Prosody
Shea Formanes
Girls Write Now Mentee Laila Stevens' video project featured in the Ctrl + B: The Girls Write Now 2019 Multimedia Anthology.
Two sides of the black storm is about what black people feel but never want to say.
There was once a man who stumbled upon a set of flowers in a kingdom of power and prosperity. Filled with jealousy and rage, he pulled them from their land in order to make his land more beautiful. Thinking the flowers only held the purpose of adding beauty to the land he owned, he then threw them in the ocean hoping they would drown and be left for dead. But the man always needed the flowers, so, every time, the flowers would grow back despite the abundance of water—he takes them only when he needs, because at the end of the day he only uses us for his own convenience and greed.
Flooded, Flooded
We don’t drown
Here you listen when I make a sound
But let me show you
What I really mean, with the mask on—
Now hear my scream
An ode to one of the most illuminating, most inspirational and boldest things in my life.
I feel like I can conquer the world
Like I have the power of the fates
The power to weave destiny
My infinity gauntlets
Ten mini masterpieces
A small big bang,
A manicure.
Adorning the dead cells that grow from my fingertips,
Nails.
Amplifying my every gesture,
My scribbles are a dance featuring my fingers, pen and paper,
Drawings are grand ceremonies
Typing, bright paint and glitter flash as my fingers stomp out
the flamenco on my keyboard
A skip in my step, dancing to my own rhythm.
That is what my manicure is to me.