Catharsis: Poetry and Prayer

“You and I
Are not what we seem
We were left behind
Given time
To realize our dreams…” Taken from You and I, by Zoya Smalling

I remember when my 14 year old brother died tragically in 2001. The news was delivered in a small quiet room of the hospital, the moment my world fell apart. I walked around like a zombie for 10 days.
It was 10 days later, I started to heal when I wrote the 1st poem I had written since his death. Although it took a long time after that first poem to feel normal again, that poem was the beginning of true mourning.

“I apologize
For not mourning you
While we were still alive
Leaving you to the rhythm
Of your own mind…” Taken from Apology, by Zoya Smalling

I had been a member of the poetry community for 3 years before my brother’s death. Writing was something we had in common.
He rapped and wrote prose. I wrote songs and poems. Being only a year apart we were competitive too. He couldn’t let a girl beat him while I could not allow my younger brother best me.

“After years and years
I still feel you in my breath
There’s not a sound
That compares to your voice in my head” Taken from Underneath the Willow, by Zoya Smalling

While we were each others biggest critics privately, we were also each others strongest supporters publicly.
We rushed to show each other new pieces of our own work we thought were absolutely inspired.
“I wonder if you knew
The effect you had
When you left
The Sun grew grey
I gasped all night
Beneath A willow
And prayed...” Taken from Underneath the Willow

I am proud of a few that have significant meaning to me. Many times, the poems that are lauded by the poetry community are the ones that leave me puzzled as to what others see in them. Such is life.

“...Please come back
And pull the trigger
Pain is such a slow way to die
You’re my heart
And I’m a prisoner
Of the only thing I ever loved in life” Taken from Underneath the Willow

Poetry is a catharsis for me. I channel my emotions unto paper. I explore the little creases of my mind. I talk to God. A poem is many times like a prayer.


“For this is all
I have ever known
I want to be found in your presence
Make your will my home…”


My Bible Study Community is like my second family. We talk about everything; Love, faith, sex, politics, gifts of the spirit, relationships, true Christianity, and bible stories.

We pray together. I have seen people join or visit the group with some serious ailments like cancer, and through prayer and fasting, the person was healed.
This is the first time in all my Christian experience that I have witnessed such faith and results.

My favorite part in our meetings is the praise. The sounds of the drums, tambourines, maracas, and clapping fill our meeting room while we sing.

Overall, we are seeking the same thing in life and understand each others struggles, because of our varied experiences and walks of life. We are not all the same denominations, if at all. The study group is open to anyone interested in participating. Although we meet 3 times per week, we keep in touch with each other through out the week.

A Corporation's Responsibility to Employees

In order for a corporation to succeed, it must have a steady workforce to meet the demands of customers. This steady, uninterrupted service in turn creates the appearance of a fluid stable company in which customers can trust.

With so many other companies vying for the best employees to service their business, the art of employee retention is built on basic expectations of employees. Corporations can tip the balance in their favor of attracting and keeping the most qualified minds in the field by offering proper compensation, a safe work environment, and employee appreciation.

Paying an employee a competitive salary in their field prevents the company from losing talented contributors to their business success. An employee at Company Y that is assured that company X across the street is not offering similarly qualified peers a heavier paycheck with the benefits to match, is much more likely to stay focused on the job at hand with a smile. On the other hand, an underpaid employee will find every usually reasonable job task to be overly burdensome, since they are ‘not getting paid enough for this anyway’. The harbored resentment at the cheapskates who “expect me to do everything around here without acknowledging the contributions I have put into this slave ship” will no doubt show in the employee’s demeanor and drive away customers before the employee follows suit.

If as an employee, you have ever been in a situation where you felt the working conditions were unnecessarily unsafe, how long did it take you to start putting in your application elsewhere? Keeping employees safe shows respect and care for them as people. While some jobs come with a natural and expected risk of injury, employers can offer security by providing adequate on the job injury compensation.

Employees want to feel that their efforts are appreciated and that they are a valued asset to the company. When praised in the forms of a bonus, raise, or even a proud word and smile, employees are given incentive to continue working at a level of corporate satisfaction. Furthermore, the employees will double their efforts when necessary to ensure their work continues to be valued by the company.

Employees, who know that their efforts are appreciated, begin to value the company outside of a paycheck. As they feel themselves to be major contributors to the company success, they will advertise for their corporation. While telling friends and family about the great products or services the company offers, they are feel they are in essence recommending themselves. This form of self advertisement flows easily and frequently from the lips of the appreciated employee and benefits the corporation tremendously.

A corporation advertises itself to potential customers every day through their employees. An corporation that makes sure employees are is satisfied with pay, feels secure in their work environment, and knows they are important to the corporation will not only ensure customers are kept, guarantee that more are drawn by the positive demeanor of employees.

Hurricane Katrina: Are the buses here yet?

"Are the buses here yet?" This was said by an old woman sitting on the side of the road. She said this about a half hour before she was found dead in her seat, with the hot sun beating on her. Before she was pushed into a corner with the other dead bodies, her son pinned his contact information on her. He then went back to waiting for the buses that would save him and the crowd of thousands on the point of death. Without food, water, a bathroom, and with the smell of death and feces filling the air, he was waiting for a bus that never came.

More than 1,500 people died in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. The media calls the event a tragedy. It is tragic that reporters were able to go in amongst the people to deliver heart wrenching reports of starvation and death. Tragic that camera crews were able to drudge through the devastation on the streets that only a month before had been bustling with the day to day activity of the same people who lay dying. Yet, agencies of the Federal government found it too dangerous to drop food and water from their planes. Why? The unholy mob of starving people prevented them. Never mind that they had guns and only had to hover above the crowds to bring them life saving supplies. These were a few of the same supplies that were dropped repeatedly in Iraq; while people below were shooting at them and stomping on the food in protest.

The government failed to protect the people from the disaster following Hurricane Katrina. People did not die because they were too stubborn to get out of town. They did not die from Hurricane force winds. They died because the Levees of New Orleans failed in over fifty places. These Levees should have been able to withstand Hurricane Katrina. People died because the government failed to protect its citizens from a flood caused by its own carelessness.The Federal Flood Protection Act of 1965 clearly shows that the government takes on the responsibility to protect citizens from floods. The measures they took by building levees failed impart to poor construction. Since an error was made on the part of the federal government, it is not unreasonable for the federal government to assume responsibility in reversing as much as possible the damage done due to its negligence.

Government assistance of providing food, water and shelter can hardly be considered unreasonable when it is such measly reparation for the cost of human suffering it has inflicted.

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