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Best Poems Written by Lala Deville

Below are the all-time best Lala Deville poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Lala Deville Poem

Don'T Call Me Strong Black Woman

Do not call me
strong Black woman for
it is not a compliment
It is a title given to us
boxed inside expectations that
weigh us down
We are not superheroes
yet we are branded with
an "S" on our chest
forced to steer clear of
the kryptonite called failure
Black women aren't
supposed to fall
We're expected to
stand tall
and during the whole time
of this masquerade ball
we wear a mask
colored with yes we cans
and I got this
all the while we are 
withering away in our own silence
We have no chance to 
prioritize the cruel 
balancing act 
song and dance and
one trick pony show we
must perform 
We are tired and filled to
capacity with fluids of frustration
but you'll never know it
because showing any
inkling of weakness
will paint a negative
picture for us 
and how dare we
make ourselves look bad
When was the last time
we could just be ourselves
without ridicule
and disgusted stares
because we don't look or 
act like like Becky with
the good hair
They label us strong
yet they want us to
be submissive
and if we're not
They deem us
unmarriageable
To them we're unrelatable
Lord forbid we set up
boundaries
then we are considered
undateable
So we're damned if we do
Damned if we don't
So on behalf of all
Black women I am here to say
it is NOT ok to be strong
However it's ok to fall apart
pick up the pieces and 
rebuild ourselves anew
So the next time
They call you strong 
Black woman
Let them know
Strong Black woman
is not a compliment
It's the hardest job that 
that we have and it is a
job that is slowly killing us all

Details | Lala Deville Poem

I Am Woman

I am dipped in burnt sage
smudged with black skin
Choctaw infused in my DNA
Creole seasoning the roux 
in my bloodline
I slow simmer
for I am daughter of
strong warrior
Too powerful to
give up
cause surrender is
an unfamiliar name
to my lineage
My hair kinks just right
Bones and muscles designed
to balance the
world on my back
I can birth a generation
and feed it plentiful
from the milk and honey
that flows from my breast
I smile warm sunshine
my ancestors bathed in
Old negro spirituals
vibrated from their vocal cords
as blood from fingertips
stained massa's cotton
I walk upright
with square shoulders
head held high to God
I've time traveled through 
lifetimes before me
My black is not for 
barter and trade
My woman is not to 
be negotiated
You can't experience 
my being without 
being in my experience
You take the sweet meat
and leave the rotten
Not knowing I turn rotten
into witches brew 
that strengthens 
my inheritance
the parts of me you
wish pain for
I'm not worried about
you robbing me of
my ethnicity 
You can desire to
be like this woman
but you could never be
woman enough as me
My black be God given
The elements of my woman
be everlasting
You thief in night real well
but what you know about
me and my kind
You can never represent
the meaning of Full lips
and wide hips
made for bearing 
breathing life when all
your lips and hips are good for
Is delivering white lies
3/8/2020

Details | Lala Deville Poem

Invisible

EXCUSE ME!!!!
Do you not see me
standing before you?
Do you not realize that I,
a black woman had a life
that mattered too?
The black woman appears to be
the best kept secret in death
being wiped from the face of the earth 
where many won’t remember
our names or know of our existence 
When black girls vanish
the only way anyone knows is 
through the newsfeed of social media 
when white girls vanish
the news media makes sure
the world is notified
while paying no attention
to the clues of plasma
footsteps we leave behind
Many ignore the crimson bleed 
of life that seeped
from the opening of the
slashed throat racism made 
leaving us to become
the mutilated corpse lying
on the ground society
relentlessly steps over
We’re viewed as a nothing gender 
Melanated race of women
often deemed as bothersome or angry 
The bellows of our spirits
are discombobulated
as we quickly become
shadows of unrecognized Queens
we are being killed in alarming masses
and all you can say is we must of had it coming
Black women are the givers of the 
black lives that are supposed to matter
still we are looked upon
as the doormat placed at
the bottom of the totem pole
you seem to enjoy wiping your feet on
When it comes to black men,
you are seen and heard,
be it good bad or indifferent
but how high must a black woman jump
 in order to be seen
how loud must a black woman shout
in order to be heard
Better yet 
how many black women need to
be annihilated before our lives
are mourned and celebrated
Brothers, are you willing to
stand up to protect us, even if it's
your fellow brother we need
to be protected from
Our life and death must not be in vain
So what will you do in order change it
Remember, 
black  women marched for you
don’t you think it's time you march for us?
We are forced into invisibility
like the remnants of
Sandra Bland’s disparity
that was swept under the rug
and lifeless body of Kanika Jenkins
they shoved into a refrigerated coffin
Nia Wilson’s memory they washed away
along with her blood that stained the platform
of a Bay Area Transit Station
or Breonna Taylor and Atatiana Jefferson's peace
they fatally laid to rest in the confines
of their own home
I will forever remember their names...will you??

