Read Poem: Ribbon Ceremony by Zawadi Eaton

Agonizing Soul, I Cut THE RED RIBBON TO FREEDOM. Releasing the anguish of my dark past, I’m no longer paralyzed from the lies that held me bond. The walls of Jericho have crumbled. My stony heart has turned to joy. My heart rejoices in the rhythms of our ancestors drums. My river of tears are dried up, My Face, scarred of contaminating acid of demeaning words.

I Cut THE RED RIBBON TO FREEDOM. My Voice is boundless; unmuted from the Trauma; shout songs of praise, underground Negro Spiritual hymns “Song of the Free”. The River runs red with my blood. Flowing freely down the Nile bank. The lotus, the regeneration of life, the refreshing spring cleanses my soul.I found peace, and now, I rest on mellow grass.

I cut the RED RIBBON TO FREEDOM from the venomous words, spoken from the fragmented heat. I release the restricted, expectations, unrealistic Cinderella…