#kitchentablelit

[kitchentablelit]

We celebrating SIX YEARS of walking in our mission and building community! . . . Mark your calendars. We 'bout to blow up y'alls IG. . . . #birthday #birthdayturnup #igtv #kitchentablelit #literaryarts #celebration #wereadhere #wewritehere #creativewriting #blackabundance #blackwomenartists #blackwomenpoets #blackwomenwriters #WOCWriters #communityservice #community https://www.instagram.com/p/CEKHZokgVE8/?igshid=1wqmk74kik7jd

[blacklesbianarchives]

#rp @kitchentablelitarts We got FREE Summer Writing Classes!! YES, I said FREE!! Kitchen Table Lit Arts Free Online classes open to Black Women and Women of Color writers!! Registration is already open, so get on it! (Seats are limited) https://www.kitchen-table.org/registration.html Lets go to work writers! . . .  #creativewriting #onlineclasses #freeclasses #blackwomenwriters #WOCwriters #writersofinstagram #writing #literaryarts #wewritehere #investinyou #kitchentablelit #CWS #fillingneeds #LadiesofKT https://www.instagram.com/p/CBTvjmSl84W/?igshid=3b6g6fo4fj8s

[slamanderson-blog]

CAN I HOLD YOUR EARS

I didn’t claim this to be more than what it is.

You place this name on me.

Told me I was entitled to more than what I wanted.

Yes, I called myself a Poet

but I never said this was my career. Never wanted to take from those who earned it, those who need these words to live because I breathe with or without you, I just have fun doing you.

Does that make me a bad person?

I didn’t try to make this more than what it was, I just didn’t stop you from taking things to the next level

does that mean I led you on?

This is not even a part of me.It is a piece of a part but I guess it is my fault. This is all I showed you. Can’t blame you for not seeing. For thinking something is wrong. For making you my obligation, my responsibility, my duty, and ignoring everything else. When everything else is bigger to me than this but you’re my safety net. So here I am, back on a stage,in the spotlight, in front of the mic. Here is the only place they will listen.

“CAN I HOLD YOUR EARS...”

Can someone take mine?

He warned me about this in the beginning. Every game has its cheaters and every garden has its snakes, and the fact is you can move faster when you don’t have legs, plus you don’t get tired as quick. Snakes shed their skin. But see you’re just mad that you can’t do what a snake can. Never point out a snake when you see it, you just can’t see how cute it is, maybe you’re the snake.

Maybe I am.

Maybe I could be if it weren’t for obligations. Maybe I could cheat, but I don’t care about winning. Put me in charge of the lights,make me the curtain puller or the custom designer, and give me the smallest font in the credits.

Don’t count on me

because I won’t I let you down. Don’t count on me because I will do everything I can to come through for you and I am tired of coming through for you so please stop counting on me, because I won’t quit if you need me so stop needing me.

So I can stop.

So I can do what my heart wants me to do. Stop wanting more because I will give it to you. Just give me a chance to show you what else I can do because this, this is nothing but it means something to you, so I continue. But I am hurting, I am losing inside, I am rotting, but you can’t see it because I didn’t show you. So I don’t blame you, I just don’t know how to tell you.

My love isn’t gone, just not as strong. My love is still here, just not the same, and I care too much just to leave. Just to walk away.

With you I feel safe, not happy,just safe.

I mean what harm do you cause? I am inspiring, I am encouraging, I am helping, doing exactly what I want to do; right? So why leave. Why let go when there is so much to be done. But why hold on when there are so many others to do it.

Who am I?

What makes me special?

Is it me who needs you?

People hate saying“GOODBYE” because it sounds too permanent. See you later implies a future. But you’re only a piece of my future. I want you in my future. I want you in my present but I can’t give you all of me. So I am trying not to take all of you.You can call it a game. Playing with emotions. Maybe I just want some attention. But attention from you has never been my problem. You are always there. I don’t deserve you.

How.

I used to ask how.

How do you fall out of love?

It doesn’t happen instantly,

It happens over time;

You just don’t realize it until it is completely gone,

You notice it,

When it first starts to happen you can feel it slightly;

It feels like un-sureness,

it makes you feel skeptical,

then uneasy,

then frustrated,

then angry.

