@mckinley Freeman Volume I: A Collection Of Poems By Mckinley Freeman m4863

Copyright © 2013 by McKinley Freeman All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. First Printing and eBook distribution, 2013 ISBN: 9781483508160 Book Baby Publishing McKinley Freeman, Inc. Twitter.com/McKinleyFreeman

Thank You

First and foremost, I want to say thank you for trusting me enough to see what this book is all about. To me, poetry is an expression of the things that I feel, think, and on occasion, say. Though I will be publishing more personal poems in the future, I thought it’d be cool to kinda go back to how my whole “writing poetry” thing began, and resurrect the ion that came from spontaneity and the inspiration of others. Yet in the end, everything is connected, and you’ll certainly see parts of my life, naked and exposed, in some of these poems.

This Book

One night I was talking to my cousin, Art, about my writing, and told him about a self-made challenge I used to give myself. I would text a friend, asking them to give me one word, and my challenge was to create an entire poem, based solely on that word, in 5 minutes. It was a challenge I loved to do. From the talk with Art, I didn’t have a place to start writing from in that moment, so I tweeted this to my amazing Twitter followers…

@McKinleyFreeman: “The first 10 followers that tweet me 1 word, I’ll write a poem based on that word”

Simple enough, right? In less than 2 minutes, I had over 300 words…that’s more than 10 ha ha. So this book represents the first 10 random words I received from 10 of my amazing Twitter followers. Their Twitter names appear next to the word they provided that inspired that specific poem. You’ll also be getting free copies of this book, and a signed printed version if that ever happens.

Humanity

Some of the words I received were funny, like “doo doo” and “twerk”, which I thought was amazing, and promise to do something with…not like…you know…together in real life, but as in writing a poem…you know what I mean ha ha! More importantly, the majority of the words seemed to echo a sense of heartache, pain, loss, confusion, and concern. We all go through things, including me. No matter what these things are, they do leave imprints on our lives. You never know what someone else is going through, so something as simple as saying “hello”, or “you look nice today” could change the direction of someone’s day…so why not do it. Love y’all.

@McKinleyFreeman

Volume I

1. Trials (@Mi_bellpari)

2. Gifted (@bellezaminah)

3. Hurt (@jane_toussaint)

4. Dance (@_smiLyn_)

5. Love (@CiCibettaCCme)

6. Hate (@gorgeoustss)

7. Morgan (@morgannaomi_)

8. Freedom (@itoya90)

9. Boo (@YuriEmahn)

10. Synergy (@iamRonnieV)

Trials (@Mi_bellpari)

Trials come on the daily, there’s no rest from their pursuit, Can’t deny their existence, there’s a piece of them in you. What do you do? Because the choice is soul-ly in your hands, The fingerprints of your destiny transcribed in tombs of forgotten lands. Explore your soul. It’s the light that casts the shadow in your gaze, In the music of life, your thoughts are the treble; your heart sustains the bass. Stay in tune. These trials come to simply keep you on your toes, the occurrences of tomorrow are a mystery that no one knows.

Gifted (@bellezaminah)

Let’s set the record straight, and silence the debate, Wrap the topic up, place a ribbon, then seal it’s fate. The gift is in the mirror, as you stand tonight, Not the expectations of another, that are as fleeting as the night. The dawn is now. The sunrise of your purpose warms the soul, Even if things appear in pieces, you have the power to make them whole. Breaking the mold? You’re the quintessential standard for your dreams, Stretch on the inside, you’re influence is bursting at the seams. What does this mean? It means your purpose is on purpose, In the decades to come, millions could be thankful you thought it was worth it. Let freedom ring. Loose yourself from any preconceptions that aren’t your own, You were born to be kings and queens, so stop trying to pawn the thrown.

Hurt (@jane_toussaint)

Hurt is a place, desolate forced solitude, Hurt is realizing this is the last embrace; souls transcend into molecules. Hurt is leaning over a coffin, there’s no need to cry, Hurt is escaping common sense, been always asking “why?”. Hurt is an occurrence; a life of pain prolongs the mood, Hurt is fuel for your life; adjust your cruising altitude. Hurt becomes the ion that defies simplest forms of logic, Hurt births the vision of the Grammy while you’re singing acapella in the projects. Hurt is the sting of injustice; I keep some skittles and a hood, Hurt is a cousin of “confusion”, whose twin sister is “misunderstood”. But in the family tree of faith, the offspring share a brilliant shade of hope, Hurt is your condition for a season, preparing u for the battles that matter most. Hurt will not last forever; joy rises in the east, Hurt may sting on the outside, but it cannot rob your inner peace.

Dance (@_smiLyn_)

Some say all you can do is dance, guess that’d make our lives the music, We don’t have the notes in advance; our 1st breath is when the Father cues it. It seems the rhythm of our soul is, at times, the only thing that keeps us sane, Dancing out tears of sadness in the warm September rain. Swaying right to left with the choir before the Pastor makes his case, Dancing with your niece on your shoes, lost in the smile upon her face. Holding grandma’s hand as she transports to a place where it all began, When she was an innocent southern belle, and my grandfather, the perfect gentleman. In the beat of that memory lives the truth, though dementia tries to cloud the view, She closes her eyes and sees the past, then opens them to the future she sees in you, And when the breakdown of life’s arrangement throws you an unexpected verse? Just bob your head, close your eyes, and let your feet do all the work. Keep dancing.

