We've all been there haven't we? That point in life where you feel like all the world is coming down crushing on you, like you've tried so much but no good is coming out of it...we've all been there haven't we? Some of us are still there while some of us are headed there right as you read this...it is scary...yes it is dark and hopeless, it is heart-breaking and painful but here is the thing; just when you think that it is never going to get any better you are always one step away from that door that you've been working for to see it open. I understand how harsh and heart wrenching your troubles might be...right now someone is falling apart because of a love gone sour, someone is tired of looking for job, someone is sick of the family that awaits him/her at home, someone is tired of being broke or even struggling with a job...truth is we've all been here and we are all here but just don't give up on yourself...i know the world might be staring at you behind a clown mask but i want you to know you are stronger than you can imagine and if you just don't give up on that which you are fighting for then you are simply one step away from achieving that which you've been looking for...you are just one day away...i cannot assure you that when you wake up tomorrow you'll find everything in place but i promise that if you wake up tomorrow you will one step ahead of where you are today. Don't view your troubles as your punishments for they are not...troubles come to teach us endurance and remind us that we have something to live for. Always remember that when the going gets tough, the tough get going...when life gets tough be tough too...don't be blinded by troubles that might be awaiting you tomorrow...give each day its due and don't worry about that which you have not seen. So listen, for i want you to remember this, your greatest test comes when you are close to the end of your troubles and the harsher your troubles the stronger you are, for we all know that God cannot let you handle that which you are not capable of...so just promise me that you won't wait for the train that's coming from the end of the tunnel but instead you'll go for the light yourself...waiting for that light is giving up, going for it is being strong. Everything that has a beginning has an end and so are the harsh times too...don't close your eyes, just stay focused on where you want to be.
©g!o.inked

Okay I'll start with answering a question I'm always asked; "why doth my writing always emboss sadness?" Well here is the plain truth, Jim Morrison once said, "Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they are wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it." Truth is I don't take pleasure in pain, it's just that I adore diversity and since modern age poetry and writing is about love and heartbreaks, what makes me me if I dwell in that same circle? So I took the path of a wake up call, that path that people are assuming doesn't exist when daily we do know it is there. For example some of my previous poems talk about society pressure upon those who can blend in, we assume we are not killing them that they are the ones killing themselves and nobody wants to talk about them, so I wrote it. In this next poem called Cinderella and Prince Something talks about two leukemia victims who are teenagers and their last minute love.At first I really didn't want to share this piece with the world but then for the support of fight against all sorts of cancer, I have to...I hope you enjoy it or...you enjoy it....

Cinderella and Prince Something
The minute finger was echoing in her dark hope
Reminding her she was one of them at the bus stop
The ride of her lifetime assured of no return
Shivering in the arms of pain under her blanket
At fourteen, terminated and to be erased

She closed her eyes, counted her departing dreams
Every girl was usually rescued by her knight
Her mom found her dad and her sister, a boyfriend
She guessed her knight must’ve gotten lazy to armor up
At fourteen, she had never kissed a boy

She heard a mild, nervous yet a beautiful voice
She didn’t open her eyes for she knew it was a trance
With dashing hopes she hoped it was her chance
To be rescued and for once feel an embrace of a boy
At fourteenth count she opened her eyes to a beauty

He was sixteen with blue eyes that outstood his bland skin
With a frozen smile he told her she was beautiful
Strangest word from a stranger yet familiar from the family
I see Horoscope lied when it said cancers can’t love each other
At fourteen, she finally felt she belonged to this world

She became a Cinderella and he was prince something
He took her to two dates and a masquerade party
While others were clothed as monsters and princesses
They went as two leukemia patients with no deceit
At sixteen minutes to midnight she finally had her first kiss

After her first kiss she never heard again from him
She got angry when she thought she wasn’t cute in bald
Or maybe her lips had a savor of blood she had puked
Or maybe it was midnight and she outgrew her shoes
At fourteen, she had sixteen minutes of love

