I found you one day Alone and wandering Among the jungle of peers You were a candle in the dark The light solely radiating Within your solitude I took you in Called you mine Braved many jungles since While lovers never to be Leaving that chapter behind We stayed close hand in hand Promising friendship ...

My heart completely shattered watching you long for her   Tears sting my eyes as you cleverly avoid them fearing I may see your truth   Sadness oozes from your pores letting my broken heart know   Your thoughts are consumed with the loss of her as mine are filled with the loss of you ...

Mourn, Grieve, Exhaustion BREATHE Protest, Stand Up, Speak Out BREATHE Silenced, Beaten, Killed We Will Breathe Weep, Yell, Curse BREATHE Over-taxed, Over-looked, Over-worked JUST BREATHE Underestimated, Unseen, Unwanted BREATHE Challenged, Choke, Confined TODAY WE BREATHE!!!

To you we owe Our freedom Gratitude And praise   Small steps Defiant stance Made so we Could belong   To you we owe Our opportunities Our voices Our legacy   Persecuted for petty crimes Inaudible cries Noosed up Whooped, sold off   You held on Carried strong So we could be born And we can ...

A country built on fears made of multiple tiers causing mothers to shed tears because others cannot contain their scares   We cannot ‘run’ free that’s now news to me for when they see me in the land of the free they somehow still see – property   I step out of line wrong place ...

I turned your growler into a vase for my flowers.   All my friends point at my bad behavior, but after being broke I have no fear. They say I’m putting my life in danger; but my friend became my love and my love is now a stranger.   I remember running down the alley ...

Who is this woman staring back at me?   Lost and alone,        yet connected to a being   Battered and bruised        from a chance she once took   To love a stranger        from a friend she mistook   She is strong but broken –   Misplaced ...