As a kid,
Daddy painted
my face
with stripes
with war markings
with symbols
with faith
with hope;
felt
like a strange
baptism.
Now, the water boils,
and I grow impatient
with incremental change
and small offerings.
This season
never ends; it is always a fight
to belong (overrated).
I smile
and bury myself
in verse
until I break
free—the crosshairs are allergic
to my generational
limp.
“A Limp to Fear” is featured in the poetry collection, Kufis and Cornrows.” The book can be order from the official books section.
Published by Synnika Chizoba Lofton
"Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award winning poet, the president and CEO of Guerrilla Ignition LLC, host of a Nationally Syndicated radio show, and an educator, teaching literature at Chesapeake Bay Academy and English courses at Norfolk State University. Lofton has recorded more than one hundred and fifty CDs, albums, CD-singles, and mixtapes of poetry, including his highly praised debut, The New Breed. He is the author of twelve books and the founder of Riot Speech, a musical genre combining performance poetry with traditional musical forms, such as Rock, Jazz, and Hip Hop. His poems have been published in Experience Reality Magazine, Quay: A Journal of the Arts, UpStreet: A Literary Magazine, and, in 2014, Lofton has been featured in Blind Sided Magazine. He is a regular on Virginian television programs such as The Hampton Roads Show and Chesapeake’s Thinking Out Loud on WCTV. He teaches World Literature, British Literature, and Composition, while touring the country, performing at literary festivals, musical festivals, poetry readings, open mics, concerts, high schools, and colleges."
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