Title: “Breaking Point”

Written In: 2021

Publication: In From Our Eyes & Ears: Writings by Musicians of Color, Vol. I: Black Voices, edited by Lorin Green and LaVonna Wright, 2024. Full publication available on Amazon.

For the Music Composition: click here.

I have been asking myself these questions of who I am

As a person,

As an individual

As an artist.

And asking,

“What does it mean…    to become…     me?

And what does it mean to become…     ‘BLACK’?

Because I’ve been    BL   A    C   K      my entire    life…”

Thinking myself an imposter in my own skin.

Tearing myself across_____________the rigid

And the beautiful—

The harsh dissonance              from my body

And the spiritual lyricism…              

…in my soul.

But I have decided    not     to limit myself—

To be part of one thing

And      e v e r y t h i n g        at the     same       time.

Because I am me,

I              am              ME

And I will   not    

      allow myself

         to retreat

Or     SHRINK    inside.

Because I have hit my breaking point—

No return