Joy in the Brushstrokes
Last week, someone asked me what I do for a living. I braced myself and said, “I write for a consulting firm.” I sensed their stilted reaction and backpedaled. “I’m just glad I get paid to write.” They cleared their throat. “I knew someone with a 9 to 5 once.” He knew...
Busyness
Busyness is my drug of choice and it is why I don’t ask for help. Busyness is a trustworthy way to numb out. Busyness is a trustworthy way to create the illusion of being productive, chasing the social capital of achievement, of future accomplishments bringing...
Depression
Depression, you’ve got meI’m here but I’m not Go to work, pay the billsCare for the kids, clean the houseExcept when alone, slovenlyClothes on the floorDishes strewn on countersShoes blocking walkwaysNetflix for hoursI should go outsideI should exerciseI should go to...
Acknowledging Racial Trauma
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This is a first telling of my story.
This is a first telling of my story. Nine images and two poems. When combined sequentially they illustrate the "big picture" while each individual file offers a specific slice of life. My voice was stolen from me as a child and at 50 I am finally learning how to...
FILLING THE HOLE
It was 2004. I was incarcerated in Wisconsin’s Dane County Jail. I had forged checks on the account of my seventy-year-old friend, Miss Milele Chikasa Anana, one of the most prominent, renowned, highly respected members of the African American community, Madison,...
We Will Let Our Light Shine Wherever We Are
As I sit here again, being the only person of color in the room, I tell myself WE are allowed here. WE are going to let our light shine wherever WE are. My critical parent showed up to tell us our lines aren't straight. And WE say... of course they aren't; we are...
Mother Earth
I love listening to her heart beat,"Beat, beat""Beat", "beat"In my mother's wombFirst split,Second split,Ingesting her painFourth split,Eighth split A world full of possibilitiesI was chosen for herShe for ISixteenth split, thirty second split In my mother's womb, I...
I Will Not
I will not self-abandon.I will not lend my worth.I will not dance for you, but for me.I know peace is the answer. I will not succumb to oppression. I will not bow down to the white male. I will not forget my purpose on Earth. I will not be defined...
Palace of Mirrors
This song represents a time of darkness just before the dawn of my ACA recovery journey. Its meaning and feel have changed and grown from when I first wrote and recorded it. Over the nearly four years of my time in ACA, I have come back to it and listened with greater...