Sometimes I forget how special I am,
not because I hardly hear them say you are beautiful or I love the way you talk, or even the way they look at me as if I was some supernatural being, but the way they do and say all of these things together at once.

Sometimes I forget how my first name became Troglodyte, not because it was given to me by my parents or by my siblings or even by my grandparents, but by the society I live in.

Sometimes I forget how happy I use to be, not because I don't eat well, or have a roof over my head or watch my favorite show, but because that's all I do.

sometimes I forget how to be a young black woman.