Poetry by Wendy Appenteng Daniels

CAGED BEAUTY

(I see) beauty that refuses to unravel itself.
(I see) beauty who dares not to reveal itself.
Mine is beauty that offends, mine is beauty
that scares, so why announce myself?

I learnt the hard way that by shielding
myself,
I learnt the hard way that by negating
myself,
I was no more: I became a caged beauty:
present and unnoticed.
Alive, yet hidden: I am a caged beauty.

WHEN ‘I USED TO’ IS THE PRESENT

I used to see people’s struggle
From a distance
Until that same struggle
Came knocking at my door.
I used to see silence and solitude as hallmarks of maturity
Until solitude and silence invaded my whole being:
Abruptly and unannounced.
Now I dare not to say that I used to…
I have eclipsed that thought,
Lest past and present coincide.

Bio
Writing is what allows Wendy to give a quasi- orderly appearance to her thoughts.
She adores how it aids the rawness of one’s thoughts, and allows the privilege that oral speech
sometimes denies: the bliss of editing oneself without appearing inadequate.
She was born and raised in Verona, Italy to Ghanaian parents and now lives in London.