Transcript:
Everyone tells me, don't be afraid to take up space.
They do not see how much of me already fills the room.
First, their idea of me walked in before I did.
Said, "She should be loud,
She should carry the conversation for us."
Said, "Black girls be a token I can cash out,
"be the black friend I can reference when she's not around."
My anxiety is always on my left.
She thinks faster than I speak.
My doubt, she's on my right.
She'll take a compliment to chew on and spit back up.
My morning, afternoon, and midnight depression
form a line in front of me, hold hands,
like the saddest game of red rover
any time someone comes too close.
My fear is composed of three of me.
Me number one had to convince us to come up here.
Me number two had to convince us to write this.
Me number three told one and two I'd fail in every line.
There goes the extrovert who wants everyone to love me
by the first handshake.
I see the introvert
who wants to go home when she walks off the stage.
My ego, okay, my ego's actually eight Megan Thee Stallions
twerking in the back like "Bitch, you the shit."
But my self esteem is Tina Belcher from "Bob's Burgers"
like "But what if you're not?"
They tell me to take up space.
They do not see that I am more than they could ever fathom.
And what is God if not three of themselves in one?
Am I not made in their image?
If I learned anything from the Trinity,
it's that godliness is having multitudes in oneself,
each one capable, each one worthy of praise
and lovers of all of us.
No one sees how long it took to love all of me.
How I fill a room without having to enter.
How my name has its own gravitational pull.
They tell me take up space.
They do not see that I am a planet.
That I contain a universe in all five five of me.
I am space.
I can't take nor have it taken from me.
Black girl be down to earth,
black girl be gravity,
black girl don't mind making space for other people.
Be lucky I share it with you.
I didn't have to do that.
I didn't have to do that.
Instead of telling me what to take,
tell me thank you instead.