TODAY, I CHOOSE HOPE

Today, I choose hope
when I say I choose hope
I admit my anchor has drifted somewhere in the storms of life and some parts of my ship had wrecked
but amidst the angry display of the sea that my weary eyes see
some moments and places have been lifeboats
that calmed the yawp of in my throat

Today, I choose hope
when I say I choose hope
I admit I have been all kinds of woman and
all kinds of a child
I have crawled on broken glasses and walked on deep muddy lands
I have gone thirsty on a land of milk and honey
and plucked for food from forbidden trees I was once told was poisonous
I have run into cruel places and
slept in crooked temples

Today, I choose hope
when I say I choose hope
I mean I have learned ancient music and let the rhythm stay with me
a full sacrament of the gospel I make
of a truth I am no ordinary woman
I am nobody’s sin and I do not keep skeletons in my closet
I walk with them
I dine with them and sleep with them
I talk with them and laugh with them
I mourn with them and
make sweet loving gestures with them
I do not fear but I shrink,
I change but I do not compromise and those two are two different things
I hope

Today, I choose hope
when I say I choose hope
I mean my heart has ached for long
and some places haven’t cured
my mind is a vast ocean of questions and all my journey is about finding them
to know the truth and let truth know me
I am half sun and half moon
I am a seven piece joy and a seven piece sadness
I am two poles of north and south
I am day and I am night
I am a full blown twilight and fading dusk

Today, I choose hope
When I say I choose hope
What I mean is that each day I
choose to let my words bleed
thick red blood as a symbol of survival
I write
I keep writing
I am the writing and the writing
knows me in every way and it won’t let me go
It will keep me and it will expose me
It will keep me warm and it will send cold drips of water to my shoulders
It will heal me and it will break my spine
I am the writing and the writing knows me in every way and it won’t let me go

Today, I choose hope
When I say I choose hope
What I mean is that
Redemption is a sweet song but sometimes the tune turns sour
I choose to fall with my ego than stand tall with pride
Today I choose to dance with life with broken hip and girdle and naked a body than to perfectly sit with a stolen crown
I am not a queen but I am a royal
My body-an emblem of a homecoming glory
My spirit – a monument uncrushed

Today, I choose hope
When I say I choose hope
I know the whispers of my heart and wild flowers are beginning to blossom
And it will be seen every where
Although not carefully planted
Left on the roadside but the tears I cried
Have been faithful to water the buried seed
This buried seed- hope

Today, I choose hope
When I say I choose hope
I mean I have been under the water
But breath hasn’t left me
Because not everyone who stays
too long under water
is drowned

And
that
is
HOPE.

– Jo Nketiah
26/December/2019

Inspired by the Anthology“Toady I choose Joy”