A Change Had To Come

Moving: Jernee Timid Loadholt is standing in the middle of it all while I pack up and stack boxes. Photo Credit: Tremaine L. Loadholt

I had grown complacent; my time
to change and maneuver into a new
space almost eluded me.
Somehow, I found the strength
to push through fear and allow
excitement to take over.

When you’ve spent five years
in one space, you’re going to do
one of three things: remain in that
space with no intention to move,
move away from that space to find
another that will be much better, or
do something more to that space
in order for it to continue to feel
like home.

I decided it was time to move.
We’d given The Powers That Be enough
chances to right their wrongs of
our conditions and I won’t stand
for it any longer.
I prayed. I stood steadfast on my word.
I watched God work.

And now, I move.

I am fervent action in motion risking
it all for the betterment of my mind,
heart, body, and soul.
And in tow, is my senior dog who
is curious about the things
shifting in real-time before her eyes.

We are downsizing from two bedrooms
and two baths to one bedroom and
one and one-half bath — one never knows
the amount of junk one has until it
is all showing its teeth at you
while you pack it up and
put it in out-of-reach spots. . .

Cautious not to get bitten during
the process.

I am tired — no, an understatement; I am
exhausted. My body aches in places
I did not know
aches could exist, and there is still
more to do.
But I am ready.

The most important part of this
experience is that I recognize if
I opt to stay here for another year,
more pieces of me will deteriorate
into nothingness, and I intend to
keep this year easier on the ME
I am becoming instead of harder.

I claim fewer struggles.
I claim happier moments.
I claim peaceful rest.
I claim growth.
I claim pure love.

And it all starts here
and now with a change
so subtle yet overpowering,
my soul knows its power.


Originally published in soliloque via Medium.

The moving day is Thursday, August 24, 2023. I’d forgotten how much of a major task it is to move and I am being reminded of it every single day. I am attempting to see the joys of it as well as the higher possibility of sheer happiness from it, too. Thank you for reading.

Dedicated To You

Musical Selection: Drake|How About Now

A free verse audio poem

Photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash
Dedicated To You by Tremaine L. Loadholt

I have never been the type
to brag, so I won’t start now,
but I am okay.
No, really. I am the happiest
I have been, and it took pain,
death, grief, and moving
through your lookalikes to
know that I deserve this happiness.

People are telling me it
looks good on me, I wear it
well.
My smile still brightens up the room.
What did you used to call me?
“Sweet beauty,” wasn’t that it?
Because you said I was
“beautiful” and “sweet”, and it
used to be a dangerous combination.

And it still is.

But I know how to use
these tools now… without you.
I know how to enjoy the little
things now… without you.

I wonder what you tell the
kids about me — who I’ve now
become since we ain’t
mingling around in the same
waters.
Will they embrace me if they
see me in public or would
they shun me and keep
it moving.

A friend of mine told me a few
weeks back, “It’s going to be
the constant thoughts about the
children that’s going to do you in.”

And she is right.

Because when you’ve poured so much
of yourself and your love
into the children of someone
you love — someone you dreamt
would pick up and settle with
you — healing takes longer.

I love hard, so I hurt harder.
And I used to carry the hurt
on the tip of my tongue, 
and these days, I let my pain
splash the hurt over papyrus
and my fingers type the hurt
out via keys.
I ain’t singing no blues.
I got joy deep down in my
heart, instead.

And it’s because of you.
It’s because of getting over
you, and that’s a blessing.
You gave me a gift I did not
know I needed.
And now that it is here,
watch how quickly it blossoms — if you can 
from where you are,
on your high horse.

I wish you well.
I always have.
I always will.
 — Don’t think you have
ever wanted me well, though.
And if you did, I was too
blind to see it.


©2019, The Universal Music Group, Drake: How About Now

Originally published in A Cornered Gurl via Medium.