July 2019 – A Cornered Gurl

Lack of Sugar

07/29/201907/29/2019trE

Musical Selection: Annie Lennox|Walking on Broken Glass

An Experiment

**Simple Pleasures|Photo Credit: Tremaine L. Loadholt**

cover me in your scented breath,
mythical creature, deem me worthy.

my heart is a cave. land-dwellers are welcome,
there is room for burying one’s soul.

deep in the belly of its darkness, find your imperfections,
find your excuses and fears.

here, in this fading fantasy, let me lure you.
the kettle will hiss, the tea will steep.

I will show you how easy it is to love . . .
isn’t that what you came here for?

to love me, then leave?

cover me in your scented breath,
mythical creature, deem me worthy.

make me bitter.

Zuva

Zuva is one of our newest contributors to A Cornered Gurl and she comes to the publication with strength, power, brutal honesty, and “black excellence” in her bones. I love reading this young one and she decided to answer the “Young Minds of Medium Inspiration Call” with the following piece entitled: The Making of a Government Manifesto–Erasure Piece. At nearly twenty-three years old, Zuva is already making waves with her work and if you are in her way, you will be moved. And now, for her poem as our featured work for the week:

**Photo by** **Rosemary Ketchum** **from** **Pexels**

The Making of a Government Manifesto–Erasure Piece.

Immigrants are “stealing your jobs” but really it’s machines

A homeless man asks me for change, the world is contactless now

Education is free when it protects and promotes government agenda

Does the voice of oppressors get silenced or do they learn how to whisper and

pass secret notes?

men are taught to hate feminists when we want to help them too. Nothing changes

Obesity is a money-making industry,

that’s why salads ain’t cheap

They’re crippling our NHS to privatisation

This is how it’s meant to be

Trump is to cause divide

And illustrate your rights still don’t matter

People are gunned down for being people

Children are shot then and called victims

*It is very easy to look at the world and just see the negative. But when you look again you can find and create hope.

Originally published in A Cornered Gurl via Medium.

Scintillating Saturday Share #16

07/27/201907/26/2019trE

Every Saturday, I will share a photo that touches my heart, makes me happy, or lifts my spirits in some way. The purpose? To send love, light, peace, and kindness out into the ether. Scintillating Saturdays: one definition of the word scintillating is as follows: witty; brilliantly clever.”

Can we do that here, beautiful people, spark something brilliantly clever that touches others every Saturday? Please share this to all of your social media outlets. We can do what we can by spreading a little love, can’t we?

**Wooden sculpture: Tribal Medical Campus/Anchorage, Alaska**

Using up to 7 words, tell me what this photo sparks in you. Here’s mine:

stunning artwork–
a bold presence

Now, it’s your turn. This’ll be our “Scintillating Saturday Share #16.” You can respond to this post, reblog and respond, or create a standalone post of your own, but please ping or tag this post so that I’ll know to read and respond to yours.

Using up to 7 words, tell me what this photo sparks in you.

Care to get creative with me for this scintillating Saturday share?

Sights and Scenes and a Nonet

07/25/201907/25/2019trE

Today is my last full day in Anchorage, Alaska. I have a red eye flight into Phoenix early Friday morning around 12:45 am or so. Trust that I will have napped and be prepared with a full belly before taking on this flight. I am supposed to be back in Charlotte by 3:47 pm. I do not want to leave but in life, “all good things must come to an end.”

Yesterday, we went to see Rocketman and I cried like someone was stepping on my pinky toe while I was wearing stilettos. We also went to an inviting chicken spot called Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers and I had the four-count chicken finger basket with fries and coleslaw and it was delicious! Tuesday, we toured Downton Anchorage and had birthday lunch for my beautiful friend at Simon & Seafort’s. I had their fish and chips lunch special and I could have licked the plate. (Shh, don’t tell anyone that!)

Last night, we were hosted at my friend’s friend’s home where we had fresh Alaskan salmon, straight-from-her-garden kale, brown rice, and homemade birthday brownies. There are so many things to do and sights to see here and even if I stayed another week, I wouldn’t be able to accomplish seeing everything. I am pretty sure exploring the whole of Anchorage would take nearly a lifetime. And now, for the pictures:

Downtown Anchorage Condominium Building #1

Downtown Anchorage Condominium Building #2

Water fountain next door to Simon & Seafort’s

Fish and chips special at Simon & Seafort’s

Powerful statement hanging above the registers at Raising Cane’s

Line them up: trees near my friend’s home.

Too big to eat cinnamon rolls at the sweets shop in Girdwood, Alaska.

Runaway sweet tooth: too big to eat cinnamon rolls and even bigger cookies

Traveling Shoes

please, load the memories up for me
make me feel like I’ve been somewhere
and have done something useful
exploration is key
we have unlocked doors
and walked through them
whole, unscathed
present
now