Details | Lala Deville Poem

Reason

Who told you to love me
and all my flaws?
Who asked you to
penetrate the thick skin
that confined my cries and
who informed you to
let me know it was okay to breathe?
I’ve been scuff-marked
and drenched in a 
dystopia of pain
baptized in the burning hell
of mistreatment
then left to crawl and claw
my way out of a bucket
full of crabs that kept
pulling me back to where
I used to be and
back to the wounded bird
I once was

My ragged flesh was 
full of prickly thorns
I bled profusely over
everything around me
but then you found me
wrapped your arms around me
and gave me one of the
greatest things next to life itself
You gave me a reason
An unconditional reason
to just be
Be beautiful
Be fabulous
Be phenomenal
hell, be bold, courageous
and unapologetic
You gave me a reason
to smile at the reflection 
of myself that I was
once afraid to lay my eyes upon



Gave me a reason
to feel no guilt
anytime I began to 
believe in myself
You gave me a reason
not permission
to be the best woman
best poet and
best lover I could be
Reason came accompanied
with hope, joy, and smiles
More laughter than 
one soul could contain
and more love than
one heart could hold
That’s why I chose to
share it with you
So you can experience
what your reasons
have done for me
Your reasons gave me
motivation to do all the things
others told me I could not do
It was your reasons
that kept me from 
convincing myself
someone else out there
is much better than me
With every reason you provided
I repetitively saw your smile
because your happiness
is also a reflection
of my happiness and
that is the most remarkable thing
anyone could ever witness
I don’t know who it was
who told you to love me
and all my flaws
I don’t know who asked you
to penetrate the thick skin
that confined my cries
or informed you to 
let me know it was okay to breathe
but whomever it was
I’m glad they gave you a reason
to do that for me

Details | Lala Deville Poem

'rona

How dare you show up 
unannounced
Changing the way I live
my best life
Coming all up and thru here
confining me inside the prison
of my own insanity
I want to break from these walls
and defy everything they 
say about you 
Ignore the demands your presence
has forced me to follow
I curse the day you arrived because
all I can do from the wee hours of the night
to the early morning dawn is
lie in waiting as I make love to 
my own boredom 
with no one there to hold me 
except my own scared loneliness
For weeks I've waited
watch the clock tick tock in sync with
the palpitations of my heart
where my thoughts of your wrath 
create the rhythm my anxiety 
dances a jig to
I want to walk out in the sun
smell the aroma of life
and touch a dream 
but if I take that risk without 
protective armor 
I'll be kissed with your 
deadly nightmare
I attempt to find ways
to distract my resentment for you
as you adamantly  succeed at 
keeping me away from those 
I desperately need the most
I want to feel the thick of my 
man's laughter in my ear
See the smiles of my friends 
and family that are locked behind
the gates of masks and bandanas
This can't be life
A new normal you've
introduced to me
that has brought on way 
too much confusion
far too many lies and half truths
while slanging more conspiracy theories
than a drug dealer slangs dope
I'm afraid and shook while
my fears are quarantined from
my courage 
That "S" I have on my chest
is now susceptible to being 
contaminated with a scarlet letter 
from a pandemic alphabet
I don't know who I am anymore
I don't remember the last time
I remembered
I'm to busy anticipating trying 
to forget 
If I pray or wish you away
you'd still be here
proving that death becomes you
but I refuse to let you meet me at
the threshold to become the death of me
4-5-2020

Details | Lala Deville Poem

Who Saves the Hero

Who saves the hero when
the hero needs to be saved
Who’s the one that will
cape for him once he is
weak from caping for others 
weary from the lean of 
everyone else’s weight
Who’ll be savior
to this savior when he is
too tired to keep saving
No one wants to lead him
from his demise
No one to accompany him
in his corner
No one to understand that
super heroes also need to 
be rescued
reassured
Where are the shoulders
that will bear his weight
or will they continue to 
wait to rest on his
Nobody is willing to help
polish the “S” on his chest
when the armor of his 
spirit is dull
his shine no longer
a beacon of light
His tarnished soul
and bruised ego are
no one’s concern
but his own
Tell me
Who saves the hero
when the hero needs to be saved
 © 4/4/19

Details | Lala Deville Poem

Mr Magic

Manifestation of pain
inside walls of your gospel
Penned up truths that 
haunted your psyche but
you made the pen a weapon 
that prospered against all 
that troubled you
Troubled King with skeletons 
married poetry 
crowning her the help mate that
helped clean out the closet
The stories you tell your notebook
are more beneficial than any 
verse found in a Qu'ran
or Holy Bible
The sins you confess
the strength of your survival
are those that build bridges
leading the congregation to brotherhood
You created poetic peace and meeting place
for all to preach testimony
letting your brother know
that real mean do cry
Your honesty wrapped
in dialect is the potion
most men are afraid to ingest
but not you
you rode courage
like it were a galloping 
Trojan horse ready for war
Masculine Griot you are
because of the poetry
you pour from your soul
to fill you brother's cup
serving an adrenalated
voice for the man
who may be muted tragedy
afraid to speak and to
emerge from his dark place
Mr. Magic you help create the cure
for the next man's spiritual healing
Keep working your magic 
that breathes life through 
your spoken word 
©4-23-18

