A Recovery Blog

This blog is about my continuing recovery from severe mental illness and addiction. I celebrate this recovery by continuing to write, by sharing my music and artwork and by exploring Buddhist and 12 Step ideas and concepts. I claim that the yin/yang symbol is representative of all of us because I have found that even in the midst of acute psychosis there is still sense, method and even a kind of balance. We are more resilient than we think. We can cross beyond the edge of the sane world and return to tell the tale. A deeper kind of balance takes hold when we get honest, when we reach out for help, when we tell our stories.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Poem - "To People Of Color"

To People Of Color

White is not white,
It is many shades of cream.
Black is not black,
It is many shades of brown.
But here we have created
Our fallen world of black and white.

Oh, many colored beautiful people
Do not think and feel
Through this racist dichotomy,
We are so much more collectively
Than this cartoon mentality.

The delicate shades and tones
All over your body
Have marked you for life.
Those who judge that beauty
Which is you
Do not represent humanity
As a whole.

Never reject where you’ve come from.
Never reject who you are.
Don’t give in to those who bait you
To hate in return.  
Honor your ancestors
Who lived in poverty,
Who endured the unjust,
Who gave birth 
To your mothers and fathers,
Who gave birth to you.

We shall overcome,
Not some day,
But this day,
Right here and now
When you live out
For yourself
For your children
That dignity
That is the birthright
For everyone.


Listen To The Audio

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