Allegedly

by Tiffany D. Jackson

Hard to celebrate the day you were born when everybody seems to wish you were never born at all.

A stringy black wig attached to a faded yellow pole.

Figures of speech are luxuries convicted murderers are not allowed to have.

Peter 5:8. It reads, ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.’”

just makes me wonder if my daddy is white. Whenever I tried to ask about him, Momma would act like I was crazy

“Listen to me, ’ere, chile, don’t ever let anyone stop yuh from bettering yourself. Yuh scared of people knowing, yuh scared of change? Good. Change is scary. Get used to it! But nothing comes from nothing.”

“What does it mean when you love and hate someone at the same time?” I ask. He laughs. “It means they family.”

I thought I made her happy. But I guess children don’t really fill the loneliness in your heart.

“Yuh know, when people rush tings they make more mistakes, see? Haste makes waste!

Let nothing keep yuh from your dreams.”

When people feel insecure, they create a grand self-image in an attempt to compensate for what is lacking internally. They present this façade to the world in order to hide the emptiness they feel, thus falling in love with the idea of themselves. But, if you threaten their self-image—threaten to expose the thing they love most, themselves—they will react, often in a hostile manner.

I’m fire, trapped in ice, ready to turn into wildfire and burn everything down around me.

everyone is evil in their own way I guess.

“What yuh may or may not’ve done is not di definition of who yuh really are.”