you best protect ya neck

i feel like i'm surrounded by too many dope-ass women who don't recognize their status as dope ass women.

Never Offer Your Heart to Someone Who Eats Hearts
by Alice Walker

Never offer your heart
to someone who eats hearts
who find heartmeat
delicious
but not rare
who sucks the juices
drop by drop
and bloody-chinned
grins
like a God.
Never offer your heart
to a heart gravy lover.
Your stewed, overseasoned
heart consumed
he will sop up your grief
with bread
and send it shuttling
from side to side
in his mouth
like bubblegum.
If you find yourself
in love
with a person
who eats hearts
these things
you must do.
Freeze your heart
immediately,
Let him—next time
he examines your chest—
find your heart cold
flinty and unappetizing.
Refrain from kissing
lest he in revenge
dampen the spark
in your soul.
Now,
sail away to Africa
where holy women
await you
on the shore—
long having practiced the art
of replacing hearts
with God and Song

i posted this because it's one of my favorite poems. it helps me get my shit back on track. pushes me out of love with someone who is not hurt by hurting me. keeps me from worshipping someone who is pre-occupied worshipping their own greatness. self-love is necessary. priorities are admirable, sexy. but you gotta know for yourself where you're ranked. and when you know, you gotta decide if you're high enough. no? take back your admiration and with it your pride cuz nothing is worse in my mind than someone giving the control button leading to their state of being (happy, sad, proud) to someone who recognizes and abuses their power. they know they can rock your boat, and when they aren't feelin' right with themselves, their gonna need to look down on you and you're still giving them the power to push you just as low as they need you to be. it's really all about self-preservation. not a brick wall, cuz brick walls may keep trouble away, but they keep sunshine away too. there has to be a certain amount of openess to self-preservation. allow life to happen. allow people to come close, but when you stop feeling good acknowledge the change and take control. that's it for now.