Friends and Words Series III - Holy City

The third and final piece in this series comes from my good friend Millicent. The piece expresses how people can have different experiences of the same situation. It is a poem about embracing the experiences of others and validating them despite their difference from ours. It visits the 'damaged' among us and seeks to find how they got there and how having the right support system can change everything. I hope you enjoy the read

Holy City

When I tell the story now
I do so with the indifference only an old woman who has seen too much by now can be forgiven for
What I mean is I do not forgive myself,
For not doing justice to the space you left behind
I thought of growing flowers in it
I bought them but it was not long before I sat down and saw the hem of the thought I knew lay in the back of my mind somewhere all along
And when I pulled it closer to places in my mind that I visit more often I knew I was right
Lillies cannot pay tribute to your avalanche.
Did you know about broken ciggarettes?
Of broken dirty things you would never touch?
Not to the Holy of you !
But mostly because you did not see how two broken things would heal each other.
Did you know there are people whose bones were made with crevices where broken things can live
Who know broken things kill but they are still the only things they reach for at 3am when their broken places hurt
They place the broken things slowly on their broken places and listen carefully to the two old friends sing an old song
They shake their hands after the song and silently courtsey and the other pushes aside to create room for the other
The song leaves an echo that feels like a slap
Like heavy pounding
Bt they know it all dies down
So they wait for the short period they will know peace
As broke nurses broke
Even if we all know that these kinds of truces do not last
Do we not at least owe it the people who are broken in diffrent ways than us to stop trying to fit their kind of crevices in our own
If we want to create a Holy city out of this pain
Can we not at least start  by creating a shrine of its source?
Did you know that just because you are broken does not mean when your friend says it hurts you can say 'I know how it feels"?
Will you leave with the peace of not knowing? Of trying to truly find out?
Of knowing the kind of pain that can kill a person fast is the kind that people have reduced into an " I know it too" kind of cliche
Will you admit that you did not grow flowers in your broken places because flowers have never done justice to hurricanes
And that if today, in this person, you have met a hurricane.the best gift you can be to them is to not be a flower.

Friends and Words Series II - Never Easy

This is the 2nd piece in the series coming from my good friend Sandra. This piece is encouraging whoever reads it to stand firm, the journey at times may be tough but never lose the faith. Ultimately you will get to your destination. Enjoy the read.

Never Easy

'We have been there' is what they tell me.

Coupled with disgusting smiles of disapproval.

It isnt that I haven't been there,

Rather they fail to realise we took different paths.

Some took the clean tarred little road,

Yet others had the more challenging rocky one.

For me it has never been easy,

I have had to jump over and go under things.

Never was it easy,

Others complain because their path was a little dusty

I am no judge neither am I a jury

There were times I had to pull thorns out of my skin

As they pierced me in mid trudge

Never did I lose focus

Eye on the prize. Mind over matter

Had to carry my siblings

One in each hand, another on my back.

It was never easy for me,

I dipped my hands in pots of honey

Surrounded by bees

But here I stand unscathed, unfazed

I am not were I want to be

Neither am I were I used to be.

Rather grateful I made it this far.

Friends and Words Series 1 - Scars

Kicking off the series, we feature Sue of soulfulmiss.com, a good friend of mine. The featuring piece, Scars, with the double purpose of being the first in this series and  being a dedication to the 16 days against gender based violence movement just felt right. Enjoy the read.

Scars

Every time you open your mouth,

a nail to my cross you strike.

Every word you utter,

like a hammer it drives it in.

Every name you call me,

strips me naked.

In the name of this stupid emotion I stay

Fearing prejudice and discrimination

What would they think of me?

Slowly conformed

Evolved into this new me

The once liberal and free spirit

Now lives for approval

Constantly being told I am not good enough

and every other thing I do wrong

Manipulated into thinking I am nothing!

Should have left when the red flags first came up.

This reflection staring at me in the mirror,

I do not recognise.

Conditioned to accept what is wrong

A soul bearing invisible scars.

The scars  I bear - dead man walking

Friends and Words Series

Poetry is a powerful medium of expression and for the next 4 Fridays of December I will be running a Friends And Words series on my blog were I will be featuring  pieces from some of my friends who also happen to be wordsmiths. I am definitely looking forward to this series and my hope is you will enjoy it. Feel free to share, like and leave a comment. Much love Jay.

