HeyJaredTry Again, Friend
Your pocketful of sister-cousin pep talks to carry you through the messy, magnificent days.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Aug 28, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 13, 2026
Latest issues
What Happens When You Keep Showing Up (opens the original)
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It was 2022, and somewhere along the way I decided I was going to write a poem a day for an entire year. I just wanted to see what would happen if I showed up for my writing in a way that I never had before.Some days the poems were good. Some days they were absolutely not. Some days I had something I desperately wanted to say, and other days I was staring at a blank page wondering what in the world I was supposed to write about! Have you been there?? But I wrote.And somewhere in those 365 days,
No One Corrects the Version of You That Benefits Them (opens the original)
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There isn’t a Pilates class I’ve been to that hasn’t made me cry. Some say it’s the trauma of the hips. Some say it’s the pain. I say it’s because I’m a poet and I’m listening in between the instructions. One day, I was doing some crazy move where I had my legs in the air, my spine in a C-curve, held on by the graces of my abs and a reformer band in my left hand. Sounds confusing? It was. I’m doing my thing, or so I thought, and my instructor comes over to tell me that I am overexerting myself.
"Soft" is a cuss word for Black Women from South Central, LA (opens the original)
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Aye, you soft.Ole’ soft ass.Softie.Sensitive.Soft.Growing up in South Central, being called soft was a diss. It’s one of the worst things to be called. Better to be a b*tch than a softie. A softie is someone you can run over. A softie has no boundaries, no backbone. You could jump a softie and barely break a nail. A softie doesn’t speak up. A softie may have friends but chances are, they are soft, too.You soft. Man up. Toughen up. Don’t be so s
A butterfly never apologizes for her time in the cocoon (opens the original)
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I’m sorry I’m just getting back to your text. I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I’m sorry I didn’t call you back right away. I’m sorry I missed the group hang out. I’m sorry I couldn’t make the [really important event]. I’m sorry I was busy melting. I’m sorry I wasn’t readily accessible when you needed me because I needed to take care of myself for a while. I’m sorry… We all reach seasons where life demands
I Don't Want to Sacrifice Anymore (opens the original)
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In April of this year, I was offered a paid opportunity to read a poem for a church’s Good Friday event. The church is Episcopal and I had never attended that type of service. And everything about that event changed my mind on what I ever thought sacrifice meant.When I arrived, I was given the breakdown of how the service would go. Each artist would listen out for a bell, go to the stage, perform their art, and sit down. Another bell would ring, signifying the end of that performance. Then, anot
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