2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Fifteen - Halfway there!

Today's prompt for Writer's Digest 2015 April Poem A Day Challenge is: An Adjective Titled Poem.

Lost

I know
That these words
Will never be enough

I know
That our country
Which you Bravely
Sought as solace

When you fled from
Trouble Back Home
Has In the Darkness
Raised It's Ugly Greedy Head
And Destroyed
The Life You've Built

Your neighbours
Have listened to the lies
Fed to them from up high

But they do not know
That we are all Africans
Whether from the South or North

I know these words
Will never be enough
As your children cry
And you wonder where to go

But if they come at you
With petrol and knives

Fight your way out
Fight your way back
Back to the Rainbow nation
We all fought so hard for

And I will be there
With open arms
Waiting

Writer's Digest 2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Eight

Today's prompt for the Poem A Day Challenge is: Write A Dare Poem.

Truth Or Dare?

I Dare You To Get Out Of Your Head.
To stop living in shame of ghosts from your past
I Dare You To Face Your Shadows
To Tell The World Exactly Who You Are
I Dare You To Stop Trying To Prove
How Happy you are to false friends and acquaintances
No amount of Likes will ever be enough
I Dare You To Be Present
Just With the Silence that envelops you
I Dare You To Spend Time Alone
Without A Phone Or A Friend To Distract You from You
I Dare You To Love
Love the world, love your enemies, love the monsters within
I Dare You To Not Shrink From Your Power
To Stand Tall when they try and cut you down
I Dare You To Stop Aiming For Perfect
To Stop Comparing Your Joy Away
I Dare You To Not Just Read These Words But Live Them.

The Truth?
We all want to be loved but we’re just so terrified.
Let go of your fear.

Go on, I Dare You!

DigiWriMo - Day 4 - Be Brave!

If you had told me at the beginning of this year that I would be a published writer and that I would have been invited to take part in an exhibition as a poet, I would probably would have rolled my eyes at you. Me? Be a writer? Oh please. Even though I have been secretly writing for years, being a writer didn't even occur to me as a possibility. The voices in my head more often than not portray me as a victim. Who am I to think I am important enough to share my opinions with the world? If I compare myself to writers that I admire and respect, my work is never as good and I am left feeling intimidated and scared. 

Why am I scared of writing? Why am I scared to share myself with the world and the people I love? Fear. Fear of rejection, fear of judgement, fear of being unloved and unsupported. Putting words and how I feel out into the world leaves me at my most vulnerable. Even as I write these words, the voice in my head keeps telling me not to. It keeps telling me that I will embarrass myself and that if I send this to people, they won't get it and will think I'm arrogant and narcissistic. 

I am choosing instead to not let my fear and worry win. I am choosing to create a new possibility for myself. I am choosing life. All those negative thoughts have done nothing for me except keep me small and scared of doing anything with my life. The only way I will have an extraordinary life is to do things that are greater than I think I am and to continuously push myself way out of my comfort zone. 

So here I am, being vulnerable about to send this out into the big wide world. I don't know who will read this. I don't know if this will make any impact on anyone else other than myself. What I do know is that the only way I will be able to change my thinking and change my world is to change myself.

*This post is part of the DigiWriMo Project in association with Write On! South Africa - Today's Topic is: Be Brave