Weight

Hey Everybody,

I know that it is officially no longer MLK Day on the East, but better late than never, right? I’ve said this before, but 2009 changed my life. That year, I embarked on my Forced Exposure Tour where I said yes to as many creative opportunities as I possibly could, released my chapbook Ghosts & Echoes, etc. It also was a year where my personal life shifted substantially, and I got involved in a relationship that yielded some damaging results. It impacted some of my close friendships at the time, my family, etc., and I found myself feeling a number of intense things. Honestly, it was the closest I’ve been to being completely consumed with hate, and it was a pretty scary thing.

 

As fate would have it, I ended up rediscovering Martin, his work, and his words. I was blown away by how he, in spite of the deep turmoil he faced in trying to elicit change, managed to maintain his faith. I felt so dejected, because I was in a questionable place with mine, and up to that point, I had always been solid in that area. I had to examine what I could do to reclaim my core self and become the person that I knew I was again.

That journey allowed me to analyze Martin, and, specifically, one of his speeches. It deeply resonated with me, and after I read it, all of these questions hit me. How was he able to carry all of the weight? Just how physically, spiritually, and emotionally taxing was it to be in his shoes?  Those questions (and many more) are how my poem Weight started taking shape.

 

Fast forwarding, when I woke up earlier, I was thinking about the poem again and wanted to present it in a different light. I’ve not produced anything for myself in over a year now, and I just wanted to do something to play up the emotion of the piece. The result is this. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, you can download it for FREE. Share it, stay in touch, and my debut EP, Between Beauty & Bedlam, is available here: http://christianjcollier.bandcamp.com/ and here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/christianjcollier

Blessings