Black Girls' Hearts in a poem (paperback) by Shanta I. Duck

Dedicated to all girls and women, regardless of ethnic origin, who have been in anyway abused or have lost their spirit for whatever reason.

Black girls’ hearts beat with the burden of a dark and heavy stone of doubt and despair that lies within us which creates chaos and wreak havoc within our spiritual souls. It causes us to fall short of our own emotional expectations. We are taught that the heart is a vessel for love and is a place where love radiates. But, in some instances that light can grow dim and we sometimes can get lost in the despair and darkness which cast a shadow over our spirit.

Black Girls’ Hearts in a Poem is a paradox of that light and dark which black girls so often experience. We allow ourselves to fall into the deepest depth of defeatism. The darkness can make us neglect and damage our children. Such as illustrated in the poems “A Mother’s Loss” and “Crying Out.” We can let this darkness allow others to abuse our temples and our minds. This darkness can cause us to hurt others because we ourselves hurt inside. This is representative in the poem “Another Individual’s Death Song.”

But when we let the light shine through and we let God take our hand we will become beacons of love for all but especially for ourselves. We will take our children into our bosom and protect them from all who wish to do them harm, as seen in the poem “Determined.” In the poem “Little Black Girl” we see a young woman having the courage to take her life into her own hands and make things better for herself without relying on anyone but God and her own spirituality.

For our spirituality and knowledge of ourselves will evaporate the darkness and allow us to see inside our hearts and see all the love that is waiting to set us free from that dark and heavy stone of doubt and despair.

Let this be the path that leads us to be better black girls and ultimately better human beings.