Fetters Into Wings

Still and calm now is my night
Your words and your truths, my guiding light
Even though my enemies still choose to fight
Yet there is sweet peace in my valley tonight

How can poetry help us deal with trauma? How do we turn our fetters into wings?
Fetters Into Wings is a collection of poems on life, relationships, and social issues. There are poems that protest police violence against Black men, that celebrate the rewards of long marriage, that highlight the importance of friendship, excellence, and imagination. Whatever the subject, Fetters Into Wings ultimately celebrates our existence-what it is, what it can be, who we are, who we can become-as well as the source of our lives; God. Illustrated throughout, each poem is followed by the author's story of what inspired it.

"I can't breathe" were our Black brothers' cries,
Their last words before they closed their eyes.
Everyone stood and watched in horror,
Wondering, "Who will it be tomorrow?"