Break Free

*Poem written collaboratively as apart of a creative writing class I taught, for women who have been rescued out of the sex trafficking industry, I wont post information due to the sensitivity of each girls case, and for privacy purposes*

Walking into the unknown
Fear, Confusion
Standing at a distance I feel alone

"You've been where I've been?
You understand my hurts?
I want this change!"

Hoping the end will make this step worth it
"I can be me!"
After so long.

So many years of being told
I'm worthless, nothing
I am able.

Wake up calls
Hearing stories, discovering myself
I slowly begin to trust

We give eachother a hand
They tell me I am worthy
I am strong
I am able

I feel secure

I look in the mirror
My past comes back in a flash
Everything I was

Then comes my Joy to remind
What I have accomplished
The journey I'm on

They love me
They gave me a choice
Gave me dignity

I am able to break free
I can break free
I have broken free

Arisen Spoken word poem

I stood at the base of the blood filled cross

And the tears just ran down my face

As a dark figure stood hovering over the place my loving savior died

And this dark figure It seemed as though it were laughing

A deep growling sort of laugh

A from the pit of your stomach, rising in your throat

You should be afraid sort of laugh!

And as I looked at it at it at me

In its depths was everything I didn’t want to be

It held Emptiness and chaos

Delusions and Illusions and Disillusion, and Intrusion, and Mental Confusion!!

I felt hopeless

Nothing could stop this shadow of death

As my Jesus laid in a grave

Leaving my future in this things hands

I felt betrayed

The shadow came closer, and wrapped me in its cloud showing me my future

I saw, my every imperfection like an infection hardening my heart

So creating a protection, from every verbal rejection, I learned redirection, So I could not make a connection with truth

I saw the bruises on my face, which I tried to erase, but learned to embrace, because they would replace, despite my disgrace, the love I wanted to feel.

I saw that I was a mistake, and so Each night I lie awake , wishing to forsake, the life that I fake to join death…..

So as I kneeled there, my head buried in my hands I wept. My heart felt heavy, as this shadow began to laugh

Its laugh ringing in my ears so loud

I couldn’t think as my tears ran down

Death could not win

And so between my sobs I started to pray

A calming presence filled the space

And my doubts began to slip away

A firm hand placed itself on my shoulders

I looked up, and death was afraid

Because to my side Jesus was up from the grave

With a scars in his hands, and love in his eyes

Nobody could disguise the fact that Jesus did arise!

And I clung to him!

Death fled, and my God embraced me

I felt his pierced hands and I felt his injured side

And looking into his eyes

He told me he loved me.

He said, he knew every mistake I would make, and he chose to cover it in his blood.

He said, He knew my every weakness, My strengths, my imperfections, my flaws, He knew my hopes, dreams, thoughts, he knew my very depths, and He wanted it all!!

I was worth it.

We were worth it.

YOU are worth it.

So you see.

SIN LOST ITS POWER THAT DAY

DEATH LOST ITS STING

MY GOD IS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE

AND HE STANDS VICTORIOUSLY!

So arise church!

Do not let death overcome you!

Look up at the empty cross

And know We have hope

Our sins have been forgiven
As far as the east is from the west

Our Christ took them on himself

The grave is empty

And now we can pass the test

HES ALIVE

HES ALIVE

HES ALIVE!!!

Crucify Him Poem

Crucify Him!

Crucify Him!

Crucify Him!

Crucify Him!

Father forgive them they know not what they do

Came the cry from the king, the sign said king of the Jew

Mockery and hate arose from the crowd

Jeers and cries spoken out loud

The crowd that followed him and once loved him dear

Now yelled altogether “Crucify Him” in unified cheer

The guards gave no care as to who this man was

Beating him, prodding him, mocking, gave them an adrenaline buzz

Gambling his clothes off, for all man to see

With the weight of the world Christ clung naked on the tree

“You could make the lame walk and bring the dead to life

Prove you are king remove yourself from this strife.”

The guards continued to laugh, spat, and in his face loudly cursed

Claiming, of the three criminals, Jesus was the worst

His bodily flesh torn open revealing his bone

Pain filled his eyes where love once clearly shone

Blood dripped from his head and pooled at his feet

But this Jesus loved too much to let sin defeat

Taking on sin as his own, the father turned away

And for the first time Jesus, stood a lone that day

“Father, Father! Why have you left me?”

None understood this was the only way we could be free

Clouds covered the sky, as the crowd settled down

Jesus whispered his final audible sound

“It is finished……”

SEX TRAFFICKING POEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmykL9SFlDw

Spoken Word I wrote and performed.

Trafficking Spoken Word

As my big girl heels hit the cracked up pavement just outside my door

I lean against the railing look up at the bright stars against the dark sky for a moment

Wondering if there is a God up there who actually cares.

Breathing in so deep, I say a short prayer to no one really

That this would be my last night standing in the street

Turning away I suck in my last hit

Tug on my small skirt, and curl up my lip, in a forced smile

Watching the distance, and all the demeaning stares

From mothers, and fathers, and the children they are teaching to be disgusted by me

But what they don’t know,

What they DON’T know

When I was a child

I used to dream, big dreams

I wanted to be a doctor so I could fix the broken people

But now as I lay down each night on my cold bed

The patient to some other person’s sick role-play

I internally scream at God “WHY ME?!?!”

I didn’t choose my life

I was packed up, drugged up, and thrown on a ship

Forced against a mattress, with chains above my head

Given so much crack cocaine and heroin that my very foundation of being became a search for my next meeting to make money so I could get my next high.

They took EVERYTHING that I had

Smuggling me in for this trade

I was Beaten bartered and Broken until now I obey!

So don’t judge me

You’ve never had to live this kind of life!

I fight so hard to keep up my tough exterior

To make people feel inferior

The way I felt when I was crying myself to sleep each night

Hidden away in a basement with a dozen others

Flying so high on our new found love that we couldn’t formulate our physical escape

Instead we finally succumbed to the drugs

Hopeless to ever taste freedom, we were numbed

Given no choice but to work their world

Selling our dignity on the corner to anyone willing to take a piece.

Mentally dismantled, brainwashed, and reassembled

To believe that I was worthless

A piece of property up for rent

With no rights of my own

Mentally dismantled, brainwashed, and reassembled

To believe that I was worthless

A piece of property up for rent

With no rights of my own

I used to dream in color, but now, at night

When the lights go out and I’m left to my own mind

The tears pour down my cheek

And my nightmare continues

I dream in black and blue, and dark shadows too,

I WANT to dream of freedom

I WANT to believe I’ll get out

But I don’t have enough faith.

It was left in a crate three years ago, when I believed someone would find me, and take me away.

But Prince charming never comes.

My white horse is still in a stable

And the sun never seems to rise on my gray-scaled eyes

Searching the horizon for some point to this world

Some reason to keep opening my curtains each morning

So, I turn away from their insulting eyes

My heels clicking down the streets

I ignore the degrading stares looking me up and down

And hope that the next person will be so kind

As to actually mean it when he tells me I’m beautiful

And then Just maybe, I’ll find hope again, and the will to get away from my bondage trade.