CHRIST, rhymes, & Life

The fall did not break me nor did the days where solace remained absent     but heavy was the alone that tested my resolve. Nights where I was left to catch myself taught me     to be proud of this spine not because it is strong     but because it stood     in the face of the shadow of doubt that sought to unsettle this being. No longer do I wait to be saved;                                                  I know no one is coming.    I’ve interrogated my heroes enough                   to no longer marvel   ...

One -  You are a mirror of the divine Crown of creation Resemblance of royalty inside your DNA You are a child of the King I can see him in your eyes Two -  Stars sit and gaze at you Study the constellation of your being Signs of wonder all through your chemistry A compelling complexity They envy your radiance In awe of how you can make them seem so dim Three -  You are handcrafted with immaculate precision Formed with perfect symmetry God’s autograph on your soul as proof 1 in 7.6 billion You bring to this world what nobody else does There is no one alive who is youer than you And trust me, God don’t make no mistakes Four -  You are beautiful And you should know that Cause they'll try to tell you otherwise Try to frame beauty in a way that is impossible to fit Five -  When they try to commodify you Reduce you to a piece of meat Or treat you like a cup of coffee Like let me get it dark.. You know what, add some cream And lig...

So one time I tried to leave this place Alright, maybe twice.. Three times.. Four Whatever.. I thought I had some good ideas for my life But each time, God said stay I think He may be a little smarter than me I think.. I’m done trying to run I’m learning to embrace where I am This.. this is me yo, right here Don’t get it twisted, I ain’t settling I’m just retiring the idea that “there” is better I often find it fascinating How quick we are to praise the birds Praise wind, we praise flight Yet forget to praise the trees Who stand resisting the reign of time See I pray that I could grow roots deep enough To have branches that stretch through these streets Palms open, ready to tend to this garden of possibility To help dreams grow wings and Be here long enough to see my seeds bear fruit I’m planting my feet here, ten toes down On the grounds that raised me The soil that was the genesis for my becoming Where my heart realizes itself In the families God made out of...

We woke with tears falling from our heart’s eyes like question marks Yesterday’s nightmare hangs over today Like a cloud suffocating our joy We try to find spring in each other’s eyes But instead I see iris full of burden Heavy, as one who inherited war Most days we are tired of raising fist We are exhausted from arguing We pray Wondering if last night’s prayers went straight to voicemail Maybe we were fools For thinking a resolution would show up at the door We’ve spent years waiting for a whisper of hope At this point we’ve lost count of how many times we’ve been through this But the sting is still potent as ever Still pierces deeper into this soul Threatening to break my faith like wave on sandcastle I know no remedy for all the unslept nights For the fear that comes knowing control is an illusion No idea how to wield this alchemy of anger and lament How do we find healing when Our fragility is constantly being tested? Last night we sat at the edge of our san...

To many, what I admit in this might be a surprise and even seem a little crazy. I feel weird trying to add to the conversation on such a popular topic and as I write this I'm still hesitant to do so, afraid to join the pile of cringeworthy contributions. But with as much as I've read and heard on singleness, I can't remember too many that discuss the experience from a male perspective. Maybe that's why I felt so compelled to write this, because I feel like my experience is somewhat unique. So here it is.. I'm 25 now and for just about 99% of my life I've been single. I use to take pride in never having a girlfriend and wore my singleness like a badge of honor. The only dating relationship I've been in failed miserably (my fault) and it was quite the learning experience. Outside of that I've really only been on one date, depending on definition. Still never had my first kiss. Honestly, my mind has often entertained the thought and possibility of being ...

Warning: All this is based on background information from the comics and other stuff so if you feel like this spoils parts of the movie for you.. not sorry. I mean.. the obvious reason is that I'm a nerd and a huge Marvel fan. Infinity War is going to be nuts. But this right here.. Black Panther is special. Historic. And it is situated in such an important time. In  Civil War , T'Challa demanded the spotlight every moment he was on the screen. Now for him to have his own stand-alone film.. my, my, my. And Kendrick with that soundtrack got me even more hyped! I've been heavily anticipating this for so long and got my tickets as soon as they went on sale. Plus it's a four day weekend so I'll probably watch it three or four times, which I never do. I expect nothing but two and a half hours of glory. So here are my top five reasons why I'm so geeked about Black Panther . 1. Black Excellence Geez, where do I start.. When it was announced that Ryan Coogler wou...