Her Winning Life

Next to your fighting spirit
Your smile was the strongest part of you

The sprawl
Of your beam
Held a gallant celebration
Of life
Even amid your worries
When your mind
Played sad songs
And your body
Sometimes tried
To stop dancing

Though your frame was small
The prayer and perseverance
You constantly fueled it with
Made you a giant champion
And with that glowing smile
Lighting the path
Along your journey
You always saw a way
To tackle any obstacle
Trying to keep you
From the joyous life
You intended to live
And the people
Whose hearts you planned
To soften and heal
With its warmth

Although your visit
To this realm
Is now over
You left your smile behind
To remind us
That no matter what the road
We're traveling looks and feels like
No matter how many sad songs
May play as we travel
Or how often our bodies
Get low on spiritual fuel
Or even try to stop dancing altogether
If we too

Prioritize our grin

Use it to soften life’s blows

People’s hearts

And light the way

Along our own path

We will

At the end of our trip 

Have successfully guided ourselves

Into the next realm

As victors

Who loved

Inspired

And completed our mission 

With no regrets

 ©2019 Charlene E. Green
For Curita Harris-Harper

NaPoWriMo #1: OVERKILL (Haiku)

You don't have dimples.
That's cool, cuz your face has reached
its perfection max.

©2019 Charlene E. Green

NaPoWriMo #2: SKIRMISH

Just because
I haven't written about you yet
doesn't mean I'm at a loss for words

They're tangled up
in a long line
of confusion
rioting aggressively
cutting in front of each other
pissing off the ones
that think they're more knowledgeable
then
getting elbowed
punched
drop-kicked
back into their rightful place

Thing is
they're all arrogant
think they got this sitch
on lock
assured of their preparedness
to be at the forefront
speaking about you
us
but they're mistaken
they don't know shit
about what this is
cuz it changes
with the SoCal weather:
every. fucking. week.
you and me
we be full-on heatstroke
one day
clouds-fog-rain-sun
the next
I be sick sometimes
from this constant climate change
don't know why
I fail
to step into your element
prepped for its inconsistency

Yes I do...

But lemme go bust up
this fight first
find out what all
the commotion is about
wrangle the truth
from the most credible snitch—
I mean—
source
in line
and I'll be right back
to fill you in

YOU BETTA WRITE!

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a safe and fun one! Let's get this year started "WRITE!"

Speaking of writing, my new poetry book, You Betta WRITE!, is coming out at the end of January! I'm so excited about this project because, in addition to my signature free verse, and my recently included haiku work, it will feature a new element of poetry that I haven't added to my books before now: Shakespearean sonnets!

I would love to have you all on board! Below is the order link; but first, here's the back-cover summary, so you can get a feel for the book's theme:

Adverse change in social climate often warrants a shift in tone when addressing it—one with a higher decibel than before. The level of anguish and overall chaos in our world has taken its toll on many. In You Betta WRITE!, Charlene E. Green gives readers a deeper, grittier poetic look at the challenges we've faced in recent years, using free verse, haiku, and sonnet to paint her picture of inspiration, justice, and resolution.

In "The Suffering," she boldly declares that we've "got hella PhDs in the suffering of others, but ... some of us still don't have a degree of comprehension about how to master our own." In "Accident Forgiveness," she shakes the abused awake by asking how many more "fist-on collisions with your face will it take for you to finally admit that this man is not accident prone, he is purposely reckless with your life?" "Curfew" is a heart-wrenching, parent-focused narrative about the more than 200 missing Nigerian girls, at the hands of Boko Haram. But since Charlene's work is never complete without the inclusion of wit, love, and fantasy, you can be assured of just the right amount of gentle to balance out her firm voice.

You Betta WRITE! is for the grown and mature, and for those whose lives are ready for a deep cleaning, upgraded perspective, and new direction.

For those of you who haven't read or heard any of my work, I invite you to check out my blog a little further; many of the poems that will be in the book are housed here (but will come down shortly after the book's release), so you can get a glimpse into the project.

If you'd like to put in an order, here is the link: You Betta WRITE!

Thank you for your time and support! I look forward to delivering to you a project that you'll be inclined to read again and again, and to share with others!