My Journey
in Poetry
This was the first time I ever memorized and delivered one of my poems. I had one day to memorize it, The Insurgence, for the Women's March in downtown San Jose, CA. Everything that could go wrong that morning did, but I pushed through. I arrived only five minutes before I was scheduled to go up, and I was dripping sweat from running with my children almost a mile from our parking spot to the stage. Immediately, fear kicked in as I looked out at the crowd of 8,000 people, but then I saw my two babies' faces staring at me in awe, and nothing else mattered at that moment. Delivering this poem is still one of my proudest accomplishments, not only because of the number of people in the crowd but mostly because of all the obstacles I went through to even get to the event. I did it though and I was able to do it with my babies watching me. I believe that when you're doing something that will change your life and possibly others there is distraction energy, more often than not, thrown into your space to stop you. My message is to stay focused and push through. This is how you build your confidence and strength to RISE!
RISEN
From the depths of the mud she came
to this world,
and from the depths of the mud they thought she'd stay.
Surely they'd say
the stickiness of the thick mixture
of the dirt and water
would always bring her down....
there's just no way.....
With diseases,
addictions,
family disruption,
demons lurking
in the murky mud of hell......
still she would not let their words
spell out her future,
and from the depths of mud she sculpted herself.
Fighting through with all she had was just preparing her for the hard climb.
And even when life hit her down
she'd get up every time.
She rose from the depths of the mud to tell every one that
just because you're born in it you don't have to stay living in it.
The dirt will stain,
the mud will stick,
the climb will leave scars,
and it's good to feel it all,
because it makes you who you are .....
The choice to rise,
the choice to fight,
the choice to cut those chains that tie you down
is yours and yours alone...
It only takes one minute
to make the life-altering decision.......
that just because you're born in it you're not going to stay living in it.
by Shareen Rivera