New Project – shifting from the inside out: love poems – Out Today!

Cover of shifting from the inside out: love poems by Buddah Desmond

I’m happy to announce the release of my latest project, shifting from the inside out: love poems today. This collection contains some of my favorite love poems from my last two projects, Exotic Shifter and From The Inside Out: A Poetry Collection, along with some new poems. The title is a play on the titles of the aforementioned projects, and serves to illustrate the notion that love is an inside job. It manifests from the inside out. And when we are loved, love ourselves, and love others, it changes us. 

With it being Black History Month, Love Month, and my birthday month, I thought to myself—why not put out a special project and offer it for free?

To check out my latest project, go to: https://bit.ly/BDez-shifting-from-the-inside-out

Feel free to share and let me know your thoughts.

Happy BHM! Happy V-Day! 

Much love and many blessings!

~ Buddah Desmond 

SHOUT

Photo by Philip Montgomery. Courtesy of Wired.

Photo by Philip Montgomery. Courtesy of Wired.

Muted voices
Censored
Stunted
Bombastic power oppressed
Not living up to the dream
For you were scared to utter for fear of retribution,
judgment and ignorance

Silent soldier
You’ve got the ammo but you’re too afraid
to use your commands
The time has come for you to
release the sounds hidden in your glorious voice box
It’s now time to shout

I shout for those that died before their time
Those who fought quietly or were robbed of their chance
to simply speak their freedom
I shout for those who braved the waters
amidst the violent, tireless searches to reinforce
unjust captivity
I shout for all the wrongs my people faced yet still
managed to find the joy, pride, and
dignity to go on

I shout for hope, boundless hope
that there will be a moment, a sustained if not eternal moment
when we can love, honor, and respect each other for the beautiful
beings The Creator made us to be

I shout for the times I hide away from others, even myself
I shout because pain and shame can no longer claim me
I shout because I had no reason not to stand up for myself
I have a purpose, a calling
I have value
And so does my voice

I shout because it’s my right
I shout because it’s my duty
I shout because sometimes I can’t help myself
Sometimes you’ve just got to release the
treasures from within
For if you never uncover them, you’ve robbed
the world of one of its many miracles.

I shout for the same reason I sing—
To be free!

© 2014 BuddahDesmond

From the chapbook, Exotic Shifter.

A Love Junkie Consumed

Image courtesy of KrazyInLove.

Image courtesy of KrazyInLove.

Couldn’t hear the roar—
The crowd was playing call and response with me.
Couldn’t respond to their spirited yet pleading call;
I succumbed to the beat of a percussionist at another show,
worlds away from this one.
Physically present, yet my mind and spirit had shifted elsewhere.

The being had a control of me stronger than a Midnight Magnet.
Otherworldly and unreal this thing was—
Wouldn’t want to be released even if my power could’ve freed me.

That jones ain’t got shit on you.
Make a hit of me.
Take me on tour.
Treat me like your setlist.

Play me out, play me high, play me soft, play me low, play me fast, play me slow—
Play me loud, play me hard, play me all day and all night long—
Just play me.

I’ll be all for you and more.
Just take me and make me anew.
They’ll say without 12 steps you’ll be through.
And again, I’ll say—just take me and make me anew.

Consume me so I can benefit from you.
Consume me so I can benefit from you.
Consume me so I can benefit from you.

Consume me because nothing and no one else will do.

From the chapbook, Exotic Shifter.

© 2014 BuddahDesmond

The Escape (from ‘Exotic Shifter’)

When you started calling every 5 minutes and
demanding every beat of my time,
I should’ve known you were another brotha beyond
the OCD tip.
Possession’s only sweet to those committing the act.
It’s one of love’s nut job rellies that
shouldn’t share a bloodline.

When the life you live isn’t enough that you have
to encroach upon and suck the essence out of another’s—
it’s way past your meds and time for an intervention
They don’t make straightjackets tough enough for
the pained love you inflict on your prey.
A love that needs to be checked
by family, your crew, or law enforcement is a love
I wants no part of.

Thank goodness I woke up in time.
Cause there’s no guarantee that a kiss from
Prince Charming would’ve saved me
if the entrapment lasted one moment longer.
Thank goodness I got away.

Exotic Shifter can be purchased through the 2 Pens & Lint website on the BuddahDesmond author page.