Transparent with Courtney Antipas

Courtney Antipas is a Christian rapper from Zimbabwe who started rapping at age 11. As of the time he started taking his art seriously he has released 12 projects and is set to release his 13^th project titled Transparent on the 20^th of October. Courtney has had the opportunity to share the stage with some of Christian Hip Hop’s big names, which include the likes of KB, Da T.R.U.T.H and Sho Baraka. Courtney feels that the main stumbling block to the growth of Christian Rap like any other form of artistic expression in Zimbabwe, is in most cases the inability to make a living from it. This stems from the fact that people are not big on buying music, something he is working tirelessly to address. For aspiring Christian artists Courtney is of the view that there is a need for them to continue to explore their talent and be comfortable with it as it is something that is God given.

Since the release of his first project Courtney has never looked back. He views music as a powerful medium of expression which if used in the right way, can have a positive impact on people’s lives. Rap, more so Christian rap, Courtney feels has been lacking transparency in expressing the challenges that Christian rappers as believers go through. Something he seeks to change, as he pours his heart out on the ep through being honest about the struggles he has faced. Courtney’s aim to make real life honest music is partly where the ep title is derived from. He draws his inspiration for the EP from the trials and tribulations he has faced, something which can be felt throughout the EP.

Transparent for Courtney is a deeply personal project. In the EP he talks of the suffering he has endured as a result of experiencing loss, how he has come out on the other end still trusting in God. He relates personal struggles in a bid to motivate and encourage people to start dialogue and break the cycle of suffering in silence so as to bring about healing. Transparent for Courtney also represents a call to challenge wrong perceptions and stereotypes, in ‘Be Yourself’ one of the songs on the ep. Courtney encourages Africans not to be swayed by the rhetoric that nothing good can come out of Africa but instead be proud and embrace their Africaness.

Transparent drops on the 20^th of October but you can preorder the ep here.

Trust Me I Know

Death, ever tried explaining the experience
Putting daily undertakings into wordily expression
Those sharp pangs of pain
Those constant nostalgia spurred memories
Longing, that constitutes life as you come to know it
The tears you struggle to keep at bay
As they launch a frontal assault in a quest to break free
Down the path they have grown so accustomed to
Never can words fathom the loneliness you feel
They say they understand,
alas fit into those shoes only you can
No matter how hard reach out you try
Trust Me I Know!

Death surely does that
It changes you from the inside to the out
A stranger to self you are rendered
Ever embarking on a path of retracing a new identity
Drastic changes in life partake of you do
That feeling of longing die down it never does
Stronger it continues to grow
In a state of ponder left to wonder
Would situations be any different
Where they to be around
Questions flood in abundance
At some point a state of exhaustion you reach
Physically, Emotionally, Mentally and Spiritually,
just tired you are
Overwhelmed and overburdened,
Tap out, better an option it seems
Let life continue with one less passenger on board
Trust Me I Know!

There is something about losing a loved one
It changes you, in more ways than one
A new set of bifocal lenses you adorn
Vividly new perspective you adopt
When it is time to love, you love
The special people in life
An outburst of affection you outpour
Anger quick to part with
Out with the negative in with the positive
Of life you learn to appreciate, Carpe Diem
Who to put your trust in, all of it
Finally, you now know
In those weak moments, your strength
The one who understands more than anyone else
Comforting you without any notice
All my try but only God can
...Trust Me I Know

What if

What if...?

What if we all could turn back the hands of time, go back to that exact moment

What would we do differently, would the outcome remain the same,

Would we still choose the same path or chart a new course we would opt?

What if your fears and dreams existed in the same place, would you still go there? dare to be bold or retreat to your comfort zone?

What if we all had dreams, choose to wake up and follow them, would we wallow in mediocrity as we often do, or innovation would be our staple food?

What if our late loved ones were here would better of our position not be, would our hearts suffer the way they do

What if dollars of millions I had, would a smile constantly be on my face, life made easier would it?

Would I use them to pursue self-pleasure or bless me they would to become a blessing to others?

What if things were different where would I be, what would I be doing, would I be happier, would my position be any better?

What if we all had a third chance would we repeat the same mistake or rather learn, grow, appreciate and value?

What if we had a chance to forgive, would we choose to hold on to grudges, or forgive and let go, usher in peace into our lives?

What if you knew, that person you took for granted was the one who really unconditionally cared and the one you thought was the one, only partially cared?

What if that person you always looked down upon, you realized one day, has talents of their own, fearfully and wonderfully made they are, just like you, would you look at them in the same way?

What if we all could get along, embrace difference and be tolerant, wouldn’t the world be a better place?

What if you chose to smile in the midst of suffering, rather than with worry wine and dine, would you not live a better life?

What if you knew, the blessings in your life you take for granted, how others long for them, gratitude as your attitude would you not embrace?

What if you knew HE does exist, talk about chance would you, or rather realize, it’s by HIS working all the time?

If we all knew, would we not see life through a different pair of lenses

Always appreciating what we have, CARPE DIEM, ceasing the day, as change is the only thing constant in life.

What if...