Nayo Jones is a spoken word poet and musician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a queer black woman, making her intersecting identities a focal point in her work. In her powerful poem “Healing”,  she acknowledges that she is not looking for anyone to facilitate her healing for her but simply wants her lover’s support while she finds self-love. She shares her journey to trying to find self-love and her experience with depression and suicide. 

Excerpt from the poem:

TRIGGER WARNING: This spoken words poem contains content about suicide. 

“I had a therapist tell me once, it was ironic how much love I gave out, ’cause I didn’t give much to myself.
She laughed, like self-love was a sick joke.
I chuckled, then cried at home.
I had someone tell me once, I could not love anyone else until I learn to love myself.
This time, I got to laugh.
This time, the sick joke was mine, was me.
Might as well wait forever.
I remember hating myself at the age of seven, journals filled to the brim with criticisms.
By eight, I had enough pages to stitch them into wings to fly close enough to the sun, to see my tears turn to steam, felt the wax burn on my shoulders and mold into thick skin.”

You can listen to Nayo Jones’ poem here:

Image Credits:
Feature Image: Ales Maze, On Unsplash, Creative Commons