Rejected

If you’ve been rejected
it may hurt for a moment
but it does not define you
it does not nullify your existence
it does not denounce your talent
it does not sully your character
it does not rebuff your opinion
it does not refute your capacity to love
it does not deny your dreams
it merely clarifies that whatever it was
or whoever he or she or they were
it wasn’t meant for you
you may have to change your path a little
but you still have a golden path ahead

By Veniece Wesson
Copyright 2010

Life Guard

Sometimes
we think we have someone else’s life figured out
we assume if they would just do this
or if they would stop doing that
then their life would be just fine
but in reality
we can’t even figure out our own life
if we adhered to the golden rule
maybe we can begin to repair each other
instead of constantly tearing each other apart
and begin to resolve our own personal issues
and stop judging someone else
gossiping about someone else
berating someone else
and hating someone else
because when we do those things
we are really judging ourselves
gossiping about ourselves
berating ourselves
and hating on ourselves
remember
we judge each other for what we judge ourselves for
when we reach out to an SOS
are we doing it for the person who is drowning
or do we subconsciously perceive it as a way to remedy our own inadequacies
if we brag about our heroic feats
and our courageous deeds to everyone
then we already have the answer
before we can begin to be someone else’s life guard
we must first pull ourselves out of the transparent pool of being self serving
eradicate “I”
from being our favorite word of the alphabet
stop riding on the waves of applause
that can often come crashing down
leaving us without a life preserver
we must first begin to be our own life guard


By Veniece Wesson

copyright 2010

Linked The Painting

This beautiful abstract painting was created by my seven year old son Aaron. He calls it "Linked the Painting."

Maybe, I'm Not All That

IS THIS YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW?

Monday morning
And I’m loving the feeling
Heading to the 3rd floor of my office building
I wish this headache would go away
It just hunger pangs
But not having anything to eat is okay
Maybe I can talk Bryan into taking me to lunch today
Oh never mind, it doesn’t matter
Because I’m now walking through the office door, and I already hear the chatter
As I smile with ear to ear confidently with glee
My co-workers run over gasping and telling me…

“OMG!”
“Girl, you look good!”
“You have the new designer bag!”
“Girl, you know you are the ISH!”
“I wish I could afford one, but I have to pay my mortgage.”
“Girl, I don’t know how you do it.”

As they scurry back to their desks
I’m thinking I don’t know how I can afford it either.”

Let me tell my co-workers I’ll be right back, I’m headed to the ladies room
They probably figure that I was running late that’s why I don’t have my make-up on and am headed to the ladies room so soon
They don’t know that my electricity is turned off
Now, if I leave early to pick up the kids from school since I cannot afford to pay the daycare, I wonder if my boss will let me without a snare or scoff
She knows about my wage garnishment
And doesn’t buy into the image that I flaunt
She knows that I chose image over necessities
That I am wedging a bridge further with my insecurities
Barely sustaining
Obtaining
Material things that will be obsolete
Before I can even put a crease
In my two hundred dollar jeans
But I had to have them, they fit me perfectly
I would rather look good today
I’ll secure a future another day
I know the teller at the bank was just trying to help Saturday when she told me that my account was overdrawn
She suggested that I open a savings to establish some kind of norm
By putting away $25 or$ 50 monthly to begin to repair the bridge
I told her my kids will just have to win scholarships
Because I need every last dollar, even it’s just kibbles and bits
I need it today!
I have to look good now!
I am entitled to this after all I’ve been through
As I get back to my make-up and pull out my MAC compact
I take a look in the mirror because I know I am all that

Just then my boss walks in shaking her head staring at me
“She says can we speak off the record, freely?
You are just another fake sistah perpetuating the Black stereo type
You can fool the others with your trifling good for nothing hype
Because of your misplaced devotion
You’ll never get a promotion
Upper management only thinks of you when they need a good laugh
They don’t take you seriously, your attempts to get ahead wind up in the recycle bin or the circular trash
You could be so much more if you simply applied yourself
Instead of trying to get over on your false image of wealth
I can’t even say anymore
You sadden and disgust me so that I forgot why I walked through the restroom door
I’m headed back to my desk
I expect you there in five minutes after you check yo self.”

