Thank you guys, this is going to be my last one tonight.
All the volunteers that I talked to earlier,
can you guys kind of make your way up here?
Cool.
This one was inspired by Joshua Bennett's "10 Things
I Want to Say to a Black Woman," and so I
thought about all the women that have brought me
to where I am today, and decided to create
a poem called, "10 Things I Want to Say to This Woman."
So it's just in honor of all the women of my life
that have made me who I am.
And, if we can go ahead and let them set up.
That's really important, to be comfortable.
Before I start, I just want to thank POG
for inviting me and having me tonight.
[APPLAUSE]
And everyone else, also, that was
a part of this movement to have this tonight,
so I really appreciate it.
"One, it's the way your lips curl around a declaration that
makes me want to kiss you.
Two, I just want to reach into you.
It's something about the thunder in your mind
before it becomes a sound.
Three, it's the softness of your skin,
the harshness of the palms of your feet.
And when you dance, how it sounds
like chains breaking from the skin,
and necks breaking straight again,
heartbeats pounding, to breathe.
Four, have I ever told you I love you?
Because I do, and that can come as easy as the sun saying
hello, while the moon saying goodbye, all in the same sky.
Five, have I ever told you that I love you?
Because I do, and that can come as complicated as the sun
saying hello while the moon saying
goodbye all in the same sky.
Six, how you can see those dreams of yours,
how your dreams hit the ground like sudden rain
on a summer day, how they hit and surround you
with inspiration.
How they protect you, unafraid to call themselves your own.
How your dreams scramble to come alive for that smile of yours.
You truly are magic.
Seven, you have the ability to resurrect me from a dream,
remind me there's something sweet about a world I
dream away from constantly.
Eight, and every time, every time
I look at a pair of lost eyes, or skin with an unknown author,
I wish I could take your ethic and your method
from my notebook.
Bodies out of that recollection watch their bodies
realign to the heartbeats.
Nine, I hope you know I understand.
Despite my eye to the sky and a hardened skull reply,
I understand your truth about me.
It's just at times I don't want to be set free.
And what a demon to face when you're in the mirror alone.
10, you are the most beautiful story I have ever told."
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much.
Thank you guys.