An ocean once serene turned to a sad song
The only tune she knew ended before her first dance
Others hated life while to them life was a riddle
It was something in his smile that gave her strength
It was his smile that made her live fourteen minutes longer

Her silence bled regrets of joy she robbed her family
She was worried of watching them troubled by her
So she asked for one last sunset to kiss her goodbye
So she asked for one last sunset to kiss her welcome
Fourteen and sixteen dead but with beating hearts

Four minutes away still your tongues reading this
Three minutes away she smiled hopelessly
Two minutes away she hugged her family
A minute away she hugged her prince’s absence
No minute away she found him waiting for her

He said to me, “You leave while we wait.”
She said to me, “You live while we fade.”
©g!o.inked

Most of us fail to be what we want to be because we don't have that one person who believes in us. We are surrounded by family and friends who thinks we aren't good enough or keeps on reminded how we tried and failed or maybe even reminds us of what we used to be instead of reminding us where are going. These kinds of people are nothing but poison to your thoughts and the more you give them your ear, the further you draw yourself away from where you want to be. Don't be the block in other people's path to bring something to the world. Be the reason others rise to greatness. Remember when you help someone to get up, you are basically not helping them but cushioning yourself in case you fall tomorrow. Everybody needs somebody to believe in them if they are to achieve their dreams. So when you hear a friend says he/she wants to do something...as long as it is good, instead of reminding them how the industry is competitive or maybe how he/she does not have the required skills or maybe how the economy is not on their side...believe in them even if you see no reason to believe in them. Even a fire requires a spark first for it to ignite. It is not the skills that we have at the beginning of the journey that determines the end of the journey, but the passion we have before we make the first step. And if we can keep that passion alive, then the skills will come as we need them and when we need them. Everybody needs somebody to believe in them. It maybe a child from a poor background who wants to be an astronaut, a junkie who desires to be drug clean, a harlot who wants to have a happy family, a friend who wants to start a business, a brother/sister who wants to be big in life, a patient in grave conditions who wants to be well, a broken heart who yearns to find true love...everybody needs somebody to believe in them. Great is the faith that we have for ourselves but greatest is the faith we have for others. So stop reminding others of can't(s) and past falls and keep them focused to where they want to be.

 When I started my writing or let's say when I fell in love with literature, I had no expertise totally in this field and to me it was like going to a battlefield with a passion to win but with no armor or spear. I was venturing into a field where people have been studying for years unlike me. Before I took my first step into this I recall I had read only one novel in my life and I did that when I was like seven years old. In high school, literature was never my favorite subject and as a matter of fact I never liked poetry totally. My first poem that I wrote called Sing My Little Nightingale, I wrote it from just studying a poem's structure but not reading. So I am basically a perfect example of you don't need skills to begin a journey, all you need is passion and people to believe in you. It feels amazing when you believe in yourself but it is ten-times more amazing when you find someone who believes in you. Nowadays people read my poetry and stories and other writings and they tell me how great I am...it feels nice yeah but each time I remember those who believed in me when I started the journey. To the furthest I have come, I owe it to my dad who always had a way of having me around books. My best friend Soph aka Gabby Dans who always believes in every step I make plus always seeing the best in me and her sister Mercy who fell in love with my writing before even reading anything yet lol. Hannah who after reading my diary one day suggested that I should write a book and pressured me in my poetry during my first days. My half-brother Fred Harrison for one silly comment he said that my writing will take me places. My homeboy Teddy, the only person who has always encouraged me and saw me as a genius always even when I was not. Tania Jayme, my really good friend who gave me the first resources and a strong kick in the butt to be serious with my writing, she always saw my writing posted in horizon even I had no hopes. A lot of people can now enjoy and live from my words because of these amazing people among others who believed in me when I doubted myself.

We all need somebody to believe in us and on our behalf and not to forget we too need to be that person who believes in others too no matter the situation..
©g!o.inked

So today marks my dad's birthday and i wanted to take time and thank God and for the prize of dad He gave me and since today is my dad's birthday and i could not afford to buy him a plasma TV or a car i wrote him a poem to show my appreciation and love...not to brag but i think i have the best and i would not mind to brag about that neither, for he managed to play a role that most fathers have failed. It is because of him that i have become a man and a son i am today.





