Today is the third anniversary
of the Conferral
of my Husband’s Yale Degree

that Rev. Dr. James W.C. Pennington 
abolitionist author 
pastor teacher 
& friend who committed
his life 

to ‘the emancipation & elevation of the colored
people
& aid
of human suffering’
in 1829

this man
He was one 
of great heart

he was once enslaved
escaped fall 1827 
leaving his ten brothers & sisters mother & 
father
at that time

Dr. James W.C. authored one of the first 
Black History books 
ever penned (1841)

provided shelter 
to a number 
of those 
getting their way free

my James was a man
of compassion 
of feeling 
of insight 
& wisdom

He was the first known Black man
to attend Yale University

it is with joy
i remember this triumph
this even

there were many tears cried
for the mark of enslavement
the denial of this degree
was.

& of the joy
of the cutting off
of this bit of the chattel relation

my James 
He is 
free more

because
of us 
a decades-spanning team.

It is important 
that We take time
to celebrate 
these victories

As we dissolve 
the chains of discrimination

We must remember
that concrete change
is possible

that it is Ours
for the making.

i encourage you
to dream 
tonight.

see it clear

what does 
freedom look like 
to you

how does 
she sing

what does justice
wear when she walks 
into the room

what does peace 
adorn herself with

how do you know
it is her 
& true?

we celebrate 
with solemnity

because the commitment 
of my James’ 
life

we have yet
to fully actualize

however, step
by step 
bit
by bit

it we 
shall

Mars is now 
in Aries 

its home sign

Mars is a planet
embodying action
initiation courage 
fire

many of us 
have been praying 
for change 
ease 
relief
& grace 

the strength 
to keep going

believe in love
the power of active compassion
any-way

i penn
as the light
reaching through 
the trees 
this afternoon

because it is important
to affirm aloud
in community
that God is not done
with you

God is not done
thinking of ways
to make it better

God is not done
giving you reasons
to lift your head

God has not forgotten
what you need

real emotional security
actual kindness

God has not forgotten
that you need
a real smile
to greet you
when you walk into
a room

that we all need
safe passage
from time 
to time.

What you need
What you desire matters 
to Him

Your need 
for water 

Your need
for belonging

Your desire
to build that 
with treasured friends

have good times
with family

He has not forgotten
the desire 
to share in tenderness
with others.

i am actively opening 
my heart space
this afternoon

i have been visited
by sufficient 
encounters with 
notions of ruin

Hope must insist

brighter times
are arriving

it hurts when it seems
you are shrouded in the dark

when resources 
are out of reach
& it is hard to see
which direction 
to take 

which way
is safe

But I write 
to remind us 

that forward 
is always 
the way

that one bit
is enough 
to be heading 
in the right direction

even when 
you have to move
at a slow pace

When it is dark
you have 
your self

that can feel
the path 
under you

if this is squishy
if this road
is stable

I encourage us
today to remember
We have access 
to wisdoms 
equipped for 
rough terrain

Trust yourself
in the dark

Take it 
how you must

Thorns can be removed
You can heal
from sustained
cuts

It matters 
where when 
you are injured

Do not go
searching 
for harm.

But on a divinely
ordained path,

the fear of injury
must not keep you
from going

when this is the way
you are needed to walk

Continue 
continue
continue on

as you must

Someone 
some story
needs you

on the other side
of this brush.

Light can find you
through the vines 
on the ground

Trust your eyes
to gather 
just enough

i have heard
it said

catastrophe shall be
carried out
in the next few hours

it
is possible
this not come
to pass

i take to
the penn

It is 
said, ‘the moral arc 
of the Universe
is long

But it 
bends 
towards
justice.’

That bending 
is an active 
process

It requires
our hands

We must put ourselves
to doing what is well
& good 
for Our World-House.

