Dear Penni,
do re-member
Who You Are!
Do not allow
the scorn and
insecurity
of others
diminish Your Light,
trigger self-doubt,
leaving you so stressed
the right side of your face
is trembling,
eyes lowered filling with tears,
posture folded in,
appetite lost,
feeling unappreciated
and misunderstood.
Do re-member
Who You Are!
Our world needs your
shine and smile.
There’s also
a husband
and children
to consider –
your priorities,
above all else –
most especially-
the work
you abhor
that elicits
such a degree
of distress
you can lo longer ignore.
Re-member
Who You Really are-
see You
through You.
education
The Beat of One’s Own Drums
to march to the beat of
One’s Own Drums,
to imitate no one,
to innovate
from a place of deep faith
and confidence-
such a mandate
is not for
the faint
in Heart.
it takes courage
to be free,
to be the You
that often only You can see,
to be unique, a bit of a mystique
in a world of followers and shamers.
we were made in God’s image,
reflections of The Divine, The Most High
one and onlys are we –
wonderfully crafted
for a specific purpose and time.
the sake of humanity pleads:
spread your considerable wings!
march to the beat of your very own drums!
no need to compete,
there is more than enough room
for everyone.
Artwork: Walking the Line, Edwin Lester @artistedlester
Change to Save
I will need to change my life
in order to save it.
This I am feeling to my very core.
Don’t know how much more
I can swallow.
I’m walkin’ on thin ice,
on troubled waters that are shallow.
Born an introvert, Quiet is the air I must breathe,
what sustains and maintains me.
Without adequate doses of silence,
I lose pieces,
become untethered,
cannot see a hopeful reality,
begin to question my existence
and that of all humanity.
Why all the noise –
the incessant chatter and mindless banter?
“Y’all gonna make me lose my mind
up in here, up in here.
Y’all gonna make me lose control
up in here, up in here.”
I will need to change my life
in order to save it.
Deprived of silence,
I feel my blood boiling,
heart racing,
hands tremblin’,
mind slipping.
I can taste that bitter, flimsy line
between love and hate;
that soft, raw space
where even the gentlest among us
can suddenly snap
and do things we can never take back.
The Devil isn’t over there-
No, it plays in us all
bidding we follow
and fall-
fall so hard and low,
we can barely stand up.
I will need to change my life,
re-claim it
in order to save it.
Exactly how to do so
overwhelms and scares –
the tide is seemingly so high.
Got to go deep inside,
to The Core
lean only on that which is Truth and pure.
An Untold Story
buried deep
inside,
a part of self
wishing only
to hide,
preferring to
“live”
a lie.
how to see
it
let alone speak
it–
that,
which altered
a Life.
innocence
forever lost,
a new trajectory
is now forced.
but not
without
a heavy cost.
one can only run
from The Truth
but so far
before it
festers and scars.
An untold story
will travel from life to life,
causing all matters
of angst and strife
until it is
revealed,
brought
finally
to the Light.
The Long Arm of Slavery
Molecular memory,
this may inform
the long arm of slavery.
The past
reaching relentlessly
into the future.
Those who were once deemed “master”
carry the seeds of feeling superior-
better than those they enslaved:
the men shackled and emasculated;
the women relegated to nannies and maids,
their dark bodies laid open
to cavalierly invade.
Trauma being made
on and in both sides;
a slow
imperceptible
suicide.
When will we finally realize…
Waking from a Deep Sleep
I am
waking
from a deep sleep,
wondering
Where am I?
What is it
I had to eat?
How did I get here
to these beliefs?
I rub my eyes
as I try
to make sense
of what has become complete nonsense.
I hear the ancestors cry;
they ask why?
Why are you and your kin moving back?
Do you not realize this is a slap
in the face
to those who were brave?
Don’t allow our sacrifice and pain
to have been made in utter vain-
wasted blood, sweat, and tears
over the course of hundreds of dark years!
Wake up from your deep sleep,
the antecedents weep.
It is now your turn to learn
that freedom ain’t free;
it is your sacred responsibility
to the past, present and future
family.
#MoreLove
More Love
this is what the world
needs more of.
More time spent together
remembering we are
keepers of each other.
We’re all made of the same stuff,
crafted from sanctified dust;
unique yet the same,
OneLove with different names.
In you, I see my divinity;
In me, you see your humanity.
We are but mere mirrors –
brothers, sisters.
We must re-member
What We Really Are,
never from our Light
shall we stray too far.
More Love
that is what our world
craves more of-
give It,
receive It,
preach It,
commit
to
Love.
Make It your religion,
your only reason for being.
America
“O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me. And yet I swear this oath-America will be!” Langston Hughes
My country
strives to be
a sweet Land of Liberty,
a Crown of Beauty,
from sea to shining sea-
an example
a beacon
to other countries
and peoples
to witness
the possibility
of beloved community
amidst vast diversity,
of justice
amidst adversity,
of kindness
in the midst of such plenty.
America,
this grand, young experiment
in democracy-
governance
of
for
by
We, The People.
Still struggling with its meaning,
back and forth, we go;
to and fro,
from the high
to the very low.
Another birthday,
America
tentatively celebrates,
expressing gratitude
for what is good.
While also cultivating
a firm commitment
to manifesting
for all
that which is
honorable,
innocent,
hopeful
within the
imperfect,
complex,
uncomfortable
experiment
that gave birth to a nation
of immigrants.
Some Where Deep Within
Don’t-
yet-
know my true histories:
African
Haitian
American.
Thus, this iteration of Life
is a bit of a mystery
to me.
Not certain where I am going
‘cause I know not where I’ve been.
Still,
plates are shifting
somewhere deep within,
resulting in a tsunami without.
Mighty waves
ripping at my skin-
shredding
shedding.
Left naked and raw,
drenched in the miraculous,
I am
re-created
to some other form:
a new being steeped in grace
and a deep peace
born of the confidence
in its Divine Service.
A clarity in vision
that bears a great conviction;
A fire-
this time-
on the inside
that one cannot hide,
nor its mission be denied.
“Do you know what you are? You are a manuscript of a divine letter. You are a mirror reflecting a noble face. This universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you are already that.” ― Jalaluddin Rumi
Cup Runneth Over
Drenched in gratitude,
humbled by immense Grace,
overwhelmed with benevolence,
truly I tell you:
my cup runneth over!
This softened heart
is about to burst
at the Love demonstrated
by this magnificent Universe!
It just keeps coming-
these perceived blessings-
a torrential downpour.
How much more
can a Soul possibly endure?
I cannot seem to give
as much
at the pace
in which I receive!
Bon Dieu, a moment to breath,
to take it all in please,
to be still and know,
and from there
to make the noise
of unadulterated joy!
My cup runneth over,
vision shifts:
there is no mere
coincidence.
No accident
is this largesse.
To whom much is given,
where Life has been very kind
even more is arisen
within that human mind:
how best to demonstrate gratitude?
how to cultivate the fortitude
to sustain faith
when the same cup
is filled only
with empty space?
burgeoninc 