Four-to-Nine Steps
From the primary thought that you needed me
For nine months you ensured my safety in mom
Patiently waited to see your likeness in your arms
And you rejoiced when you heard my first cry at last

You watched me peel like a bud to a flower
Like a farmer you cultivated me with patience and hope
Though weak, you held me strong when drought threatened
Gave me all of the least that you called yours

Every weekend you’d always take me on long walks
Sometimes I wished I could tell you I was tired
But I was just a kid and never understood why
You knew I’d grow away and you wanted to be with your son

I still remember I used to weep while you went away
I was scared of who would protect me
And when you stayed I’d want to be next to you
For it is by you that I felt safe and loved

You taught me how to forge my strength in life
And not to forget my humanity lest I die alone
I never had a mom like all of my friends
But you played the role better than I could ask for

The world finally robbed me off your arms
But you did not fight nor fear of what I may come
You trusted me to handle whatever thrown at me
And for your faith in me I thank you dad

Now I have grown into a man you smile with
When I look in the mirror it is you I see
And in my heart’s place I can feel it’s yours beating
Wherever I end up dad I still treasure you the most

From a distance it may look like now it’s your sun set
But instead brace yourself to watch your son rise
As you turn forty-nine today HAPPY BIRTHDAY
For I smile ‘cause you’re my father, my dad and my home.
 © g!o.inked

So I decided to try my hands on classic poetry, I know my Shakespeare English is a bit rusty but at times it is fun to try your hands on new horizons. The poem below was a random thought of love and if i met love today, just to have a cup of coffee with her, what would i tell her and thus the born of this thoughts.  

 

Oh love, Oh love how wretched is thy plans

Permit me to say "I do" to thy sister hate

For the benefits of pain that are to me well-known

Thou clothe thy nightmares with scintillating promises

That thou shall bestow me happiness eternally

But thy eternal lasted only to the edge of my cradle

People are looking for thee yet thou art the loneliest

I won’t wear thy ring which is just a manacle on my finger

Hope and Faith thy sisters have consistently deserted thee

That’s why thou leave matrimonies with divorce papers

Oh love, Oh love my beloved old acquaintance

Why doth a married damsel look for thee in cellars secretly?

Why doth a husband look for thee in alcohol bottles?

A perfect matrimony thee said guaranteed torn apart

Oh love, Oh love fools keep thee in wallets for safety

Then thou send beauties of the night to rob them with thy pleasures

Our last encounter thou robbed me my only beating heart

Now thou try to squeeze thyself in my only breathing lungs

They cannot beat my dearest love thou art chocking me

Oh love, Oh love allow the Nightingale to soar away

For the lonely bird only find peace in pleasures of pain

That never promises happiness with promises to be broken

Oh love, Oh love how wretched is thy plans

  © Giovanni

Bible taught me that I'm never alone
Jesus taught me cry now laugh later
Athletes taught me sweat it to get it
Marie Curie taught me nothing in life is to be feared
Eminem taught me being different don't equate to being a unable
Marylin Monroe taught me company don't equate to happiness
Shrek taught me beauty isn't everything
Smallville taught me being unique isn't a curse but a gift
My dad taught me never give up hope as long as you are still alive
Joyce Meyer taught me when you go through hell it doesn't mean you are a mistake
My friends taught me don't get wasted where there is a camera
My teachers lied that life is hard yet they taught me things that don't help
Spartacus taught me find your reason for living and be willing to die for it
My neighbors taught me don't trust nobody
Tom and Jerry taught me animals keep the best company than humans
Johny Bravo taught me when you see a cute girl, fuck rejection go for her
Niccolo Machaivelli taught me destroy your ground for you to rise
Bob Marley taught me weed is the only thing that can separate reality from reality
Rihanna taught me people will always talk so just do you
William Sahkespeare taught me speak gibberish and people will think you are smart
Life taught me its a bitch but at least she is the sweetest...