a sustainable love

Mook’s birthday poem

a sustainable love: Mook’s Birthday Poem created with Canva.

I haven’t always been my best self
but who has?
you have been by my side:
trustworthy, steadfast, honest, and sure.
I wouldn’t want anyone else
doing this battling life with me.

over two decades have passed, and we’re still
standing – still lending listening ears – still
comforting each other when peace
is interrupted.
we have gained more than we lost.

our lives have been touched by the
beauty of growth and we are walking
up immeasurable ladders of time – patience
tested at every turn, yet we stand.

if ever a war enters your realm, I will
be ready to unleash a wrath
no one saw coming.


I am certain, if you have been reading my work for years, you’ve seen many poems written about and for Mook. Today is her birthday, and I am blessed beyond measure to still know, still love, still be able to look at this woman and say, “Hey! That’s my best friend, and I will go to war for her!” Because I will. Happy Birthday, boo! May it be everything you want and need it to be from this moment and for all to come.

Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?

spinning (again)

there is no peace now
one person has damaged us
our higher ups f a i l e d
a meeting brought out our beasts
an unsolved problem lingers


On Thursday, March 27, 2025, we received an email from HR about their “investigation”, and I’ll simply say it was a waste of my time. So, I spoke with the center manager of the site where I am placed, and she’ll be working on creating a job for me so I can stay at the facility.

But she’s already said if I’m not doing the genetic testing for cancer screening, she doesn’t want the testing and company connected to it there anymore.

These people have forgotten that I was an employee at the site where they placed me for over 2 years. Upper Management loves me. The staff love me. I interact well with the patients. I am a valuable asset and they know this.

So, prayerfully, I’ll be putting my notice in with my current company in the next month, maybe two, at the latest. And it may not even be that long. The beauty of it all is that I get to stay at a facility where I feel at home because of my history there.

The center manager is going to start getting things going early next week. She was off yesterday and will be off again on Monday. I am prayerful she will be able to iron out all kinks with those in positions above her to keep me there. After she explains what has taken place, I am sure their organization will want to detach themselves from my current company.

My co-worker will be working with her center as well. Her center manager is doing the same thing for her. Our other co-worker has a great rapport with her previous job. She simply wanted to try something new. So she can return there.

And it’s best for us because yesterday, Friday, March 28, 2025, we had another meeting with our supervisor and a rep from HR was on the call – they wanted to monitor us. And the supervisor has no wherewithal of what she’s done wrong, just ignorant, and must’ve thought we were going to just sit there and take her power point explanation and the act of trying to gaslight us.

NOPE! She got her hind-end handed to her professionally by all three of us. We came correct in our interaction with her and called out her lies while holding in our anger and forcing ourselves to be polite under the active re-triggering we had all been subjected to.

She said something offensive that truly struck a chord in me and before I knew it, I was breaking her down like IKEA furniture, and my younger co-worker (she’s in her early 20s) said to me, “As soon as you started talking and using all them big words, I know you lost them cuz it went over their heads, but I was listening, and I was like, “YES, TRE!” Needless to say, she was proud of me.

I am proud of both of them because we have endured an event in the workplace we never wanted to and now the damage is done. Our image of Human Resources is sullied and is forever etched in our minds as a department WE (women of color; Black women) cannot trust.


spinning (the beginning)

Left-handed in a Dream: A Haibun

Part III: Regretting marriage

AI Generated Image: A Black woman looking ahead with a frustrated look while pondering a few photos she is holding. She is wearing gold hooped earrings, her hair is braided and pulled back into a bun, and there is a blurred background of what appears to be a home’s living room.

Memory hadn’t considered how life would be with Rodney. They were high school sweethearts. She thought going with the flow would be essential: stick with him, he’s a good guy, loves her, cares about her, and would do anything to appease her. But now that they’re both older, he is well . . . boring. She reminisces while sifting through wedding photos, shaking her head at their decision’s haste and considering the welcoming mat of divorce. Where would this lead them, though? Divorce is final and Rodney is a huge chunk of her life. He isn’t some man she decided to shack up with – they’ve invested time, love, effort, and work into each other. Rodney is . . . bigger than regret.

temporarily
filled with regret as peace moves
calmly into view


Part I & Part II

spinning

spinning from hatred
reports filed for one’s own good
human resources
a department that brings calm
or can disrupt peacefulness


It’s World Poetry Day! I hope you can find the time to birth a new poem from your beautiful mind. 

This tanka was written to briefly describe the fact that I recently filed a report to HR for the racial tension and discrimination my co-workers and I have experienced regarding our new supervisor over the last few days at work.

I have NEVER had to involve Human Resources at any job I ever had. But, unfortunately, there’s a first time for everything. Happy Friday!

Peace and blessings.

Left-handed in a Dream

A Haibun

WordPress Free Images

She dreamt she was left-handed – sun tilting just right on her pale skin. Did it make her wise? Was she on a spiritual journey? Would she wake up left-handed? She hadn’t realized just how quickly life was flashing before her eyes. A race stood before her, but her legs were tired of running. The dream wouldn’t be the end of this conundrum. When your mother names you “Memory”, dreams are the last things on your mind.

right-handed she was
but left in a dream deferred
breaking past curses


An update on Jernee: Jernee’s vet visit was yesterday for the seizure she had last Sunday. They did blood work and did an overall checkup, too. Her vet said her left back paw has a delayed reflex response, which is a spinal cord issue and can be coming from her brain (possible growth or tumor). To determine what’s going on and confirm a growth or tumor, an MRI is recommended. The cost is expected to be anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000.00. This only confirms if there’s a growth or a tumor; this does not prevent the seizures, and neither would the medication if she is prescribed medication (it only stops the frequency of them and may make them milder).

For now (as per the vet’s request), I’ll monitor her, keep a seizure log, and if they happen more frequently and last longer, we can discuss end-of-life options. I am going to buy a camera and set it up in my living room, so there will be video coverage of Jernee while I am away at work. I want to make sure my baby isn’t having any seizures when I am not at home. And now . . . I miss working from home. *Sighs* Such is life and life still won’t defeat me.

Something To Think About #3

The privileged do not know their privilege.

A snippet from “Until It Happens”, a poem written by Kym Gordon Moore and included in her book, We Are Poetry: Lessons I Didn’t Learn in a Textbook.

I will share “Something To Think About” for the next thirteen weeks on Sunday afternoons. It may be a quote, a picture, an interesting phrase I heard, artwork, etc. Whatever I share will surely be intriguing or involving enough to spark a casual discussion or in-depth conversation. Stay tuned every Sunday for this feature!

Peace and blessings.

Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?