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This is a poem I wrote about the internal struggles with identity as a black American woman who travels and has no ties to Africa. The poem explores the intense feelings I have towards America but recognizes that I don't know who I am outside of this place. It's about moving through this world in a confused state but being hopeful that I'll find pieces of myself where ever I travel.

Happy National Poetry Month! #VocalNPM

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I traveled 3,000 miles from a place called home

just to realize that ain't what it's supposed to be

but what a sad dichotomy

to be half way across the world and still not know who you are

it's an empty feeling to constantly yearn for a place you've never been

but that lives within you

it's in the reach of my arms

the span of my hips

the stride of my steps

the curl of my lips

to be a representative of a place that treats you as disposable

but that continues to save you over and over again

America ain't sh** without black people

but I don't know who I am without America

People always ask me where I'm from

But I'm trying to find peace with the silence and shoulder shrugs to come

as I find pieces of myself in every corner of the world

- Bri Ari

(Second stanza is borrowed from Maya Angelou).