Poetry has raised me. When I was young,

it was spoon-fed to me, always read to me;

waking and shaking me; making me think.

I Remember many years ago, I met Queen and the Unknown Poet and their Cosmic Motivation left me

with anticipation Watching The People,

hoping for change.  

I got more Wisdom when I heard Solomon speak.

The Morning After that meet;  I Stepped Up My Game

and I was renamed Purpose, so Nia is in the middle

of a Quiet Revolution.

While In the Spring of My Remembrance,

the Axiom proclaims, “God’s Calling”  So, I must

Write His Answer to help rid this world of the cancer

called Apathy as God raises me to be a voice within

commercial Babylon.  

I am lifted out of my comfort zone; lifted out of my normal-ness

to another place that I like best when I listen to the verbal architects I know. I let the words flow through me

like an electric current giving my positive and negative ions

their own moments of consciousness.

I harken to my mentor Thelma Shelton Robinson as she

leaves Lasting Impressions. Reminding me that

while we are raising children, we should be Watching

how they grow. I lend her my ear when she wants to tell

of the 30’s and 40’s, a time held dear; a time my mama and

grandmama knew well.

The Air I Breathe is Anointed as poignant words from Bill Holmes pour into the atmosphere. It is so clear that even on

my Strange Days, this poet knows the ways to make me

Sparkle when he speaks of Beauty even though he speaks

of she who is darker than me.

Poetry has phased me, dazed me, amazed me. It changed

how I see things and people that surround me. I sip a cup

of poetry and rearrange my views.

Then H.L. Paints Pictures with verbal brushes that give me rushes of reality and show me that a man can be sensitive

and still be a man. His words tell me that “If This Be”

how a man feels, then he is a deep soul.

I am set down in deep thought to consider what the world

has wrought and all the lessons I’ve been taught

when I plug into poetry. I run to Webster, Oxford and

anybody else’s dictionary so I don’t get hung up in a

trick-shun-ario making sure I know what Swayyah, the Lyricist

is conveying to me.

My Female Fire ignited In The Company of Poets who

had me excited while Repossessing Me as I affirmed

with a proud voice that I Am Africa.

When Sistah Fay declares that God is Hot, it’s not about heat.

It’s about a power and a love so pure that I know

God Loves Me For Sure.

I see Acey aka Taalam and there is a balm that washes over me.

I Come Back 4Ward  redirecting my approach to the Omega

of my Journey Into Life, saying farewell to strive in the

House of Praise and Thank(ing) God 187 Ways.

J Knivez likes to say that he’s Not Hot but maybe he forgot

just how profound he can be when he reveals that

Everything’s Real. Yet when he Had A Spark it electrified

my heart and the Power of God came through.

Poetry has raised me, made me mature, helped me endure.

So this Rose That Grew From Concrete is so sure

that Tupac Shakur understood that one should do good

when you are close to God.

When the Drum-Major for God speaks, I shiver but not

because of Ice. K.D. is so much the opposite of cold as

he utters bold syllables that make my Submission to

his poems undeniable and transport me Wherever so that I too, must take pen in hand.

Each time I see the ones who inspired me, I thank Dr. Nikki. Giovanni for who I’ve come to be and Abasi Malik for molding 

the poet in me. So, when all these poets speak to me; in person,

through a book or on CD, I know how and I know why

When I Write I can fly like a bird in the sky.

 (Note: The names of the poets are in Italics and the titles of their poems are in bold print.)