Then it leaves or so you think it leaves. For a moment you’re better. You say it was a sign that you need to push more or give more because it hurt. That moment when you thought you were falling out.

It hurts.

You didn’t like it, so you say it is the Universe trying to show you what will happen if you don’t give more to it.

To your love.

But that’s a lie. It’s fading. You’re falling, slowly falling, and when it is finally gone, when you finally realize what is happening, you will get scared and eager. Worried and ready. Lost and complete.Because you know this is what you want, you just didn’t think it would happen like this. You will get scared and anxious. Because this ending means the real journey is about to begin but then you will get sad.

Think about the ones who counted on your love,

the ones who saw hope in your relationship.

Hold on longer for them. Fake a smile for them. Write for them. Perform for them. Fall quietly for them. You will start to hate them. But how can you blame them?

That’s how you fall out of love. Slowly and usually when everything is going right.

Slowly…

It fades…

Slowly…

You fade.

It’s not distance.

Your closer than before.

It’s not distance.

I haven't out grown you. It’s not you,it’s not me, nature just has taken its course. This wasn't suppose to be my forever but you knew that. You held on because I held on and I held on because you held on, and neither one of us wanted to be a quitter. What sane person leaves a love as pure and unconditional as yours? What sane person walks away from an unbiased and understanding love like yours? But you showed me I was never sane and that's a good thing, so I am not acting out of character.

I didn’t mean to make this more than what it was. It happens. I fell in love and now I am falling out. But I can’t just leave. I can’t just stop. I can’t just walk away but I also can’t stay.

One more.

One more for the past.

One more for the present.

One more.

One more.

No Goodbyes. I will always love you! You will always feel safe to me.

Here.

One this stage.

In this spotlight.

In front of this mic.

“CAN I HOLD YOUR EARS”

See you later!

By Slam Anderson

[kitchentablelit]

Our July get-down for #CommunityConversations! . . . #kitchentablelit #bookclubsofinstagram #read #wereadhere #virtual #YearofInternationalVoices #yearofintlvoices #WOCWriters #blackwomenwriters #community https://www.instagram.com/p/CCBk_O3AaMI/?igshid=1li0iymvfgj99

[kitchentablelit]

For #GivingTuesdayNow we're raising funds to offer FREE online classes for Black women and women of color writers and poets. . . . Please give what you can. Link in bio! . . . #creativewriting #onlineclasses #wewritehere #blackwomenpoets #blackwomenwriters #pocwriters #WOCWriters #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #kitchentablelit #givingtuesday #givingtuesdaynow2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/B_z9kwJA1xF/?igshid=14qr8e134zhwi

[kitchentablelit]

"ignorance is bliss, it's the know that's foolish/she need not know how you prayed yourself to wings" t'ai freedom ford is a gift to us all. #blackwomenpoets #blackwomenwriters #poetry #poetrymonth #buypoetry #readpoetry #booksonbooksonbooks #books #bookstagram #poetsofinstagram #poets #booklovers #booklover #readharder #readmore #kitchentablelit #wereadhere #wewritehere https://www.instagram.com/p/B_nCbAxAfEp/?igshid=1id7h2q9pslr3

[kitchentablelit]

"How I felt your presence/each day I blossomed/my body perfect for the first time/round where I had been flat/wide where I had been narrow./I thought I would burst with your fullness." - JP Howard "Say/Mirror" is a collection of poems and histories. So, so good. . . . #blackwomenpoets #blackwomenwriters #poetry #poetrymonth #buypoetry #readpoetry #booksonbooksonbooks #books #bookstagram #poetsofinstagram #poets #booklovers #booklover #readharder #readmore #kitchentablelit #wereadhere #wewritehere https://www.instagram.com/p/B_nCxxVAKCI/?igshid=1d0rw7iehm2y0

[kitchentablelit]

