Poetry
Speak Life
by Butterfly Thomas
A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling deeply discouraged. I started ruminating on many times people who were supposed to encourage me, instead decided to do the opposite. With a few instances spanning back as far as high school where I was discouraged from applying to the college I wanted and discouraged against attempting to get my books published because poetry doesn’t sell, to most recently, five months ago, where I was discouraged against going back to school for my doctoral degree, simply because I would be 5 years older when I graduated.
So, after severing that relationship and relieving some anxiety, I made a decision. Moving forward, I am going to speak life into myself and others to manifest greatness. The poem below is called “Speak Life” it will be included in a new book I’m working on called Random A.F.
Speak Life
You can speak life or death with your words…
At least that’s what I heard
My gramma say
In so many words
But I had trouble gleaming
The meaning
When I was young
What you mean
I can’t call my sista dumb
My brotha a bum
I shouldn’t call a friend crazy
I shouldn’t refer to a child as lazy
When you speak
You teach
How things should be
How people should be
But if you speak negatively
Then you don’t speak for me
And the same holds true
I won’t speak for you
Unless it’s positive
I want you to live
Your life without limits
A mind without tenets
That don’t serve you
That try to curb you
So watch what you say
Cause the words you speak?
They tend to teach
Us just how to behave
Spit fire
Speak dreams
Spit flames
Speak blades
That cut like a knife
Through my desires
And so they change
Into something you deem
Attainable
Obtainable
To me
Fore me
So my real hopes
Fizzle away
Like drizzle on a hot summer’s day
Sizzle away
Hiss
Pop and fade
Like the rain
Pitter patter
My inner pain
Cause my goals don’t matter
Or so it seems
To me
You don’t believe
In me
Don’t believe I can achieve
My dreams
Least that’s what you communicate
To me
With the hurtful words
You speak
So often
What I heard
I begin to repeat
My will softens
The unfortunate result
Self-fulfilling prophesy
Peace,
Butterfly
About the Author
Butterfly Thomas was born in Germany but was raised in Virginia, where she still lives. She is the author of the novel Head Held High (2018), an urban thriller, and In My Feelings a Book of Poetry. You can check out her published works at https://www.dldbooks.com/bthomas/