Details | Lala Deville Poem

She's a Dreamer

I wanna tell you a story about a little girl
A beautiful sweet little girl
who enjoys living in her 
own world of recluse 
hopscotching to the beat of 
her own drum
She's a dreamer and boy let me tell you
 her imagination loves to run wild
You may find her gazing at the stars
envisioning the birth of an
ORANGE MOON
while love RAINS DOWN 
Once gray skies dissipate
Heaven then opens up
as the GOLDEN LIGHT OF THE SUN
sticks to her skin  like HONEY MOLASSES 
She imagines taking A
LONG WALK to admire
the beauty growing 
from the branches of
an APPLE TREE
reminding her that she too
grew from her family roots 
to become  BEAUTIFULLY HUMAN
 She is CROWN ROYAL 
BLESSED to have witnessed God
line her journey with FOUR LEAF 
CLOVERS to impregnate her
with luck in the form of strength 
It empowers her to move mountains
and dismantle walls 20 FEET TALL
Fearing no DANGER
she marches ON AND ON 
like a SOLDIER pushing through
rivers of obstacles GETTING IN THE WAY 
of her purpose
The SPRING SUMMER FEELING
leaves her SO IN LOVE 
as she quietly confides in the flowers
by telling them
"the ancestors are WATCHING ME"
all while dancing to THE EARTH SONG
wearing  peace and
blessings on her feet
while basking in the
manifestation of gratuity
He mother nurtured her 
with food for thought
refilling her with infinite wisdom
She can hear her mother's gentle voice
telling her "GON' BABY, DON'T BE LONG
TIMES A WASTIN' and
be sure to pack light TODAY so you
don't hurt your back trying to 
reach your NEXT LIFETIME"
The sticky sweetness
of an EPIPHANY rest on her mind
She levitates amongst the clouds
to swing on a rainbow
She don't want nobody
next to her on this journey
but the good Lord
guiding her beyond the ROLLING HILLS 
and the valley low
holding her hand 
until reaching her destination
 to the woman she aspires to be
In her possession she has $3 and six dimes
a bag full of scribes
and a book filled with PENITENTIARY  PHILOSOPHY
written by Mumia Abu-Jamal
I am proud of this beautiful sweet little girl
who enjoys living in her 
own world of recluse 
hopscotching to the beat of 
her own drum
She's a dreamer and boy let me tell you
 her imagination loves to run wild
©5-11-2020

Details | Lala Deville Poem

Trauma

Trauma.....
Always there like a shadow 
looming and haunting
It be monster in closet
Be spook that sits by a door
It sticks.... 
thick and solid like tar and feather
A plague that becomes everlasting
Repetitive in one's heart
a knot in throat that has became
too hard to swallow

Trauma..... 
a disease infused inside a life
This life
a life filled will bittersweet
sadness and guilty happiness
accompanied with fake smiles
holding hands with depression
acting... as if everything is just fine
The load, too heavy to bear yet
too proud to ask for help to ease 
the weight of secret burdens
Generational curse placed up thee
Creeping in and out of remission 
from a graveyard of regret
It plays hide and seek with emotions
while bathing in the tears of 
a fool twice removed
Years of unresolved trauma 
woven into the fabric of childhood
where its remnants of adulthood have began to unravel

Trauma...
A plethora of cracked promises
a broken soul that has yet to be repaired
A toxin seeping from yesterday's past
being forced to inhale its
malignancy of anguish
Staining the cornerstone of drifting 
memory that merely fades
but... never fully washes away
© 8-20-2020

Details | Lala Deville Poem

Lineage

Never forsake the lineage in which we
originated from because
the ancestors are watching us
Their eyes are on the sparrow
anticipating us to soar into
our excellence 
Wash ourselves in their royalty
while remembering they were 
kings and queens long before
they became slaves and strange fruit
Society wants to wipe the slate clean of
our heritage by pruning the limbs
of our family trees 
waiting in the shadows for the
opportunity to kill it at the root
We cannot allow someone else's antidote
poison us with amnesia that may
cause us to forget the power 
of our inheritance
We are much stronger
than they care to know
We must use our pens to flex the 
muscle of our minds
Granting permission to build strength 
enabling us to balance the truth
on our shoulders
Lets stand our ground and never fold
claim our titles as griots
and let our stories be told
It's up to us to lose the fear  
Use the ink in our veins to 
to go against the grain of
the lies they expect us to swallow
and washed down with our pride
--LaLa
©4-3-2020