My 2015

If Only You Knew

If only you knew
I'd already planned the proposal
And picked the people in our lives...
To help me pull it off...

If only you knew
The faces I made at strangers
In return for the looks they would give
When they saw us walking by...

If only you knew that...
Which every step I took beside you and
With every breath I inhaled,
I exhaled thank You Lord
For the visions He gave me
For us...

If only you knew
That the smile I smiled
While I was with you
Was nothing compared
To the smile I smiled
When I was all alone thinking about you...

But all that is in the past so...

I guess all you'll ever know is
I wanted you...
I needed you...
I had you...
Then I lost you
For reasons I still cannot
Wrap my train of thought around
As I continue to
Run all over my memories of us
And what we used to be...

For A Lifetime

For A Lifetime

I loved you
For a lifetime
In six short months...
From the birth of us
Through the life of us
To the death of what we shared
And I'm exhausted...
By the confusion and the lies
By the games...and the times when
I had no idea who you were...

I loved you
For a lifetime
However short lived
Every single bit of breath inhaled
Was a breath I was willing to give
And I took my time
To show you
Exactly who I am and
Exactly where we stood
Together with hearts connected
In a constant competition with self
To love you better tomorrow
Than I did today and
Than I ever could yesterday...

Yet I still fell short...
Because that lifetime of love
Only lived
On my side of us...

© 2016 Don Savant

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In The Dark

In The Dark

Our timing is off...
Like blown out light bulbs...
Me flipping the switch to
Receive no response from
What used to burn so brightly from within...
Smiles now dim like
Fully tinted windows...
Looking
Looking
With all my might
For what I used to see in you...

Our timing is off
No change of belt
Can remedy the rhythm that we've lost
Off beat
Like a rhythm-less dancer
In the streets
Making a mockery of himself
Yet
Refusing to
Give up that which sits inside of him
That tells him
He's a great dancer...

I still hope
In the darkness
That I can reach you
That I can...
Teach you how to love me...
Teach you teach you how to love me...
Because I can still see
The loveliness that lies within us
Even if
I've been blacked out
Of your life...

Poetry

Feeling Poetic

Praise God! So far this year, I have been in an absolute poetic zone.  In April, I released my 8th poetry collection, Love Skies.  Shortly after, I was approached by Diamond M'Press Publications and signed as their first and only poet.  I agreed to quickly produce another book to be published.  In May, my 9th poetry collection Truetry: Poetic Conversations was born and released...

Fast forward to now. 

I am on the verge of releasing my 10th poetry collection, This Is Love.  To be able to write so much new material is an absolute blessing; one that I do not take for granted.  

I have so many literary goals and dreams so I will continue to think, to write, to do...plot, plan and research releasing as many books as God places on my heart and in my spirit until the vision is complete.

Did I mention that I have another secret book completed that could have been number 10 but...I'm still debating and praying about releasing it.

Let the writing commence!

Love y'all.

- Don Savant

Baptism

Two days later, I still can't stop smiling.  Why? Because I finally got baptized. 

Getting baptized is something that I've always wanted to do, while being something that I've always been afraid to do.  Why afraid? Well, 1) because I was afraid that as a Christian I would not be able to live up to what being baptized means.  I'm yet still an imperfect man with faults, flaws and failures.  I don't have any expectations of ever being perfect but I'm smart enough to know and realize that God deserves my absolute best.  2) I don't like being in water.  I mean, I will wade through a pool up to around the 6 foot mark and work my way back but that's about all you'll get our of me in a pool.  Knowing that someone has me in their hands and that they are about to lean me back off of my footing to dunk my head in the water has always been terrifying to me.

Alas, this past Sunday, it happened.  Leading up to it, I was nervous and would think about nothing but qhat night go wrong.  All through church service i kept saying to myself that it was going to rain but God kept the rain away.  I though I may not be ready, that I should wait to do it next time one comes up...but then God took over my thoughts and my fear went away.

I was excited, pumped up and all smiles leading up to this event.  I was ready... until I got into that pool and my pastors were standing on either side of me.  So many thoughts engulfed me that all I could see and focus on was water and sky.  I even told my pastors, y'all better not drop me...which, in 3 feet of water, I'm not sure how that could possibly be a problem...but I'm also the kind of pool person that would not have enough common sense to simply stand up. 

So here I am.  The announcement of my baptism has been made...everyone is looking at me with smiles on their faces, my mom and sister are looking proud and just as they are about to push me back I say hold on! Immediately after I say it...I get an overwhelming feels of calm around me that says "I've got you".  With that confirmation I let them know that I was ready.

After coming up I felt a serenity that still sits with me right now.  Thank You Lord for blessing me with the opportunity to be amongst your baptized children.

It's Been A While...

