Forward:

Dear young Black male,

The purpose for which I wrote the following poem(s) is because they assisted me in expressing the feelings, thoughts, and emotions which I was having at the time while I walked through a relatively challenging period of my life. I hope to inspire other young Black males to also express their thoughts, talk about their feelings, and to hopefully try to make the world a better place.

Allow yourself as the listener to think of your own perspective regarding these topics, issues, and subject matters. Place yourself in each poem and embrace the emotions, love, pain, anguish, and joy experienced after having reached the end of the collection.

This collection includes the author's notes, which are a perspective on the inspiration and mindset on my father's passing too soon and its effects on my life. His choices that are still being felt after he left this earthly world.

You will also encounter topics such as abortion, COVID-19, slavery, and the political divide that exists within families, neighborhoods, and even households. I have also included tribute poems to various individuals that have made long-lasting, positive contributions to the world in which we live. They include Mike Tyson, Allen Iverson, etc.

The joy of expecting a newborn baby in the near future and realizing the uncertainty of the world in which we live. Dealing with the love lost of a parent, aunt, grandparent, or cherished family member due to the onset of dementia. Memorializing the life of George Floyd and his impact on experience the world that he left behind.

I want professional narrators for the book who desire to become each individual in each poem. I want them to speak for me, through the poems, as if they wrote each one themselves and are personally affected. I would like the individual who is auditioning not only to encapsulate each poem, but to speak to a generation, or nation, and he must be authentic.