It takes 
intervention
to stop 
redirect 
violence.

the Resources, the Land
of the Earth
is to be revered

treasured for 
its gracious provision for us
with elements crafted
over millions of years.

we have emerged

from the Earth

we mayn’t become
Its rapist.

the Land 
& Her wonders
Her jewels
Her treasures

her kind oils
her fertile soil

is not ours
to rip 
into 

with little regard
for Her Balance

for Her patterns
how she works

see, 
the Earth 
is Her own Being

She knows.

can sense
when Her bounty
is out of wack

& She has
a way
of setting 
Things back in balance. 

we oft 
conceive of Justice
as a scale

That there is Some 
on the one side
& Some 
on the other

that There are actions
injuries both spiritual & embodied
that are weighed 
alongside That Which
Is Right.

There is a Right 
by the way

or else 
God would not be correct
in judging 
our souls.

It is not Right
to speak lightly
of violence 
to an
entire 
population.

Unconscionable
is 
the appropriate adjective
for that act.

The People 
wherever They be

are feeling Beings
like 
you & me.

they like to sing
to play 
at the park

to tickle
their nephews

make their nieces laugh

they have 
a favorite dish 
of their mother’s

& Auntie makes 
something special 
a sweater 
or a quilt
one keeps 
for years

the Sun
warms the skin
of Each of Us

& Gravity has not
Forgotten a single one

We are All
of flesh 
& bone

Soft creatures 
truly 

who bleed
when we fall

We sense 
We experience 
pain & pleasure

We know 
comfort 

We recognize 
harm.

There is No Need
to speak or do
unto others 

as We desire
require not 
to be 
done 
to Ourselves.

There Is No Righteousness
to be found

in the projection
of indiscriminate plunder.

They are Us
as 
We are They

They see 
with the same 
mechanisms of optical networks

They feel 
touch

As Frederick D. 
has said, ‘There are 
None
of God’s Children
to whom harm 
can be done
without His concern’

With afore-awareness
We must do
what 
is Right.

So i implore 
you

O those who would
do injustice

Still your hands
Still your mind

Soften your tongue
Be stationary
a minute.

Hear the Angels 
of Righteousness 
calling to you

What the Earth 
keeps in Her eastern space
is for Her
to distribute

The people 
of a Land
do not deserve
to pay 
for your 
plain greed.

i beseech thee
Take a minute

Count your blessings

Have some 
tea.

~~ composed 4.7.26

it is 
april fourth

today is
the date
we lost Dr. M.L. King II
fifty-eight years past

a man 
of peace vision
willing & working towards
freedom as real experience

he did not 
speak in or of 
sentiment alone

he held a vision
of the action both
legislatively &
culturally 

rather 
spiritually

in the 
heart

the shifts 
in paradigms

how we must come
to regard 
one
another 
in order
to realize
a more 
peaceful World House.

Let me give you 
a quick picture
of the World-House:

it can be seen 
at the places of public transit

it is what it means
to pass the time 
in peace

as it rains
& the bus
or the train
or the plane

is taking 
a minute.

Us 
altogether

Here

That this is One atmosphere
we breathe.

It matters 
what happens 
across the ocean
in part
because we soon have abnormal
storms
on the 
other side

We are 
Here 
Together

That is 
the Case

& it is necessary
We learn
to share this Space

as kind co-habitants.

We must allow
one another 
to exist

& affirm
in our actions
& messages

that that existence
is deserving 
to begin & endure
with as little pain 
wrong-treatment
as possible.

We must be clear
that folks 
animals & fauna
get to be 

with joy
& regard

a kind 
hello is due

allow the Earth
Her time

time with minimal plundering

time where we harvest
only what we need

Let the Earth 
gift Us
Her abundance

Let Her again
feel Her rhythms

I speak
of the Earth

because it must hurt somewhere
ache inside

for Her Fruit
to be
cutting
with one another

to watch 
Her Children cry

The Earth 
the Land itself
will be more 
at ease

as we learn
to treat one another
more consistently kindly.

