POETRY
nO mORE SmALLInG uP OF mE
By Jean Wilson
No more meekly saying ‘yes’
When my heart is screaming ‘no’
No more taming of my feelings
So my power won’t show
No more hiding my exuberance
From disapproving eyes
No more watering down myself
So my spirit won’t rise
No more ‘smalling up’ of me
Pretending I am not here
No more running from the music
And the spotlight’s glare
No more living in this prison
Barricaded by my fears
No more turning and retreating
In the face of new frontiers
Even as I am speaking
I am taking shape and form
Harnessing my powers
Like a gathering storm
There’s no obstacle so bold
As to dare stand in my way
I am taking back my life
And I am doing it today.
Jean Wilson's poem is both affirmation and offering. Lines such as, No more watering
down myself/So my spirit won’t rise give us permission to step out fully into strength
and possibility, holding nothing back, recognizing intuitively that we are a work of art
in process. Even as I am speaking/I am taking shape and form and that in itself, brings us
to hope and the powerful renewed energy that comes from deep self-discovery and
acceptance.
—Parthenia Hicks
Jean Wilson is a member of the Universal Centre of Truth for Better Living, Kingston,
Jamaica. She is a writer, journalist, workshop leader, and performance poet with a special
interest in inspirational creative expression. “No More Smalling Up of Me” is the title
poem of her book of poetry published by Ian Randle Publishers Ltd., Jamaica.
Parthenia M. Hicks, M. Div. is the Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, CA and Enlightenment Journal's
poetry editor. Her most recent publications include The Call: An Anthology of Women’s Writing and
Remembering: An Anthology of Poems.