Gold dust for my soul
Gold dust for my soul
You are creators! says Sandra
You are writers! says Sonia
You are full and complete, you are amazing, you are beautiful as you are
These words, like gold dust for my soul!
The voices of empowerment, freedom, liberation
You are larger than life Sandra and Sonia
Power! Like gold dust for my soul
Your enthusiasm and giving abounds
Your passion and purpose, contagious, life-giving
Like gold dust for my soul
Your words are inspiring, thought-provoking
Collected over years of wisdom and struggle
You cultivate meaning in what I had deemed meaningless
You throw light into the darkness I had locked away
Through the zoom screen every Wednesday
I see reflections of me, if only fleeting
I see the possibility of a window to my soul
Possibilities, passion and giving
Through your gift of writing and receiving
You Sandra and Sonia have been like gold dust for my soul!
You brought meaning to Patois, Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi
All of which are parts of our history
You realise we’re in danger of becoming the Literati!
Write! You say. Write!
However it comes to you
Use first person or third
Use metaphors or similes
Use whatever you can but write!
You are indeed the epitome of liberation
Like gold dust for my soul!
By Dipika Hindocha
Hello,
I would like to submit this poem for the poetry competition celebrating Black Female voices.
To provide some context, at first I thought about writing about some of the great black female voices we all know of, through their fame, their endeavours and their causes. There are so many; Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Michelle Obama, Tina Turner…the list goes on. And all of these women I have read about and or followed and learned and been inspired by.
However, I realised that actually there are female black voices and role models who have impressed me much closer to home.
During the pandemic, I, by chance joined a project called ‘Create Together’ to help me stay connected while in isolation, and keep my mind well.
I came across two amazing women, Sandra and Sonia who introduced me to creative writing. I had never in a million years ever thought I could write anything, let alone poems and short stories.
It has now become something that has enabled me to find my voice, where I had none. Every week Sandra and Sonia’s words of empowerment and wholehearted teaching, allowed me to start feeling that my voice, as a South Asian woman in her 50’s, mattered and my story mattered.
For this I am eternally grateful. After all, to me, a strong black woman, is one who not only has empowered herself, but then also goes on to empower others.
So in the theme of Strong Black Women, I would like to dedicate this poem to Sandra and Sonia, who gave me the gift of listening to and valuing my own voice.
Kind regardsDipika Hindocha