Richelle Ashanti Horsford

I Am Who I’m Supposed To Be

by Richelle Ashanti Horsford

I am sensitive and relaxed I wonder if I let people get to me would I be the person I am I hear the drama I see the fights I want to succeed I am sensitive and relaxed

I pretend I’m famous I feel the pressure I worry that I will fail I cry because I feel like I’m not good enough I am sensitive and relaxed I understand that I can’t change people I say the wrong things I dream about the future I try to change I hope for the best I am sensitive and relaxed

Peace in the Streets

by Richelle Ashanti Horsford

I am from two overprotective parents and four brothers From a loud house but quiet neighborhood I am from where everyone talks about everyone but acts like it never happened in the face The tree where cats always find their way up and shockingly down too

I am from late-night hangouts and a mother who stops and talks to everyone from we leaving in five minutes turning into we've been here for hours I am from where everybody knows everybody and playing traffic in the alley was fun and from cheating in cops and robbers by using vehicles when it was a no-vehicle game (that's where the trust issues started)

I am from getting back up and trying ‘til I get it and not everything is forever I am from that park where my dad took me to watch the soccer games on Sundays I am from bright lights and big buildings Rice and peas and oxtails From going to the hospital once a year because somebody's sick, baby pictures and stories of everybody's childhood, like when my uncle ate my grandmother's ice cream when he was a kid. That story never gets old, unlike the people.

Paintings, pictures that all hold a special memory. I am from the city that never sleeps, in Alicia Keys’ words, "In New York, Concrete, Jungle, wet dream, tomato." Nah lemme be for real, “In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of."

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