This one's very personal. What's weird is that this truly could be written for most black females at Edwardsville High School, classes of 1992 through 1997, and most likely beyond. But we have prevailed, and that's all I really give a damn about. Stephen King's not the only one
who found that strange phenomenon.
That evil seed that should not breed...
It's trick is to find those placed within
A place they never should have been
Neglected souls, those with their own patrols
but not just any, only the new blossoms
They surely must not be aware
They must not know the monster's toll
To allow us to exist, It required our whole
Not piece, not part, but all we lacked
Every insecurity It needed to hold us back...
But fuck that, dear friend, how far we've come!
So many failed attempts to escape It's arm
So much pursued and accomplished despite
It's grasp on our lives, on our hearts, on our might.
Why did we ever walk in the shadows of others?
Confidence shattered, hope shaken
Who were those scared little girls?
I remember me, I remember you
On opposite sides of fences,
not in disagreement
but strongly desiring what the other had
this wasn't bad, we just didn't know the associated pain
of living in another's world, only our own,
thinking, something's got to be better than this
Successfully unloving ourselves
but,
pouring our souls into another's happiness
What a trick It played on us,
Lifelong impressions haunting us at our core,
Yearnings that will never be fulfilled
And why do we care still?
I'm not sure, but we do
We DO wish for redemption, for acknowledgement...
Vindication...
LIBERATION...
from what though?
Our own perceptions, the lies It told us?
They unfold now,
But we must look to the NOW to see it,
'cause back then? It was everything, the only thing
A couple of young black girls knew
Now, the transformation
From not being amused to being a muse,
goddess, puppeteer of It, now and forever...
Act accordingly.
