15 Texts I Never Sent...

(I can't claim this one. It was from a post I saw on Tumblr)

It's been 15 months and I still miss you like a limb.

I didn't know my bones could ache until I met you.

You know, a week before we broke up, do you remember?
I bought a book a poetry and you asked why I didn't read something more interesting.
I could feel my inside splinter.

You said poetry was all lies dressed up to sound pretty.
When I look at you these days, I want to ask if sadness sounds pretty to you.

It's 3AM and this alcohol tastes like you.

I saw you staring at me in the store today. I smiled and you didn't smile back.
I almost cried.

The girl who sits next to me in class smells like you.

I miss you.

I've never had so many bad nights.

Sometimes I write poetry about you on the internet.
Strangers who have never met either of us think you're cruel...
...they tell me if they ever had the honor of loving me
they'd never give upon me and you're insane
for walking away.

They think it is beautiful how I am broken.
I don't think they understand.

You used to tell me I was beautiful.
I tried saying it in the mirror the other day,
but it sounded wrong without your mouth wrapped around it.

Everything I say sounds wrong without your mouth wrapped around it.

We didn't last forever, but oh God, we could have.
We could have...

My Love Letter to Black Women

I was recently tasked by a Twitter friend to write a love letter to black women. I've actually been putting off writing this because I wasn't sure exactly what to say. It's not that I have nothing to say, it's that so much comes to mind that it's kind of hard to sort it all out. There's so much TO BE said, but I don't want to drone on and on. So...here goes. Nothing long...

Dear BW,

You are the most amazing of God's creations to me. Daily I see examples of women exuding the purest form of many adjectives we assign to people: beauty, strength, power, resilience. To me, you are the walking example of how God intended for woman to be; you're a walking example of those adjectives.

It saddens me that the world doesn't see you the same. The world sees beauty as Jennifer Aniston. The world sees power as Hillary Clinton. The world paints the black woman as ugly, irate, angry, needy, and undesirable. What's even sadder, is not only when black men start to believe this of black women, but when black women start to believe this of themselves.

Iyanla Vanzant once said, "Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth."

It's up to all of us to reaffirm your awesomeness. To let you AND the world know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are incomparable. So this is my pledge to you. I pledge to tell you that you are beautiful when the world decides you aren't. I pledge to be your support when the world has tried to knock you down a notch. I pledge to be a voice when the world tries to silence yours. And I pledge to fight for and with you. And when I'm lucky enough to be blessed with one of you as a life partner? I pledge to never take that for granted. I firmly believe that nobody loves another like a black woman loves a black man.

"We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth."

Together, the possibilities are endless and infinite. You are beautiful. You are strong. You are powerful. You are resilient. You are a beautiful black woman.

Love,

~Noble