HEALING - By: Agum Manuella Okello Elizabeth

Healing isn't loud

It doesn't come dressed in gold and glitter

It comes like rain on cracked earth

soft, steady and patient

I started peeling off the layers they wrapped me in

the layers that whispered

"You're too dark. Too coarse. Too loud"

I started speaking to myself

like a mother speaks to her newborn.

Gently.

I started touching my hair and not apologizing

for its wildness.

I started looking at my name and saying it like a prayer

Agum. Lucky. Savior.

You see, healing is not about revenge.

It’s about restoration.

I am restoring everything they told me to abandon.

My tongue tastes like motherland when I speak my name now.

My hair rises like a flag of victory.

My skin glows like an uncolonized sunrise.

To heal, I had to return.

Return to the stories of my ancestors.

Return to the language they buried in classrooms.

Return to the songs my grandmother hummed under her breath

when English wasn’t looking.

And now—

I reclaim what they tried to erase.

I reclaim my reflection in the mirror.

I reclaim every inch of this melanin they told me to hide.

I reclaim my name in full,

every vowel soaked in heritage.

Because identity is not a trend.

It’s a legacy.

And today,

I choose to wear mine boldly.

My identity is not negotiable. It is mine, uncolonized, undefeated, and undeniable.

Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.

I'm a dark skinned black female, who has been segregated through my whole life, was never liked or loved by the majority, people recommended creams and stuff to make me lighter, but as I grew I've come to realize I can't pluck out my roots. I can't let go of an identity that my ancestors built for me. I can't through away what makes me.

Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.

It wasn't really hard to write this considering I've come to terms with myself, although I had so much self reflection to do just to write this and similar poems of the sort

Why did you choose to write this poem?

I want people like me to know they're not alone, that they cant let go of their roots or kill what they have been built on.

Do you have any tips or anything to share with the youth writers who may be reading this?

It is okay to feel a certain way about yourself, never let people control you though, your emotions your looks your feelings never