A Kingdom of Poetry

Sharing love and thoughts in verse.

For the greater part of my life, I've held a profound affinity for the subtle strokes of poetry, the gentle lines that converge to evoke life. To write a poem is to breathe, to sing, to mourn, to love. If I am to leave a legacy from my time here, may it be a kingdom of words, where poems stand as colossal monuments to our joys and pains.

Poetry is the taking of raw, elemental processes and transmuting them into something both sacred and blasphemous, something both familiar and alien. The poet, in this sense, is a conduit, a river, a channel for words that come from somewhere deeper, somewhere wider, some place that is here and not here, self and other, shadow and light.

Hip-hop was my introduction to the majestic realm of poetry, a doorway into the rhythmic pulse of words that beat in unison with my heart. It was a love born of winding urban streets and pulsating beats that throbbed with the truth of my existence, a symphony of rhymes echoing the struggles and triumphs of experiences like my own.

The drumbeats and soul of hip-hop also made feel closer to African poetic traditions, whispers of a heritage that stretch across oceans and time. From the verses of A Tribe Called Quest and Big Daddy Kane to the rhymes of Kendrick Lamar and Tyler the Creator, the poeticism of hip-hop artists has served as a shrine to our legacy of storytelling and lyricism.

In that way, Hip-hop served as a foundation, a launching pad from which I dared to leap into the vast ocean of poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Gil Scott-Heron, Sonia Sanchez, and Lucille Clifton. Through these literary giants, I found my own voice and began to carve out a poetic identity when I was just ten-years-old. With adoration for those greats, I began filling notebooks, while pouring my soul into stanzas, and shaping metaphors into mirrors.

Over twenty years later, I’ve traded my notebook for a MacBook, but I still craft at least one new poem each week, practicing my art with the diligence of someone who wants to earn the right to be considered with those who came before me. Some of my work finds its way onto social media, but I've realized, this platform too can serve as a space for poetry. And so, dear friends, each week, I will serve you a dish from my poetic kitchen, hoping to bring a taste of my world into yours. I offer these words as an extension of love, a beacon of light, a comforting hand on the shoulder of your experience.

My hope is not simply that you enjoy these words, but that they stir something in you. That they help you feel seen, understood, valued. At the end of the day, isn't that what poetry is all about?

This week’s poems (you are free to share if you so desire):