As her boss walks out the door,
She yells at the door as it closes,
“Oh no you didn’t!
Honey, you wish you were me!”

The door is now closed and with her jaw dropped she looks at it with a blank stare
Then she turns back to look at her reflection in the mirror and says out loud, “DAMN, SHE’S RIGHT, UNLESS I CHANGE MY WAYS, I AM REALLY GOING NO WHERE!”


By Veniece Wesson
Copyright 2010 - All rights reserved

"Sometimes, I Wish I Was I Was Average"

He wakes up
laying beside him is a woman
who is not his wife
he thinks,
“What am I doing?”
he creeps out of the suite
and finds himself on the beach
he doesn’t like him self
he doesn’t even have to glance at the beautiful Caribbean ocean
to see his reflection staring back at him
he reflects on what his soul is experiencing
constantly waking up with a gnawing inside
a heaviness
as if every grain of sand on that beach was his problem
and he was buried beneath it
the thrusts of ocean waves of disgust
beat on his chest
turning the wet sand to a murky waste field
laying
weighing on his heart
all the people he has let down
he thinks
“If only my dad could see me now.”
all the mistakes he has made
lay in the shadow of his famous face
rarely does anyone desire to know the person behind the face
most just want to touch the hem of his garment
in hopes that what he has will rub off on them
or one of the their kids
so that they can be rich
famous
and accepted by every race
that is when his soul cries
“I am not perfect!”
but no one is listening
they are too content to shower him
with compliments and praise

so your wish came true
some of him rubbed off on you
but it was not the fortune you hoped for
you reaped the hypocrisy
the alter ego of the Golden Rule
do unto me as I want
but do unto others
as you want them to do unto you

why are you complaining
did you lose your role model
the game
is the same
no matter what game field
a man strokes it on
on the par
or between the sheets
tigers will roar
they will hunt
and they will pounce
while
other men ride trains
and others take the literary route
with Play Boy
and some just resort to the
method of their fore fathers
needing nothing but a good grip
but the image of a woman is still in the mind
we say that act is not the same
but God says it is
so who is right?


and now the clean cut image
the face of mixed heritage
that some Black women baulk at
not enough swagger for them
but upset when he goes for vanilla
instead of chocolate
funny how we don’t want to be minorities in the work place
but we want to be the minority in dating

the stain of your blood is now weighing on your soul
crying what happened to the old saying
no matter a person’s skin color
we all bleed the same blood

and the media frenzy
who can’t resist the sensationalism
they now glimmer with their delivery
to make a spectacle
they see his skin color
more than they see his trysts
they only see his blackness
he now sits in a black hole
because he did not stick to his whole in one
he had to share his balls with many
with a heart that you say is more white than black
but we all know that if you have a little color in you
then you are considered black
so what are we going to do
continue to divide
or help to lift up our brotha or
would you prefer me to say “brother”
that messed up
yes,
he was wrong
but we have all made mistakes
too much
too little
too late
it’s just that our deeds just were never broadcast
it’s times like this that he wishes
he was not famous
but just average

Copyright 2010 By Veniece Wesson. All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

Damaged but Not Corrupt

You may have been
burnt
charred
severed
separated
dismembered
flattened
damaged
but you are not corrupt
I see that glimmer of hope in your eye
hiding behind the tears
the negative images that are in your mind
require you to spray them with spiritual mace
tell those memories of the past that plague your mind
those memories that haunt you & attempt to procure your existence
tell them, “You will no longer amputate my soul.”
then take your melodramatic tendencies & infuse them with passion
passion to live & not just exist
you may be damaged
but you are not corrupt
you are never too far gone that you cannot be repaired and restored

by Veniece Wesson - Copyright 2010