I've been slack on my blog posts lately. It's not because I don't have anything to say, but more this heat has had me tired and burned out...essentially making me lazy. BUT!!! The Don is on VACATION and I am here to blog you to death if it comes down to it.

Stay Tuned!!!

It's Time For A Change

Black culture is a double edged sword. It is a gift and a curse to ourselves and the world. At some point, collectively, we need to realize that we are more than the pictures that have been painted about us. We have to learn that the best time to speak loudly is in situations where our very existence has been threatened. That is when voices should be heard. We should begin to humble ourselves and bring all things internally to the King by way of prayer and allow Him to guide us spiritually. We need to stop looking at each other, seeing what we don’t have and wanting to take it from them. Honest work will always be a source of great satisfaction because it means that you’ve earned something that didn’t come off of the back of someone else that put in work to get it.

The whole time the few on the top are trying to push the ones in the middle back to the bottom. The ones on the bottom are in constant survival mode trying to pull down those above them that are simply trying not to go back to the bottom not caring at all that then themselves are trying to get to the top as well. The ones on the bottom also do not realize that it’s not the ones in the middle that are hindering their progress because you see, the top controls everything. They could simply leave and show the middle that it is possible to get out of your situation but most would rather linger to rub in their faces where they are, never once sharing the knowledge of how they got there.
Things used to be for us by us but we are no longer investing our dollars in that sentiment. We’d rather spend a thousand dollars on someone sitting somewhere in an office plotting the next worldwide cultural ripoff, this making his even richer, than to spend a hundred dollars on a relatable face, and story that will get his family their meal that night.
What are we doing wrong?

We have the wrong mentality to make a difference. Most of our role models exist in movies, on tv, in rap songs that depict lives that most of the performers have never even lived. Everyone wants to be whatever the next hot song says we are. Right now, a love of our culture’s females proclaim that the want to be “Trap Queens”. This is what we want for ourselves?
Here’s some truth. If you’re trapped, you have no Queen in you. Everyone is the same. Rise up and be different. If you’re approached wrong, comply with the situation to diffuse it instead of agitating the situation to escalate it. After all is calm, then use your voice to amplify your concerns. We can ask for justice, for peace, etc. but we won’t find it until we find humility, faith and civility.

No one deserves to die and every life on this earth matters but for once, let’s stop running, let’s stop being aggressive... Let’s show other cultures that we can love each other because honestly, we have to. In order for anyone to truly love you, you must first have to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself or value yourself within your own culture and within your own communities, there is not another culture on this planet who will love you from the outside looking in if all they see through the glass is domestic and cultural hatred and violence administered amongst us.
Think about that the next time you decide to rob your brother or sister, of the next time you want to publicly assault or even take the life of your brother, sister, mother, father or whoever. It is all a sickness and we are in dire need of an antibiotic dose that will level us all out.

Want to do something!

Want to be somebody!

Want to change!

Want to be an example of change!

If this happens collectively, then there is something great that will erupt. If it can be shown that we are here, we are intelligent, we are patient, kind and willing; to work towards the goals we set for ourselves, we will see the plan that God has for us.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the way we’ve been going about things for centuries is simply not the way. It is long overdue for a moment of community communication in a forum where there is not arguing, no over talking one another or negativity towards ideas for solutions given.

The next time you pick up a gun to point it at your brother, realize that you’re killing yourself as well because if the appointed representatives of the law don’t kill you, someone on the inside that shares your same animosity towards life or towards the hand they were dealt; whatever it may be, will be sure to take you out. The change needs to start in our hearts, minds, souls, our finances, patronage, dependability, ability and willingness to work hard way past getting it done. Everybody has a dream and there is not a sane person breathing on this planet that can honestly say with an unclouded conscious that their dream is the have their life cut short in a random act of senselessness.

Our culture prides itself on respect, speaking that it has to be earned before it’s given but most haven’t, won’t and more than likely never will even have the respect for themselves that others must see before that handshake between brothers ever takes place.

Those of you who are on the top; the ones who made it. Don’t rub it in our faces, give is a claw up and show us that is can be done. Offer some sort of strategic advisory assistance that will show us the direction that we need to go and free us from the bondage of “I’m better than you and you’ll never be more than what you are”. This is a question completely build off of the back of opinion but please ask yourselves this. Which is the greater evil? The color of the skin on the man holding and pulling the trigger, or the fact that someone decided that this individual no longer deserved to live his or her life?
This applies everywhere. Police brutality, gang violence, domestic violence, random acts of violence. The saddest thing is, it’s all learned. It’s all learned and has been passed down from generation to generation. Our ancestors beat us down for not working hard enough or fast enough or for having the audacity to want to need rest from all of the work we were doing. We learned that telling on each other would give you some type of short lived reward and we watched our brother get beat while we smiled at being able to escape the same fate. We were disrespected, therefore we lost respect for ourselves and others. We watched our women get beat, raped and killed; having their babies stolen from them and sold. That taught us to disrespect our women, to discard our sons. The entire ordeal was a set up for where we are today, which in some regards, is no further away than where we are right now.