Love (@CiCibettaCCme)

It defies all forms of logic while making perfect sense, You’re not quite sure where it started, but know exactly when it ends. Painful to stay together, and agonizing to be apart, The heart is a funny tragedy; God’s contradictory work of art. Love those that hurt you, bless those that cause you pain, Turn the other cheek when someone harms you; give them the other…am I insane? Yet the liberty of forgiveness transcends the binds of four-padded walls, If your life is a crashed computer, love is what “humanity” re-installs. Double-click on your homepage called “comion”, and save “love” under your own name, We may all have different hardware but our software’s all the same. Reboot on the regular, and to wisdom from the cloud above, You may think you need new devices, when, truthfully, all you need is love. But like John Lennon, or dry-cleaned linen, things always seem to end too short, My attempts at love have been empty, no new progress to report. But like I believe the Sun will rise, so will the truth behind the veil, I know that as long as I know what love is, I can never, ever, fail.

Hate (@gorgeoustss)

Hate is the ironic alter ego of society hiding from the truth, Hate is the conscious, daily denial that there’s a part of me in you. Hate is the function of mis-education coupled with the fear of change, Hate is fundamentally wrong, like Good Friday when the truth was slain. Hate will never be resurrected; it dies daily in evil deeds, Hate is in disguise, watching snakes slither through weeds. Hate is a poisonous greeting, laced with wishes of your demise, Hate is bombing churches and killing Muslims, wiping tears from widow’s eyes. Hate is the reason behind the ion; I hate to see someone in pain, I hate the fact that you see my color and discount the words I’m sayin’. I hate that a society that speaks of Christian values can’t name 3 without a pause, I hate that truth and integrity have been replaced by vague statutes and laws. I hate that we have to legislate morality; why can’t we do right bcz its right? I hate that we never seem to learn; Fruitvale Station, New Years’ night. I hate that the love that we’re all capable of is frozen in the blizzard of life’s confusion, I hate when someone is truly genuine, that it’s assumed they’re an illusion. I hate that people of all colors can’t see the color that matters most is “red”,

“Love thy neighbor as thyself”, have simpler words ever been said?

Morgan (@morgannaomi_)

I asked Twitter for a word, Morgan gave me her name, Was gonna tweet her back saying “that’s not a word”, but in the end, it’s all the same. Take letters from a language and arrange them how you please, But if they erased the whole alphabet, you’re soul still rests at ease. What’s the message behind that stanza? She may say “That’s not what I meant for you to do!”, No matter the words that people say; it’s the person within that you exude. So, Morgan, you’re amazing, thanks for helping me prove my point, We’re all on this rock together, like Andy Dufresne and Red stuck in the t. Redemption is a choice, be the change you want to see, We’re all one body, taking life a day at a time, down a path towards destiny.

Freedom (@itoya90)

Who cares what people think, tell them cats they can kick rocks, In the context of your life’s purpose, you control when the progress starts and stops. Free yourself from people’s opinions, that includes family and friend’s too, Once you find that peaceful, happiness? They’ll be asking, “what did you do?” Free yourself from the guilt of the past; we all could have been better informed, Don’t beat yourself up over a blessing; quiet bliss in a raging storm. Free yourself from “who people say you are”, tell me, what the hell do they know? You’re purpose isn’t tied to those that left; Put simply…let them go. Freedom died in Memphis, but was reborn in the conscious of the people, George Wallace even changed his tune; takes a King to see humanity cloaked in evil.

Boo (@YuriEmahn)

Haven’t called a lady my “boo” in…dang…it’s been a minute, Find it difficult to project the sounds when I know the truth ain’t in it. One girl I , let’s just leave her nameless, She could do no wrong, walking on water, she thought she was straight blameless. In my naivety, I too, thought I knew more than wisdom revealed, So needless to say, that relationship moved nowhere; like a Porsche with no wheels. Another girl I dated, perhaps not too long ago, We started on trouble waters, who hasn’t been there before? My experiences aren’t unique, there’s nothing new under the sun, But “peace, be still” couldn’t stop these waters; was over before it even begun. And then there was her, my boo, simply for the sake of title, She transcended every doubt, I Corinthians 13, str8 out the bible. From the first hello, and truth? There will never be a last goodbye, Still see destiny in her pores, and forever in her eyes. But to my surprise, I laid down the thing I treasured most, The truest love in action; I’ll let you go to keep you close. To this day, we talked once about it, yet, in each syllable there is life,

Love is giving, love is patient, love isn’t selfish; love is the ultimate sacrifice. Love the way you love. Life opens up to the bold, Relationships aren’t a contest between genders, they’re a collaboration between souls. My boo, for that moment, maybe life has plans for another to take the name, In a world with too many rules, I refuse to play the game.

Synergy (@iamRonnieV)

Spent a few minutes thinking, “how the heck Imma bring this poem together?”, Y’all, @iamRonnieV may have stumped me, but I guess it’s just whatever. Now, what do I do? When it seems like nothing is going the way I planned? Every choice and direction I choose distorts my vision like a broken lens; , you have the power to change the world, but the change must first start from within! Guided to the mountain peak of your purpose, while your soul prepares to slalom, You and I, glide side-by-side, like the letters that form the word in the left column.