dear carolynn
beautiful girl
haven't even begun
to make your way in this world
17 years young
and your mum's taken
the unpopular decision
to throw you a birthday barbecue
smack bang in the middle of your a-levels
and twenty two years later as you write this
you'll recognise in her a kindred rebel spirit
also
your uncle Jerome
just stuck his head around your bedroom door
and dangled a ginormous bag of weed
in front of you and your favourite four
and you're speechless but you love it
for the first time in your lifetime
you feel just a little bit cool
and you don't realise it yet
but that's a space you'll get used to
because you're on your way charles
- against all the odds you earned yourself a place
at salford university
200 miles from home and your mum
and your step dad and your mischievous uncle jerome
made it out of that wild childhood
survived days you never thought you could
and now all your dreams are about to come good
lover career home
children of your own
but first you'll walk down the street locking eyes with random guys
anxious not to let this thing called love pass you by
blissfully unaware that you've carried it within this whole time
for now you're finally emerging as *you*
and twenty two years later
you will be so fucking grateful
tgat you made the moves you had to
Hustling
long before 2017 made it cool
using what you have
doing what you can
starting where you are
no way no how you can see ahead this far
still to this day discovering
who you are:
so much more than you believe yourself to be
taller than those skinny legs
smarter than those doubts in your head
and I won't tell you to shut them down
they’re a part of you now
they keep you humble
feet on the ground
but I will say sit with them
hear them out
converse with your soul
and work that shit out
you have lifetimes ahead of you girl
each one a decade
but don’t you dare make a single change
for I would not have you any other way
every step you take leading you to me
the woman you were born to be:
Charlie x
:what charlie wrote: