictures of her new hair style
adorn her plus size body with bodycon dresses
Sometimes she exposes the cleavage
between those two thick breasts
And she takes a lot of photograph
Sometimes her poses are funky
other times it’s sexy and inviting
With her mouth pouting and her
Thick legs loud in her jeans trousers
She is a very dark woman and she
Paints her nails yellow
Eye shadows of rainbow colors
Has a lot of followers on Instagram than me

And she is not a slay queen

She is my sister
She is a daughter
She is a best friend

This, this anger has been birthing in me for many days
Haunting to spit out words like daggers
oh but this heart, this heart is full of hate when I see headlines like

/Another IG Slay Queen Dies After Allegedly Being Poisoned
whilst on A Date…
/Legon slay queen dies….
/The Slay Queen Whose Mysterious Death Has Taken

To the so-called journalists and reporters
Who puts women into more danger with these tags
Because you think it is funny a story to write home about
Because you think these women deserve to be brutally murdered or die mysteriously
you think these women are not your mothers, sisters and lovers so they are are not worth of anything other than a slut tag we
Place on them or they place on themselves
But forgive me because a woman has the right to be anything she wants to be!!!!
Forgive me, if that is the standard of beauty, appreciation, love, wealth, fame she has ever known
Because it is hard, damn hard sometimes to live in a society so fucked up
A society that sets the standards of beauty and acceptance
wealth and fame

in movies we direct
in video clips we make
on billboards we mount

to-look-like-anything-not-us-on-a-regular-day

so we polish
take dozens of pictures, edit our favorite
just so the world will notice us
and please don’t shit in my face with the
I-do-not-need-validation-from-anyone-
i know you don’t but not today
Because you do, inwardly we all do
And it almost feels like on an average day
one must do extra Just to
feel noticed
feel beautiful
feel alive
feel wanted
feel mattered
feel accepted
feel human

and so many days escape the thoughts of our silent death and burial.

she is not a slay queen who was murdered mysteriously, call her what she is because she is a woman, she could he a lover, a fierce one who can love with a love more than love

she could be a sister, whose heart is gold and hands freely give and never take anything in return.

she could be a daughter, the only hope of her mother, the melody in her womb, the one that she has fasted and prayed to God and the gods.

so let me tell you
Because I have pure hate for people like you
Who mock the tragedies bestowed on these women
Because they fit a tag in your shallow minds
I hate you with pure hateness
The same way you rejoice in the predicaments of another woman, another human being who could be many things and more other than the tag you give them

just because she is a slay queen doesn’t mean she deserves to be slayed!!!!
this hate had not intended to be long
but i didn’t want to shut my mouth any longer
because my heart breaks when i read these things

My kid sister on an average day make videos of her dancing or singing
Updates pictures of her new hair style
Adorn her plus size body with bodycon dresses
Sometimes she exposes the cleavage between those two thick breasts
And she takes a lot of photograph
Sometimes her poses are funky
Sometimes its sexy and inviting
With her mouth pouting and her
Thick legs loud in her jeans trousers
She is a very dark woman and she
Paints her nails yellow
Eye shadows of rainbow colours
Has a lot of followers on Instagram than me

And she is not a slay queen
She is my sister
She is a daughter
She is a best friend

And I want her to feel protected everyday
And I don’t need to worry
Just because her youthful life and happiness
Portrays an identity that fits into a tag

“’slay queen”’

as if being one meant

a terrorist.

– Jo Nketiah