
I know you said
You need all of me,
But what happens
When I need me back?
-JBHarris, 9.4.2019
I know you said
You need all of me,
But what happens
When I need me back?
-JBHarris, 9.4.2019
All need is for you to be good.
Focus on me
As if god were
Flesh and full-bodied
In front of you.
I will show
You in thought
And power
Your god is a woman.
-JBHarris, 2020
I want nights
That are quiet,
And still
Loud as thunder,
I want storms in
Oceans of sheets
And limbs pulling
Me further from
What I know into
All I want.
I want the quiet parts
Said out loud
And kisses made only
For me,
And all my inner light
Being bother magic
And woman lit
By you.
I want the now
and the present presence
Of what it means to be
Lost and still be found.
From sky above
And Earth beneath
I want to dream
Of setting future
Suns…
Again.
-JBHarris
There’s magic in the water
I’ll make you hunger and thirst for righteousness you have never sampled
for a goddess is who is brown as earth
and loud as thunder once you master crescendos who hides orchestras inside of her belly as you begin to be key in her lock
I will show you the world
with your eyes closed
and just how marvelous your world
can be once you find the right tempo
I can give you
what you’ve only dreamed of…
what you thought you could never have…
I can give you all you see…
I am night
I am power,
I am rhythm and blues,
I am hives of honey,
With all lips made from sugar.
There is no need
To give the unworthy
Or lazy such access to
Attention for my blessings…
Thick and rich as sunsets and moonlight.
No need to give samples
When ownership is what
Is called for…
because such power cannot be left unchecked
I am desire
I am more, and
I am comfort
I am storm.
I am all the ocean it washes
away the cares of the day
and yet I have chosen you.
-JBHarris, 1.3.2021
It still matters
That the messages
Come in before
The morning sun.
Being the thought of
In the morning,
Thoughts of my
Kept by you
All night.
In that thought
Holds the everything
Else.
–Jennifer Bush-Harris, March 2021
Untie my hands
So that I may
Summon thunder.
-JBHarris, 1.25.2021
Click here to purchase this new work! If that doesn’t work, copy and paste this link:
Thoughts In A Pandemic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D3T2TYQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_5ZMFS78DC7K3EYKQH4JC
I am a healthcare worker, and like most writers, I still have a day job.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had planned on leaving healthcare and going into education—I had planned on finishing my MFA. But, due to the need to care for my children, and myself, I went back into healthcare.
With working in this pandemic for the better part of a year, this collection of poetry began as a coping mechanism. It started as a way to focus the fear of a collective community, and know speak to hope that no one really had in early 2020!
It is written from the vantage point of a healthcare worker; one who saw how disrespected the medical community has been (public health, science, virology, nurses, doctors, CNA’s, medical students, researchers, etc.), and how the narrative around this pandemic was skewed by—politics!
Writing helped me cope. Still helps me cope! This collection of poetry is a testimony to perseverance, duty and how the responsibility of leadership is heavier than can be first thought.
Thank you.
Note: This poem is from the collection Thoughts In A Pandemic, available on Amazon.
Running and saving
This is all which can
Be done.
The saving of time
And lives and money
All as tears of frustration come
As sunrises do.
Running and saving,
This is all which can be done.
There are still those whom
Are alive, who from Reapers,
And light that call or reach—-
Always reaching, always needing
Not sure tomorrow is here or done.
Saving masks,
Reusing of what was disposable
Because those whom have never
Tasted fire, know to cover
Your face to keep tears at bay
From smoke.
We are all running and saving,
That is all which can be done.
-Jennifer Bush-Harris, March 2020
The mysteries of
our mothers is
they are our mothers…
they know everything about us.
but we will never
know everything about them.
-(c)JBHarris, 2021
-Intro for poetry collection, MotherBlood: Reflecting On Black Girlhood (October 2021)
For my overview, click here for Part 1.
I write this part as a cis-het, Christian, woman whom is a mother, and hope hustler (minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ).
With that established, let’s get it!
1.) You cannot tell me that this young man is not hurt and isn’t lashing out. I have heard the hellfire sermons as it relates to homosexuality. They have never sat well with me. This is the only ‘sin’ there is no grace given to or for. The gospel of Christ is a hammer, yes—but it was never meant to massacre! Imagine being told as you live your life, the source of all things will turn His back on you. That is a nightmare! People forget that love draws, hate divides! Guess which was the last thing Christ told us to do? I’ll wait.
2.) This video was meant to be divisive. The vibe I got watching this video was to make people mad. He fully embraced this identity as a pariah. Completely and utterly outcast from society as Black, gay man—the video celebrates everything in his reality that will ostracize him elsewhere! He is celebrating the fact that “all gay people go to Hell” and pole dancing the whole way there! That is a boldness without equal. Then to simulate sex with Satan, only to murder him(!) and take He’ll over?! Like Crowley on SUPERNATURAL?! Fam!
I don’t think y’all get that: He. Just. Trolled. God. That is a different kind of hubris, I don’t have—or could ever want. His arms are too short for that smoke.
3.) There is an artistry to this video that is undeniable. It’s a pretty video! Very avant-garde! And the creativity that went into it is amazing.
4.) The ownership of your complete self is a process—and when done well? It is incredible!Since Lil Nas X came out, he has made it his mission to accept himself—regardless of who said what! With the state of the nation being what it is, he fact he has been able to do this, done this work to ricochet out into the world? You gotta admire that.
5.) It is a middle finger to heteronormativity. As the transactivist Diamond Stylz says, “It’s gay as fuck.” This video was a treat for the eye, with no video vixen in sight! His self-love, acceptance, with no need to compromise. Bruh.
6.) The video is a demonstrative of the cost to of living the life you want! This young man is a successful, openly, gay Black rapper. I cannot imagine the smoke that came from just that! And peep the double entendre: call me by your name! Basically, call me what you want—it doesn’t matter! Whew!
7.) The game is afoot, Watson. Understand (again) that this young man is playing a role. Understand this is about money, clout and marketing! The more pressed you are, the angrier you are, the more he cashes checks! I refused to be pressed about this because I know the agenda! The world said/says he is a demon destined to go to Hell? Bet! And made a sneaker line to boot? Chile! You better understand what the real issue is and how to handle it! Not sure what the issue is? Re-read Part 1, and all these pieces again.
I’ll be here when you get back.