It’s time to change. It’s long overdue. Let’s start a movement of love, of honesty, or trust and respect, of civility, humility, faith and solidarity. It starts with us; our culture, our communities. Let’s build something that we can all be proud of and for once, let’s not destroy it or allow it to be destroyed.

Amen?

-Don Savant

Truetry: Poetic Conversations Blog Tour with Don Savant

Truetry: Poetic Conversations Blog Tour with Don Savant

But I Have To

There have been many times in my life where I've felt that I had no direction, no love and no support. I can go for days on end wondering who I am and asking why I'm here.  What is my purpose?  I've heard all my life that we are all here for a specific reason.  

Why?

Have you ever stopped to realize how powerfully infinite that word is?

Why?

That simple one worded, one syllable, three-letter question can serve as a rebuttal to every statement and every question ever asked.  

Why?

Tell a child something and you'll be confronted with WHY?...over and over again until they are satisfied with what you've told them.  When they reach that point of satisfaction, they move on to the next thing.

Why?

All my life I've asked that question as it pertains to my life.  Why is life so hard?  Why can't I get ahead?   Why don't I have this or that?  Why....whatever?  There have been many times when I wanted to give up because I just didn't know who I was or why I was here.  

There have been several times in my life when God has sent people into my path that conforted me and that have pointed things out to me that my woeful whys wouldn't let me see.  Some of those people are the reason I signed my first book contract.  

Looking back on that day, I can remember being extremely excited.  That excited lasted for at least two years as I signed another contract the following year.  I began to realize that no one really knew me.  I realize that a lot of the congratulations I received was just that and nothing more.  There was no real support. Not from friends, not from family.  Don't get my wrong, I absolutely appreciate every single person that has purchased one of my books.  The point I'm making is, there was more "happy for you" sentiment than there was action behind it.  That made the whys come back.  

Why?

There came a point where I realized that y love for writing was greater than my desire to be compensated for it.  My thought process and my focus shifted.  I decided that I was going to write no matter what, whether people made the purchase or not.  

Years later, here I am on the verge of releasing my 9th poetry collection.  Just typing that just now excites me because I have such a great passion for what I do.  People ask all the time, if I do spoken word and the answer is no.  Why?  Because even though I've been given the opportunity to do so, the timing hasn't yet matched that opportunity.  I don't quite feel that right now is when I' supposed to do that, if I'm supposed to do it at all.  Time will surely tell.

We do things in life for many reasons.  A lot of us do things because we can.  Some do them because we want to and others do things because they have to.  It's always a choice.  

Why?

Back on my 19th birthday, I discovered I was diabetic and was bordeline for high blood pressure.  At first it changed my life, but then I fell back into my old habits because I didn't think those things were affecting me.  

In 2012, less than a month after my 37th birthday I was hospitalized with congestive heart failure.  Of course, with such a diagnosis comes severe depression.  Through the hospital stay, through the recovery and through the complete lifestyle change, I continued to write.  I continued to share my life and my experiences through poetry.  

Recently, I've started back listening to motivational speakers.  One in particular and undoubtedly my favorite is Eric Thomas.  Something he says has stuck with me and it's one of the reasons I chose to write this is when he says that you have to find your why.  

I've thought this thing through many times in many ways and it's encouraged me.  I've always asked why as it connects to the negative things in my life.  But until I heard Mr. Thomas say it, I never knew that it could also connect the dots of my life in positive ways.  

My why is my life, it's my family, it's God, and it's my writing.  Those are the reasons I am here.  I ove and appreciate my life.  My life has not been perfect in any way but laying in a hospital bed on the verge of losing it has a way of making you appreciate it.  My family is everything to me.  From those that I see almost daily to the ones I haven't seen in years, I love my family with all that is in me.  God is absolutely the head of my life and it's because of Him that I have the gift and talent that I possess.  It's because of Him that I still breathe.  Writing has been my outlet, it's been my saving grace and the reason I feel I'm still sane though everything I've been through.  To be able to share it with others, having it relate to them and to have them be blessed by the words I share is a blessing.  

I have found my why...and now my I can, and my I will are both now my I Have To because my why is greater than all else in my life.  

"When you find your why, you find your reason for living".  -Eric Thomas

Ladies and gentlem, that is purpose.  

The Don Savant Library 2015 Edition

Truetry: Cover Reveal

Here is the cover to the upcoming release, Truetry: Poetic Conversations.  Kindle preorders happening soon!  Release date May 26th!

Random

Life is a winding road that we travel blindly, despite having the Light that guides us right there waiting to illuminate our paths...