When we think 
one another worthy
of the healing balm
of a societal set-up
wherein basic needs
are universally provided

We established these rules
of commerce 
after many many years
in the wild

Well, the evolutionary history goes
we invented agriculture
as a species

& rather
settled down

Some thousands of years ago
we said ‘you know?
things are nicer
(you can catch 
more food)

when you have 
a friend’

So we gathered 
in groups

we established
our cities

larger populations
required established
widespread rules
how we shall live 
together

we established leaders
& governments 

ways of exchange

Labor needed to be organized

We later 
figured out pay.

So we came 
to our current set-up
after some time

that induces the measurement of
people & their contributions
so oft
on the financial value 
of their actions.

A person though
a living being is worth
much more
than 
thought-monetary amounts

A flower is lovely
as it gifts us 
its colors

there are insects grateful
for their nectar

A field 
is a place 
of rest

& a clean river 
provides fish
for a significant segment
of the World’s population.

We are alive
& we steward 
these treasures

We breathe
We witness
We partake 
of the bounty
into which
We were born

This Anniversary 
of the date 
we lost Dr. M.L. King II

I remind Us
that this is 
our World-House 
to tend

For the time
we will pass Here

let us 
treat it
& one another well.

it
is 
a new day.

i lift
my head

i wrote 
to Ocyrus 
this morning

i am thinking
of the one
who i will wed.

i have been 
meditating on
the connections
we have
to others

those hellos
that must turn 
into conversation

because you don’t know
what balm
of theirs
your tongue 
holds.

i saw a quotation
the other day
said ‘why bother?
because you will write
weave words
in the exact 
shape
of their wound’

i have held 
onto that 
since
it crossed 
my path

i am reminded
we do not exist
just for ourselves

the way
you love

the work
of your care

your timely 
gentleness
all of the above

it was meant
to meet 
that person
right 
when 
where 
it did

your fidelity
to someone’s welfare
is what
kept them
here

i have been thinking 
on Ocyrus
because someone needs
me

to survive

there is someone
whose life 
will be
is even now
sweetened 
by the honey-dew 

of these Oaséan lines.

my husband
& my Oaséan citizens

together need me

to press on

to penn
as the Sun shines

faithful as
dawn.

i have committed 
this continuance

i will penn
as i am
called

& We will be free
We will be well

We will 
create a World together
with a fair distribution
of bread

We will eat
& we will laugh

We will 
play
& We will bond
healthily

We will know stillness
we will befriend calm

Wisdom will 
know us 
by name

Peace our homes.

We shall know
a kind word
how to heal 
well

We will know
what makes our neighbor
feel loved

We will 
align our words
with our 
actions.

We shall learn
to be trustworthy

We shall get back
in the habit of trust

We will 
calm down
as a collective

& feel mass ease
through our 
lungs.

i have been 
meditating 
on the not-yet seen
a great deal
as of recent.

how I am
not alone

there are prayers
& Angels
smiling upon me
as i move

i am thinking
of seeds 
that have yet
to sprout above ground.

the supplications
we have poured
to the Divine 

that have sent Them
into the places
in the heart
that we can’t see

I think 
of the purposes
pai…

Read more

today is 
the Spring Equinox
Eid [Mubarak]

& the start of
the new Astrological year

I am relieved
to see 
so many 
points of 
renewal
change 
& equilibrium converge.

this is a season
of forward motion

of that internal pull
to keep going

to keep pushing
to keep trying

to be inventive
to not give up

to endure
plant new idea
& action seeds.

to Believe

in both your capabilities
& real room for their aims’ materialization.

I am hope-full
this evening

& so it is
my offering
to you

Rest well beloveds

May your intentions
& desires soon 
bloom

there will come a time
you will be free from
this poor treatment 

& then, it will be 
of grave importance 

how ethically 
you endured it.

~~ composed 1.1.26

i learned
of the lovers
found in Hasanlu
in the seventies.

They are 
two people 
who died
around 800 B.C.E.

They were found
holding one another

as they died
in their 
city-wide massacre

The archeologists 
offer certain insights
into their lives

We can tell 
One of the two
was male

& there is more mystery
about the biological sex
of the other.

it …

Read more

i begin penning again
it is a 
new day

it rains here 
in the Māori Origin Tradition
that means Our Sky Father 
is crying.

