Poetic Therapy For A Sistah's Soul is a compilation of poetry and random thoughts about love, life, and all that craziness in between. For me it was my release, a form of therapy as I was going through a life change, i.e. divorce. It kept me from acting out and busting folk windows, and setting folk on fire-stuff like that . . . Praise God! Yes I do believe everybody has a story, but more importantly every woman has a voice, and needs and wants to be heard. I hope this book makes you laugh, prompts you to think about things a little differently and gives you some inspiration. I hope it encourages you to open your mouth, to find your way to express how you feel about the people and things the affect you down to the bone, and know it's okay. Don't hang on to stuff, release it and find your happy. I encourage you to keep God first, pray, and get yourself together mentally and physically because you are your #1 advocate in love, life, and all that craziness in between . . . BOOM! Words, thoughts, ideas put in some form or order I crave something to free me to soothe my soul I need to express what I think and what I feel I pray these words help me heal I do find some relief in what I write random thoughts put to paper a little humor, a little truth and in some a little spite . . . uumm remember, I am a woman but I do believe at the end of the day as random as my words may be they too express what you feel what you think, afraid even or can't seem to say

POETIC THERAPY FOR A SISTAH'S SOUL

By Kay Cook

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Kay Cook
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-4868-6

Contents

ON ONE Life.............................................11ON TWO Women, We Are Something Else.....................111ON THREE Know Thyself First.............................129ON FOUR Some Other Thangs...............................139ON FIVE Love and All That...............................153ON SIX Mister Man.......................................179ON SEVEN The Great Walk Away............................189

Chapter One

Life

In as much as it seems history repeats itself life still is ever-changing and so we must learn to adapt accordingly. Women today, we don't look at or handle like situations the way our momma's did—okay, sometimes we do have to go a little old school but for the most part tricks of the trade have evolved as they should. I'm sure in a few years our daughters will say the same. But, we still gotta teach these young girls some thangs. To be honest, I can't wait until my girls are grown and are calling to share their experiences, in part so I can say, "yup, been there before honey" but really so I can ask "did you have to bring out Set It Off Momma, or Jesus is the Lord Momma?" You know, we all have stories of how our momma's had to wreck camp and act a fool or if she just said, "we're gonna let God handle this." (oh so it was just my momma? LOL). At any rate, the one thing in life we all want is to be happy—whatever your happy is-happy in love, happy in family, happy in happy and there's nothing wrong with that. Live and enjoy your life-I know I am. I'm skipping along on Happy Trail and I hope it never comes to an end. Life is God's gift to us-to you! Life is wide open and waiting for you to make your mark and I have a feeling you're going to do great things. Okay lemme keep it real, some of you won't. Hey! It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round LOL.

When you get stuck in a mindset that you need this man or woman to make you happy, you are then relinquishing control of your life to someone else. You start to convince yourself that you can't make a move or a decision without them. Or, you've gotta do this or that for them because you know it makes them happy thereby convincing yourself that it makes you happy. Key words: you and need.

O'Kay #1: True happiness begins with being at peace with who you are and having respect for yourself. Stop obsessing over someONE making you happy. If you're happy they can only compliment your happiness.... kinda like an accessory.

More often than not you've given me great pleasure
though we've had our share of ups and downs
yes we've suffered some bumps and bruises
some by mistake and well some, intentional
We've made memories neither of us will forget
you introduced me to some people
we did some things that will definitely stay between us
haha you know what I mean?
You're a school that always has a lesson planned
that no one ever graduates
you come with rules and regulations
a great Instruction manual that to be honest
until lately I didn't devote the time I should have
and yes, at times I took you so for granted
handled you a bit recklessly
but still, we partied and celebrated in 1999
and beyond ... I am grateful for you
and if it's God's will I'll continue to
embrace you, appreciate you, continue to grow
because I'm truly in love with you
you ... are ... LIFE!

Without realizing or even missing a beat, and as sure as the sun rises and sets we orchestrate the symphony that is "our life." We strum along to melodic, easy and sometimes dramatic tunes that give our lives song. Some of us find great ease in playing by ear while many of us require lessons in class or otherwise; nonetheless, we dance to the beat of a different drummer moving on and on, grooving with it as time passes often 'til the break, break, break of dawn.

Tick-Tock

Time waits on no one
the tick-tock goes on and on
surely you know this is true
Love they say is blind and sweet
Poetic Therapy For A Sistah's Soul
it's also optional ... a choice
you freely choose if it's for you
Life is a treasure and for some
a never-ending treasure hunt
of discovery
of pain and disappointment, of love
of surprise, joy, and pleasure
but more importantly, of self!
hhmm, but if you could turn back
the hands of time which button would you hit
RE-play or RE-wind?
No sweetie, the two are not the same
as one says I like the way it was and is
the other
there are things I can and should do differently
things I'd change
the point my dear is not about regret
but about the promise of an abundant life
you haven't lived yet


My Mountain

As I prepare to climb my Mountain
I stay focused on the Purpose:
to purge past hurts, to forgive
myself as well as others
to release fear and failures
to release hopes and dreams into the atmosphere
and just, at least in my mind
extend my physical reach slightly closer to God
and ... just ... exhale
so as I prepare for what just may be
the toughest challenge of my life so
I stand at the foot, stare and study
this tremendous structure
I release a huge sigh because I've been here
and backed down many times before
today though feels different, no turning back
it's time to face my fears
find my inner strength and courage
oh today is the day
I conquer My Mountain
so here goes ...
you see where my grip is here?
it's full of gossip about me
oh, and that one over there
it's full of "she ain't gonna do nothing but dream"
oohh honey, and if you look around here
where my right foot is, it's full of
"I love you's and I would never hurt you's"
but somehow always did-umph, and this grip here
it's kinda special, I'm gonna etch a heart around it
It's full of love, encouragement
and constructive criticism from those I know
love me genuinely and unconditionally
this one right here where my right hand is, well
this grip, it's full of "daddy pain"
I thought I'd let go of years ago ... guess not
but this one right here ... wow
if you could put your hand on it
is where I hurt you
said or did some things I
shouldn't have ...
where I didn't love you right
where I didn't give you the respect you deserved
and, I'm very sorry
well I'm at the top
and it feels so good to let all of that go
from this day forward
I choose to acknowledge my wrongs
to forgive quickly, to love earnestly, to live happily
because this climb, though tough
was about the freeing of me
accepting responsibility
dropping the baggage
leaving the right wrong people
soothing the right pain and hurt
this climb was about me
reconnecting with my spiritual self
prioritizing people and things
aagghh I can breathe again
what a release to just let it all go!
Suddenly, I'm at peace at the top
of My Mountain
I've climbed, conquered, and am conceding
to a new life, love, and all that may come

O'Kay#2: You've got to have a vision for your life ... don't just exist!

Your life does have a purpose and you do have something to offer the world. There's something growing...