Refusal

I refuse to be bound by social expectations of me or the lack thereof
I refuse to block or lock up what the Lord has given me to let out
My voice!
That certainly will not be silenced simply because Simon said so
Not striving solely to be satirical
But to poetically and emphatically express my necessity to be heard
Because I have wonderful whimsical word to the wise

I refuse to be minimized
Allowing myself to be perpetually bastardized
I refuse to be whatever negativity "they" assign to me
Calling me bougie because I have an education
Choosing to have intellectual conversation with proper enunciation
I refuse to accept the labels: hoe, classless, ratchet, ghetto
When you don't know who I am, or what I know!
I refuse to be just one more sorrowful statistic
I refuse to accept how I am derogatorily depicted
Just another: "angry black woman" wrongly painted as sadistic
Merely because I refuse to be used, abused, and deduced
Or muttered by society's metaphorical noose

I refuse to waste my time. I refuse to lose my mind,
Or cast my pearls before swine
I refuse to be what you choose for me!
Yes indeed I will succeed, sow seed, and watch it come to fruition
For I know my purpose and my mission
This is what I will do for this is what I choose
Anything less well. I simply refuse!