My son completed his Rites of Passage process on July 21, 2020 on his 13th birthday. During his process he was to learn and internalize the principles of Kwanzaa, a cultural tradition we celebrate and observe as a family. He met with members of his community to discuss and learn how they apply the principles…
i don’t want to be your ‘strong’ black friend
strength a burden black women have worn since they were stolen, trafficked, and sold as enslaved laborers.
pain in my ass, stone in my heart, love of my life…daddy
Grief has a way of swallowing you up at the most inconvenient times. I choose to write until I can breath again.
aretha, verb.
…you brought that everythingness…
detroit church girl
detroit church girl, she made this world bow she is my mama my auntie Mizz Hattie down the street she worked her ass off and when you needed her she stopped and picked you up detroit church girl we renamed Queen she gave us ourselves in big lights and ball gowns told us to stop…
john 1:1
… she who gave me the words that crafted this story…
how do you bury god?
She created me. You see.
She created me. Writing me on paper between cardboard covers. She made me real.
reconciliation
when my belly was flat i did not love my body more foe than friend she endured my judgment with very little backlash i pushed her too hard complained too frequently told her repeatedly she was not good enough for me when my belly was flat i did not love my body starving then gorging…
extraordinary measures on ordinary days
most women are superheroes. that’s not an overestimation. in fact when it comes to their children, to their families, most women take extraordinary measures on ordinary days.
grief, also rises
death doesn’t play fair and it’s sister, grief, is treacherous as well. they can arrive on the most ordinary day and twist your world in very unordinary ways. my father use to tell me that death is nothing but a circle. and if i were to looked at it i would see it as a continuation not an end. my father was also a poet. he didn’t have any words for grief other than to say, ‘it’s a mutha phucka.’ which is the greatest truth he ever imparted.
fearfree living 