"She would have looked like: A wound beginning to close. What she could have done:. " From "The Five Stages of Drowning," which is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful poems ever written. . . . "Baby of the mistaken hue, child of the wrong nose/with it's measure unleashed, baby of the nappy knot, I am your mother." From "Baby of the Mistaken Hue" . . . Moral of the story? Patricia Smith forevah! ✨ . . . #blackwomenpoets #blackwomenwriters #poetsofinstagram #poetrymonth #poetry #buypoetry #readpoetry #booksonbooksonbooks #bookstagram #kitchentablelit #wereadhere #wewritehere #read https://www.instagram.com/p/B_nBEgcgpUS/?igshid=1xl9m97l57eda

[kitchentablelit]

We had a great time at Tate's Comics and Toy Store in Boynton Beach last week! . . . It was the perfect way to cap our Literary Arts x Visual Arts Book Club with the Spady Museum! . . . #bookclubsofinstagram #books #literaryarts #visualarts #blackhistorymonth #blackcomicbooks #blackgraphicnovels #florida #spady #community #kitchentablelit #bookclubs #read #readharder #readmore (at Boynton Beach, Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/B81dQuRA30d/?igshid=6eihwc1wznnu

[kitchentablelit]

#tbt To our last #Getaway! Outreach director Slam Anderson giving us that beaming smile... Somebody's in their happy place: Writing. . . . Join us for our upcoming Getaway: a Weekend for Writing in March! Link in bio! . . . #blackhistorymonth #blackwomenwriters #getaway #beachesandbooks #kitchentablelit #community #writersofinstagram #blackwriters #WOCWriters #womenwriters #writingretreat #writingcommunity #florida https://www.instagram.com/p/B8hZTgWAEVP/?igshid=6ofp855q5ifc

[kitchentablelit]

We are proud to present our Limited Edition Kitchen Table Literary Arts 2020 Calendar... the new theme? . . . . . . Playwrights! Each month features one of our favorite Black women and women of color playwrights. Their work is urgent and necessary, and if you don't know, now you know! . . . The proceeds from the calendars help support our operating and programming needs for 2020. *Link in bio* . . . #preorder #blackwomenwriters #WOCwriters #literaryarts #playwrights #theater #wewritehere #womenwriters #community #kitchentablelit #blackfriday #shopsmall #fundraising #nonprofit #calendars #calendars2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/B5c6VjDg71i/?igshid=688k8c85g9xp

[kitchentablelit]

Thankful for an excellent year of reading and Community Conversations through our #YearofMemoirs! . . . Dig the link in the bio for a reflection on the year, work from our amazing discussion leaders, and a chance to support our 2020 #YearofInternationalVoices . . . #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #bookonbooksonbooks #read #literaryarts #kitchentablelit #readers #amreading #community #wewritehere #bluesageboutique #yearof #womenwriters #blackwomenwriters #WOCwriters https://www.instagram.com/p/B6vlfyqAJ_v/?igshid=v1v1d48tkn8j

[kitchentablelit]

Thankful. . . . #literaryarts #community #kitchentablelit #blackwomenwriters #bookstagram #read #readmore #wewritehere #YearofMemoirs #bluesage #makingcommunity #roxanegay #hunger (at Blue Sage Eco Boutique) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6YTfbMAyI8/?igshid=tm96kzqbifsg

[kitchentablelit]

Gonna miss this back porch! . . . #literaryarts #community #kitchentablelit #blackwomenwriters #bookstagram #read #readmore #wewritehere #YearofMemoirs #bluesage #makingcommunity #roxanegay #hunger https://www.instagram.com/p/B6YTGe2AMWi/?igshid=1jfckm7ewu3ty

[kitchentablelit]

Nikotras, our guest conversation leader, posed thoughtful, challenging questions for a dynamic discussion. . . . #literaryarts #community #kitchentablelit #blackwomenwriters #bookstagram #read #readmore #wewritehere #YearofMemoirs #bluesage #makingcommunity #roxanegay #hunger (at Blue Sage Eco Boutique) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6YSFJwg4-Z/?igshid=lwp6t3z62as7

[kitchentablelit]

Our last #YearofMemoirs at Blue Sage Eco Boutique. . . . #literaryarts #community #kitchentablelit #blackwomenwriters #bookstagram #read #readmore #wewritehere #YearofMemoirs #bluesage #makingcommunity #roxanegay #hunger https://www.instagram.com/p/B6YRoJDAMoi/?igshid=z200xnvxxm6x