You are more than half way home
if love is the lie you tell
yourself
and hide behind kindness
and bless everyone you meet.
Silence Needs to be Present
The older I get, the more I crave silence, and the more impatient I get with mindless talking, and people rehashing the same story ad nauseam.
There is hardly any public spaces where I can go and am not bombarded with chatter and noise, people talking loudly, sharing their personal business on cell phones, TV blasting the latest disaster, ceaseless and continuous babble.
I go to the spa and am soaking in the hot tub and people are there chatting away, nothing of importance, but filling the space because they are afraid to be quiet and listen to their inner minds. I am not interested in having a conversation while I am being massaged, and if there must be music ask my preference.
I am demanding that in all public spaces their are quiet zones, where talking in not allowed just like how smoking is not allowed –at airports, at spas, on various walking paths.
Maybe it’s because I am a writer and there are all these characters inside my head forever vying for my attention, and I can’t hear then unless I am quiet.
Maybe it’s because I think people should only speak when they have something important to say.
Maybe there is too much babble garbage in the world and I want to be spared such exposure.
Maybe because I do believe silence is golden and should be practiced regularly.
Maybe because I deserve down time to think and commune with my divide self.
Turn off your chatter.
Get to know yourself.
Enjoy the silence.
Healing the Human Heart – For the People of France
This flower is for the people of France, and especially to the city of Paris that has welcomed my daughter for five years, and a city I first visited 32 years ago and fell in love with. 
We must meet and celebrate everyone at the level of our common humanity.
Senseless violence seldom resolves anything.
We must open wide our hearts and work towards peace so no one, anywhere in the world
feels unsafe or is the target of attack. This should be our single greatest task as a people and as the world right now.
We have landed people on the moon, we have created devices to talk with each other anywhere in the world so let’s make peace happen. Let’s feed and clothe the world. Let’s create Harmony. 
The Poem Finds Its Own Source
downstairs
opposite the apartment
where I’m staying
i spy on a woman waiting
who is late
who has left her worried
anxious as she looks up and down the street
to her right and my left
is a man
sitting on a step
pulling hard on his cigarette
he appears bedraggled
unshaved
life it seems has not been kind to him
he has no money
no one wants him around
won’t help him anymore
he has no where to turn
but life is not through with him
he pulls hard one last time
on the cigarette squeezed between
his fingers then tosses the butt
on the ground and walks pass the
lady with home and things
wondering if she notices him
Istanbul 11/13/15
Let the Poem be a Whirling Dervish
When I was young and began dancing
I was taught basic rules:
in order to spin and twirl
spotting was essential to avoid getting dizzy and falling
in school when I was taught poetry
my teacher focused on the structure
last night the dervish dancer pulled me into his trance
his eyes were closed the entire time
and I could feel him in a zone of tranquil immersion
he was not dancing for the audience
he was connected to something more divine
and as a result I was lured into that space
of immense peace
and I was reminded that the true mission
of a poem is to descend or ascend
into a space where only the poem dwells
and twirl eyes closed
shutting all out yet welcoming
all in… Such dervishment
The Poem Finds Its Own level
How did the poem get here I wonder as I look around me at the 50 plus Spanish poets who are gathered and I am the only Engish/Caribbean poet?
How did I get here?
Through what channels did the poem travel to get here?
This is not the first time I am sharing my work among strangers who do not speak the same language or know anything about the Caribbean and always I’m amazed but gratified at the enthusiasm, that they identify, relate –the poems resonate with them.
i write about what it means historically, contemporarilly and socially to be Black and Woman and Caribbean — the legacy, and continuing on…our humanity and struggles to get here, to be here, to continue, and they hear and understand and identify.
What I know is I have to do this work and like water if I do it well with integrity the poems will find their place in the world and many already have.
Thank each and all of you for welcoming and receiving them
You Are Competent/You Have All the Know-How
Often, when we are faced with a new project or idea, one of our first concerns is whether or not we are competent, or have the skills necessary to accomplish the task.
I use my own life as an example. I never say no, which is how I got my first teaching job, designing a course I had never taught before, about people, many of whom I had not heard about before, and on a topic/subject about which I was only cursory familiar.
I was always just one step ahead of the students. It was the hardest I ever worked, researching and learning what I did not in a short period of time. But at the end of the semester, I had one of the highest evaluations for the semester. Saying yes secured me a full time contract the following semester. And just this week, a former student of that class 30 years ago, told me it was one of the best in her college career. Having said yes, I was not about to fail.
Since then I have said yes to things that have come my way and learned as I went along, happy for the opportunity and knowledge I gleaned along the way. I wrote about things that were not on my mind, but honored the request and in the process was rewarded.
This is how I raised my children to say yes to whatever opportunities that come their way and learn as they go along.
The truth is, everything that comes our way is an opportunity for growth and expansion so why turn away out of fear. You don’t have to know until you need to know, and as long as you are willing to try and learn there will be a teacher and/or guide present to help you along the way. And if there isn’t anyone, it is because you are capable of figuring it out on your own.
Remember, You are Competent and Have all that you need to do whatever comes your way, so before you say No or make excuses why not, just step into the Possibility and expand your horizon.
Thank You LaRhonda.
Sharing Your Gift
Although it is a cliche, it is also a fundamental true:
We all have a talent to share.
What do you enjoy?
What makes your heart soar?
What puts a smile on your face?
When do you feel your best, your strongest, most at ease.
For me that remains the classroom — it has always been my stage — and sharing my work with others.
Yesterday one of my students gave me the greatest gift: She said I was such an inspiration and that I should go around and motivate young people, college students, about life and the world.
I love my life. Each day gets better and better.
While there are many things that I still want to accomplish and seek the resources that would support this, I continue optimistically, daily.
Each day, I love the life I live.
I love where ever I am.
I love the people I encounter.
I am thankful that I am in such a great place in life.
I love the trees and flowers and birds and the natural environment that surrounds me.
I see all the minute beauty.
Yes, I am a motivator and I will continue to inspire!
New Attitude
I am the new me,
the best me that I present to myself
& the world.
I am the dream dreaming
the hope hoping
the idea implemented
into action
I am soliciting for my own dream
I am dreaming my own dream
I am dreaming into reality
my goals
my institution
my legacy
Live as if Your Life Matters
We are all connected to each other, and we never know when we will be called to be of service,
or when someone,
even a stranger,
will step forward for us.
Live each moment as it matters.
Life really demands so little of us.
What is kindness but a blessing to your heart.
What is generosity but the pattern of your breath.
What does it mean going the mile, other than flowing with the blood pumping through your veins.
Turn off the TV, and stop your exclamation about the tribulations of the various so-called celebrities.
Be your own celebrity. Be you own star and famous person.
Touch the plants your past, hug the trees and wave to the birds
You Matter.
Your life Matters.
Opal Palmer Adisa 