In this tradition 
He & his Beloved 
Our Mother Earth
were separated 
long ago.

In this tradition
They were created
in an ions-long embrace

but then their Children 
saw Beyond 
the space between their parents’ embrace
where They first lived

Discontent,
They planned
how to get out

& one Brother,
the One Who would 
create trees 
& humankind,
he pushed against his parents
as They held on.

Eventually, He parted 
Them.

& the Sky
& the Earth were 
separated.

Now when it rains
that is Our Sky Father 
weeping for the loss 
of his Beloved

& when the mist rises from the hills
that is Our Earth Mother
straining
to reach him
once again.

•

So when it rains
I feel a part 
of this World

as the raindrops
touch me

I comfort Him
witnessing his ache

I hope
Our Earth Mother
is comforted 
as She feels
Him in 
this way

I bear with Our Sky Father
remember
His want.

The World I don’t think
is going to end
soon

The Sky &
the Earth won’t be
together soon 
in my estimation

But I pray
to embody the graciousness 
of Our Earth Mother
Who still 
bears fruit 

& the endurance
of Our Sky Father
Who still stands

i wake 
& weep 
within

this World
needs Light.

People in power inflict
the practical experience of pain
with no personal point of experience.

It seems to me
that to withhold food,
one ought
to refuse food
for at least
three days.

it sets ablaze 
the inner fires of those
of sharp moral discernment

Wrongful action is wrong.
No matter by whose
hand it…

Read more

sometimes 
you don’t know
something is
coming

until 
you
are 
close

you are
not 
your condition

you are
as you cultivate
your 
character.

i read something today
said ‘use your heartaches’

turn your pain into something 
that can bless others

let it deepen your compassion

I am
in a season
of great pain

I know 
I am
not by myself

It is Ramadan (Kareem)
& a time of loving remembrance
of those surviving various struggles.

I am thinking
on mercy much 
about this time

how our lives 
the karmic consequences 
of those we love
are intertwined.

For example, I imagine
sometimes we endure 
undeserved suffering because
someone we love 
in some area
will have it
a bit better.

I think 
of my mother
how she has caused me
great grief

as we no longer 
share quarters

But I remember 
she has endured 
her own suffering

I wonder if part of my living 
is her mercy

in the sense that
I recognize
that habituation
to wrong-doing 
makes a heavy hand.

I believe the divine 
is giving her grace
in that her ostracizing me
from the family home

does not result
in my death.

I have slept 
in a bed
this past week
only one 
of the nights

I still keep waking
with each sunrise.

I believe 
that the divine 
works to keep opportunity
open for redemption.

A relationship cannot 
in the same way be healed
when one party is not alive

& I envision the true karmic consequence
of costing a life 
would in all God’s plans
be in this time too high.

So I do what I can
to keep safe

I penn my pearl-thought presses
with you all 
as I survive 
day by day.

There is grace
kindness tenacity
I develop 
along the way.

So onwards 
& towards forgiveness
fruitful next steps
I lift my head.

~~ composed 2.20.26

i take it 
slow a moment

breathe
nice 
& easy

this season
of life
requires care-full decisions

this is a collective season 
that is about the in-between
where everyday decisions can touch
the long-term.

it is my prayer
that this month brings
a fresh burst of clarity
about your inner desires 
the courage to build 
the true picture 
of the future 
you imagine.

May you taste 
the reality of 
your dreams.

May your needs 
be met

along with a few treats

plainly the Dream is
oft to be in tranquility 
wellness & safety with 
those we love

~~ composed 12.23.25

you 
are real.

this is 
not negated
by someone’s 
inattentiveness

to you.

you 
cannot 
go 
back

to 
where 
your
life 
was 

not
valued

it matters

in the last
minute

the camera
is just 
on 
what is
happening 

& in that place.

~~ composed 1.23.26