First awf
It was that mercilessly cold Asgard wind
Holding Odin’s vast Norse Lands hostage
Spitefully penetrating skin and bone
To lay down roots in the core of a man
The kind of cold that no self-respecting black person
Should ever find themselves in
And now Oya’s transforming winds have dragged her ass
Across the four corners of the Sahara
Finally landing her in its vast wasteland – East off the Nile

Right now angry – gritty winds have
Scorched her throat like parched earth
And sistuh gurl might as well add delirium to Pisstosscity
Cause she could swear on her grand-mama that Hatshepsut
Just waltzed past her – imperious and regal in her gait
Greeting her with a with a deep head bow
A sign of respect for the fearless warrior daughter of Oya
Marked for greatness
She knows that Hardliner will tread more arid wastelands
Climb verdantly steep mountains
Navigate treacherous waters governed by Poseidon
Whose sole mission will be to jack up her flow
Just to test her spiritual mettle
Her stare – steely – like that of a jungle cat
Tells Hardliner a lot about the Grand High Queen
And makes a mental note to remind herself
Never to step up to that kinda badass

A sudden sandy brush up brings her back to reality
Oya’s winds are jacked up in the Sahara
She aint known for her gentleness
But that change Goddess could go a little easy on a sista
With her uprooting of mistruths and upheaval of
Behavioural patterns
Her gritty winds gon skin her alive by the time
She leaves this hell hole

“And still you resist” her Irates counter drily

Hardliner rolls her eyes heavenward
Yeh – she knows she is a slave to resistance
A call as ancient within her as the colossal pyramids
Consuming her landscape – dotting her horizon
The erosion process has been slow though
And Hardliner falls back on her old wiring system
When challenged by adversity
Or when issued with commands

Run nigga – run!

And dem Irates are good at issuing commands

“And you excel at disobeying them”

Because your shit is unreasonable most of the time

Hardliner closes her eyes and waits
For their designer knock awf to land indiscriminately
The moment “because” took root in her mind
She should have rebuked it
But her Irates have a way of inspiring sass to thrive inside
Her head and live vivaciously outta her mouth

“Hardliner try rewiring – many old houses lose their
Life to fire if the wiring is jacked up” their unperturbed
Tone catches her a wee off guard

“Leave your misdemeanor shit back in the old school days
You are creating a fierce wind to fan a fire that has
Suddenly started by your house slave”

Hardliner admits in her misdemeanor halcyon days
She would have burned down her house
Before she took direction – willingly from the Irates
Resistance was her safety net
Her defense against change
But she is fighting a worthy opponent now
Oya aint never lost a fight – battle or war

“So basically you are fighting yourself Boo
And losing rather badly”
The smirk in their tone invites some rachet ass mess
Outta her mouth that could put the Queen of ratchet to shame
A foul smell is tainting the air
Hardliner knows it very well
Dang – can’t be!
She finds her zen spot and sits in it for a while
Clarity unveils the culprit causing all her inner discord
Her foul stench of arrogance more than anything
Gives her away – Ego

“And here you were thinking that she was gone for good”

Yall exorcised the biatch
One can’t get more permanent than that

“Hardliner” and they take an ethereal pause –
Deeply breathing into their words of wisdom
Cause that chile is working nerves she don’t
And will never acquire the balls to play with
“Even for exorcisms – one has to live right
To keep more demons at bay
There aint no one time fix it deal when it comes
To spiritual enlightenment
It is continuous hard work
You need to constantly keep Ego in check
Cause she will use any and everything at her disposal
To pull a jihad in your dome
This time she used your inner slave
And by the way –
Hiding your house slave in one of your many secret places
With the hopes to di-nigafy her
Aint worth a pimple on a pig’s ass
But only a waste of valuable time and energy
Set her free Boo –
You keep rescinding her freedom papers – at her behest
She does not know better but you do
She will resist your revolution against mediocrity and fear
Like the house nigga she is
She is no good to you right now
Give her back her freedom papers”

Hardliner stands back watching the flames crackle and pop
Fanned by the desert winds as they gut her house
It looks miniscule next to Hatsheput’s digs

“Gurl are you gonna snap out of your reverie
And snuff out that fire
Right now it is dancing up a Bedouin fiesta”

Change is so scary
She knows she gats to acquiesce to the process
But…

“Aint no buts about nothin’
If you don’t acquiesce to a new way of being
By letting go of your old – destructive patterns of behavior
You will live an empty life
In other words Boo – your ass gon be homeless”

Hardliner exhales with resolve
She knows she let herself slide
And Ego wasted no time in taking charge
Employing her house slave
She begins to draft her freedom papers with haste
Hardliner knows that the first step is to surrender
Then to forgive herself for allowing her fears take over her life
Allowing Ego a free reign of petulancy and discord
And basically not trusting the Great I Am
To carry her through
But she has been angry for so long

“And this anger has started to eat you up Boo
Your resistance to surrender and peace
Kills the positive energy around you
Sucks your light and paralyses your spiritual progress
You can face Oya’s transforming winds Hardliner
You can survive your truth
How can you claim badass without being tested?”

There aint no holiday from self-awareness
It requires big gurl panties twenny-four-seven
It is a way of being
She gets it
But for now she don’t have to like it
This desert spiritual promotion is bereft of the Valhalla buzz
This one right here looks and smells like real hard labour
And Hardliner knows herself
Most of her breakthroughs gon be birthed without an epidural
The steely eyed High Queen is always watching
Hatshepsut is a scary chick

“She is scary because she represents what
You know is inside you mama
She is scary because you are destined
To become that badass super nova
Who can no longer remain outside
The realm of your reality
Hatsheput is forcing you to claim your badass
And embody it
It is natural to be scared
Because it is one thing to dream and another to live it
But remember you are not alone
You are the beloved daughter of the Great I Am
Acquiesce Hardliner”

Hardliner’s bonfire has died
Leaving a trail of smoke heavenwards in its wake
How come with her thangs always have to be so hard
Like the beat down of her resistance to a pulp
Dayum near burned her house down
Thank Gawd she freed that house nigga
So she gon hafta rebuild and rewire her digs
But at least she is present in her life
With a newfound resolution to stand up in her power
Rather than to resist it
And to do that she needs to build an authentic relationship
With the warrior daughter of Oya Hatsheput acknowledged
Dang – sista gurl is growing up
Aint that a marvel to see

“Boo – you are just meeting the real you
And you aint seen nothin’ yet”