“Exotic Shifter,” a Chapbook, is Out Now!

exoticshift_samplecover(adjusted_2)

I’m happy to announce that my latest project Exotic Shifter is available for purchase! Published through 2 Pens & Lint, this chapbook features 20 poems primarily about love and relationships.

As described in a previous post, “Love changes things… Well, love changes everything. It’s impossible that we go through life loving anything or anyone (ourselves, others, our communities) without being changed. The poems featured in Exotic Shifter examine the transformative power of love (and/or how we can be transformed once we learn to love ourselves and others better).”

Exotic Shifter serves as a prelude to my next full-length volume, which is tentatively titled From the Inside Out. This project will take an even deeper look at love and relationships. I’m pushing to release this project in late 2015/early 2016.

Exotic Shifter can be purchased through the 2 Pens & Lint website on the BuddahDesmond author page. The chapbook is $5.

If you like/love Exotic Shifter, please tell a friend or two (or three or four) about it. And if you have feedback, please feel free to share it with me!

Thank you for your support. Peace, Love, and Many Blessings!

Next Event: Baltimore African American Book Festival – October 11, 2014

c festival final

Okay artists, writers, poets/spoken words artists, and book lovers: If you didn’t know, the Baltimore African American Book Festival (BAABF) is this Saturday, October 11, 2014 from 10AM-5PM at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

Presented by the National Literary Network Organization and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the BAABF will feature Trice Hickman (Best-Selling Author), Sheri Booker (NAACP Image Award Winning Author), Troy Johnson (AALBC.com Founder), Nikki Woods (Tom Joyner Morning Show Producer, Nikki Woods Media Founder, and Author), and Ella Curry (EDC Creations Founder). Other events include panels/workshops, kids activities, and live spoken word. The event is free and open to public.

I’ll have a table (#10) selling copies of Prevail and Exotic Shifter and will perform during the Spoken Word Hour from 1PM-2PM. My blogger buddy Marc Polite (Author, Blogger, and Founder and Editor in Chief of Polite On Society) and will be one of several authors appearing at the event as well.

So if you’re looking for a FREE event full of great edutainment, come check out the BAABF this Saturday in Baltimore, MD!

Peace, Love, and Many Blessings!

~ BuddahDesmond

Surrender (From the Forthcoming Chapbook, “Exotic Shifter”)

come to me
let me show you the way to my heart

come with me
let us escape to an intimate place where we can express
our love without restraint

stay with me
never let me spend another night alone

lay with me
so that our bodies, souls, and minds can unite as one

let us let go and let the wonderful beauty of this
bond take us where it may

let us go deeper than any lovers in the history of loving
have ever gone
let us go beyond giving each other our all
let us surrender
to the unwavering, insurmountable power of love

© 2014 BuddahDesmond

“Exotic Shifter,” My New Chapbook, Coming Soon

BuddahDesmond_ExoticShifter_SampleCover
Good news: my latest project entitled, Exotic Shifter, will be available soon! In a previous post, I mentioned that I’d been working on two new projects. The first being a chapbook, Exotic Shifter, and the second being my next full-length volume of poetry (with a tentative release date some time in late 2015/early 2016). Well, we’re in the final stages of the editing process and the chapbook will be heading to the printer any day now.

Exotic Shifter is primarily about love and relationships. As my grandmother says, “Love is a metamorphosis.” Love changes things… Well, love changes everything. It’s impossible that we go through life loving anything or anyone (ourselves, others, our communities) without being changed. The poems featured in Exotic Shifter examine the transformative power of love (and/or how we can be transformed once we learn to love ourselves and others better).

Exotic Shifter will be published by 2 Pens & Lint, whose tagline is, “A New Direction In Poetry.” As their website states, “2 Pens & Lint strives to create an atmosphere where poets can build and maintain financial stability through the art of poetry while simultaneously using their poetry as a catalyst for change in their communities and broader society.”

2 Pens & Lint is a company that is completely supportive of the art of poetry and ensuring that poets have the resources they need to continue enhancing their artistry, their platform, and their business (which in essence will impact their communities and the world). This is why I decided to pursue publishing my chapbook with 2 Pens & Lint.

Exotic Shifter will be available for sale on the 2 Pens & Lint website and from me at upcoming events. Stay tuned for more details!

As always, I thank you kindly for your continued support. Much Love!

Exotic Shifter Cover Illustration: Patricia Swann (my grandmother, who also created the cover illustration for Prevail)