In honor of World Poetry Day, we’re honored to share with you the poem, “Challenge Me,” written poetically by Theodore Mosley. We find it fitting to publish “Challenge Me” in honor of Women’s History Month and feature a photo of a woman who creatively and uniquely challenges herself artistically through movement. In the photograph taken by Ashley Walker, Fatima Robinson; a legend in her own right; has worked her choreography moves with some of the most iconic stars– Pharrell Williams, Gwen Stefani, Usher and Prince, as wells as choreographed the 2007 and 2009 Academy Awards, making her the second African American woman in history to do so (Debbie Allen was the first).
Enjoy!
I am a fabric that stands without seams, on the mind of others as I take my stand.
Holding forth the armor of life, I bestow a crown of wisdom to my offspring for matters to come.
My mind flows through the cathedral of sphinx, with the ability to shatter dimensions.
Challenge me, as I walk this life into existence, without holding my weapon of choice in learning.
My curves airlifted time and the sound of my walk begins to emerge the sophistication of my being.
Conspiring to bring the intellectual affairs of women, my eyes capture the brilliance of diamonds.
Seen as the silence in the night, my voice raptures education with a mind of inescapable passions of art.
You told me as a woman of color, I could not achieve my dreams, as a woman, I achieved your dreams.
Challenge me, for tomorrow I will bring you the River Euphrates to dance inspirations of hidden times.
Armed with the warfare of dignity and determination, my purpose of being is solidified with my soul.
Born to pain, my affliction carries me to unreachable mountains of despair with whispers of dreams.
I climbed the destruction that was laid before me, as the wings of motherhood transformed me.
Challenge me, for the throne of aspirations, challenge me for the natural abilities nature has wrought for me.
No longer embracing the shallow minds of my captors, I find calculated distance on my journey of love.
The woman that I am intimidates the weakness of your mind to punish me with deceptions of anarchy.
My poetry of movement escapes the mind of your incarceration, as the night sings to the moon.
Wrapped in passions of love my naïve touches brought flames of considerations to hold me in darkness.
Challenge me, when the storms explode and my water subsides, challenge me when my tears are one.
The furtherance of life bestows wisdom in times of infraction that filters me with cruel intentions.
You have abandoned me for docile creativity without ever learning the ways of life in your own creativity.
I stand alone on shoulders, shouldered with the surrounding love of yesteryear.
Challenge me, for the asteroid of life, for a beacon of now, for the crimes of the heart.
My being craves as a woman who took flight and became the Phoenix to sisterhood to enriched minds.
Flames of life I endured, only to cause an inferno in the satellite of time to purchase my solace.
My sister is my anchor, my sister is my revelation, my sister is my spirit and my sister is my history.
Challenge me into the night, as the lava of my muse prolongs the heat my story unfolds in my sanctuary.
I really like this picture! I hope that you’ll share more ideas with us in the future. It would be cool if you’ll add something.