Double Lines: For These Times (PB) (2022)

This work is a collaborative effort between my nephew and myself. Probably somewhere around 2007 my nephew and I began sharing poetry with one another. I always appreciated and really enjoyed his work. Back in 2017, after our conversation about psoriasis, a skin condition that I dealt with. He said, Auntie you are God's pink leopard. He then followed it up with a poetic work, The Pink Leopard, that truly inspired me to subsequently complete my version of The Pink Leopard the next day. The Pink Leopard is a very special work because for the first time I took courage and gave the skin issue (psoriasis) center stage. I talked about how I needed to embrace my skin, whatever state I was in, and I learned to view myself as a The Pink Leopard. I imagined a pink leopard, powerful, rare and beautiful because of how different she is. Both versions, powerful and vulnerable left a great impression and beautiful memory of how when truth and power collide it can be so kingdom. In September of 2021 I reached out to my nephew to suggest that we do an entire work with same titles for each work and with our two different perspectives, one being female, and the other male. My nephew was delighted so we agreed to go forth with this new work. I then invited our niece (who is a singer/song writer and poet) to complete an Onward summary for our work. She too was delighted. So here you have it - Double Lines...for these times. We know you will have a take-away or two from our work - enjoy!!!