Celebrating Poet & Scholar Darius Phelps and Cheering on His Poetic Debut (in book form), MY GOD'S BEEN SILENT

I took last night off simply to listen...to hear...to understand. I met Darius Phelps several years ago and have found him in similar circles for several years, and invited him to speak with local school groups and to cheer on his writing forth for the communities he speaks most to: emotions yet to be named. It is the not knowing, the exploration of otherness through the empath's eyes, those in search of soul in a world that works hear to kill a soul. 

What do we need? Teacher Phelps? Dr. Phelps? Poet Phelps? The writing is meant for any and all looking for meaning. 

I was fortunate to hear him read from his new collection, MY GOD'S BEEN SILENT poems by Darius Phelps (poems for lil' Darius). It is a lantern into understanding grief. It is a text of making sense of societal, systemic grief. It is a text for finding light and love in a world of those too quick to throw breath at a wick. 

We all still need mentors who are there for us when we, ourselves, need the loves of others. We all need brave spaces to be unapologetically who we are: Human. Voices. Varying backgrounds. There is power in silence and in music. We need moments to unwind. But there's power in sitting back and letting moments harvest what they are for what they are....vulnerability. 

I was fortunate to read and blurb a pre-publication copy of Darius Phelp's poetry. Real. Raw. Beauty. Healing. 

There are moments where I feel graced by the work I am fortunate to do.