Invisible Tiara (Ted A. Richard

Invisible Tiara (Ted A. Richard - Church Point, LA)

This whole world is a pageant!!

We live our lives in a constant state of judgment, which is why so many of us often feel like we just don’t “measure up”.

“Are we pretty enough?”

“Are we smart enough?”

“Where do we fit in on that scale from one to ten?”

Yes, our life is a pageant, and everyone is trying to win!!!

But why do we allow others to judge us?

Who the heck entered us in this pageant?

They don’t know us?

They don’t know who we are?

All “the judges” know are what they SEE, and that’s only half of who we ARE !!

It seems like we are always trying to win this pageant in which no one ever gets the crown.

Yes, we all WANT the crown!

But why does no one ever GET the crown?

Truth is, anyone can have the crown…

But is it really that important?

Is a little bit of sparkle on your head really worth all the trouble we went through to get it?

We have allowed ourselves to be culturalized into a society in which the basics of our beliefs and the content of our character are constantly being put into question by “judges” who don’t even know us!

If we live our lives based on the judgment of others, then we will always be free from self-expression!

It is when we truly SEE the person in the mirror, and truly LOVE the person in the mirror that we realize that winning “the pageant” STILL doesn’t make us “the winner” in life.

Life truly begins when we refuse to be a contestant in this world’s pageant.

Once we know that we don’t have to win “the pageant” to win “in life” is when we realize the true value of being our best self.

And true success can only be attained when we realize that the only pageant in life is the one that we create for ourselves,

NOT the pageant that we allow others to put us in.

And as we look in the mirror, we can always say, “That tiara looks really great on my head!”

Even though no one else can see it !!!

Comments

Come Hither (Annette Redmond Walters - Lafayette, LA)

I meant it not this way but the tears just flow and my makeup smearing all the more, leaving behind that familiar filthy residue. I may have begun to drive myself away, dragging you down as well. But it's done, I've flipped the switch and now it's dark once more. How painful is the music to my ears, I can't stand to be alone in it, yet here I am again. I pray you fly back and safely and warmly to me, though I fear I've dug the grave too deeply. As the dirt shifts within my soul, I choke on those loving words I'd meant for you. All the fragments of light I see becoming smaller and I wish to be near you in your embrace that might make me feel the warmth I'm missing. And in reality, I doubt I'd breathe another breath without you. So come hither and quickly soothe my dying heart, you are the only cure I know. I cry and cry again, come hither to heal and love me. Come hither and help me dry my tears.

Let That Fucker Burn (John Chenvert - Napoleonville, LA)

Let that fucker burn. Let the fire crackle like the whips once did— like bone meeting leather, like screams swallowed by the trees. Let the white columns crumble to ash. Not as tragedy— but as truth, unearthing itself from beneath generations of silence. Nottoway is not a mansion. It’s a mausoleum. A lie carved in stone to honor the hands that held the whip, not the backs that bore it. They called it the “White Castle.” A place of beauty. A place for weddings, for photo ops, for pretending that horror can be made elegant if the curtains match the guilt. But no paint can cover what happened there. Blood doesn’t wash out with white linens. And pain doesn’t forget just because you renamed it history. I’m not Black. And I won’t pretend to carry that weight. But I also won’t ignore it. My people—the Guanches—were taken too. Our language silenced. Our land stolen. Our names nearly erased. So yes, I know colonization. Yes, I know what it means to be disappeared. But I also know this— my skin ...

Lunatic (Lily Lechler - New Orleans, LA)

“Lunacy” comes from the moon, Who cycles through brilliance and darkness Bipolarity’s patterns are not so easily assumed Opposites not so well harnessed Who cycles through brilliance and darkness? The girl who sits in bed, wrestling with Opposites. Not so well harnessed As she thought, her brain gives reason the slip The girl who sits in bed, wrestling with Her body, depressed, her thoughts manic. As she thought, her brain gave reason the slip And gives the gift of life in a dreamlike panic. Her body depressed her thoughts. Manic Lunacy comes from the moon And gives the gift of life in a dreamlike panic Bipolarity’s patterns are not so easily assumed

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