Don Savant: The Next Chapter

It all started in 2008. Not knowing what to do or where to turn in my life, God sent some people my way that showed me something that had been there with me all along... Poetry. That was the year I signed my first contract and released my first collection of poetry. My second contract was signed in 2009. After a bit of disappointment with the process, I took a two year hiatus from releasing my work. I teamed with some very talented individuals in the meantime, releasing several poetry anthologies in 2011. I fell in love with the process of self-publishing and began releasing my own work again in 2012. Since then, I've been going almost non-stop.

It is now 2015 and on the heels of a brand new poetry release, I have signed a contract with a company that is run by some of the individuals that were both contributors and partners with some of the anthologies I published. Right now, I'm beginning to feel as if things are beginning to come full circle.

I've always believed that no matter how much talent you have, that talent is nothing without the right coaches and the right team. I can say that I have both in this company. On May 26th, my newest collection of poetry entitled Truetry: Poetic Conversations will be released under Diamond M'press Publications. Stay connected for the cover reveal that will happen today, May 11th 2015. This will be followed by Kindle pre-orders on Tuesday, May 12th 2015 and finally, the official release date of May 26th, 2015.

Are y'all ready?

The next chapter of Don Savant has begun!!!

Fresh From The Mind of Don Savant...

In Love By Now

I’m
Supposed to be in love by now…
I’m
Supposed to
Inhale thoughts of you with
Every breath I take
Refusing to
Exhale
The parts of you that
Make you…you

I’m
Supposed to be in love by now…
Hand in hand
Heart to heart
One soul...
As cliché as it sounds…
It feels right
It is…
Right
But as of yet
That feeling is not with me…

I’m
Supposed to be in love by now…
With my spirit
Doing the harlem shake
Every time I
Think of you…
Every time I’m
Next to you and
Every time
We make plans to do
What people in love do
When people in love do
What people in love do…

I’m
Supposed to be in love by now…
But the world insists that
Fairy tales don’t exist
Even when
God’s word says
That He who findeth…
And my mind is…
Torn between His truth
And my current reality
For all the times I’ve
Reached out to love
Only to
Find that my arms
Seem too short to
Get a firm grasp
Of the greatness that was developed
By God
Just to make me smile
An unending smile…

I want to be
I need to be
I long to be
I live to be
I love to be…
I’m
Supposed to be
In love right now…

©2015 Don Savant Poetry

‪#‎poetry‬ ‪#‎love‬ ‪#‎donsavant‬ ‪#‎truth‬ ‪#‎amwriting‬ @donsavant @PENAsheMagazine

Truetry: Poetic Conversations Coming May 26th

A New Home For Don Savant

Hello all,

I just wanted to let it be known that Don Savant has a new literary home. I've been doing things on my own for a while now and was approached by a team of individuals whom I have already built relationships with in the literary world about signing with them. I did not hesitate to say yes. With that said, I am proud to announce that I am now a part of the Diamond M'press Publications family.

Let the good times begin!!!

Prom Season

Prom season is upon us once again. It's a bittersweet time for me. I love to see all of the pictures of the beautiful and handsome kids getting dressed up to have a good time... But, it makes me sad that it's not my beautiful or handsome kid getting dressed up to have a good time. At my age, it should be: or at least it should be close to that time. Alas, I stand on the verge my 40th birthday and have not yet been blessed with a seed of my own to raise. By the loos of things, that may never happen for me...

This deeply saddens me.

-Don Savant

I Have Returned!

I apologize for my absence. I have been busy and my mind has been occupied by things that I should have been sharing here. I will try from here on out to share something at least once a day. God bless each and every one of you.

-Don Savant

Love Skies by Don Savant Coming Soon

New Poem by Don Savant

In My Own Shoes

In My Own Shoes

I've been
Drug through the trenches
Beaten senseless by
Daily occurrences...

With subjects and verbs I sit anxious
Waiting for the opportunity
To breathe again...
No matter how deep
How shallow
Or how long life will allow me to do so

I weep constantly
Not out of sadness but
In anticipation of the moment
That the plan God has for me
Will become clear
And oxygen fills my lungs more often...
So that my gasps of breath
Are no longer few and far between
And I can finally fly over the mountains
Whose valleys I've looked up from
Through each step of my journey...
Of trying to fit
Into my very own shoes

- Don Savant ©2015

Kiss And Say Goodbye

We could just kiss and say goodbye but what would be the point? Would it be to make sure one more time that our connection truly has died? Is it a subconscious selfishness that exists within you or me that is just begging for that last moment of contact to cherish forever? Did we really grow apart or did we purposely drive a wedge between one another?

If we do kiss just one more time, will it be the closure we need to say goodbye, or will it simply open up a portal of future what ifs to be played over and over again every time we see or think about one another from this moment forward?

A Glitch In My Happy

It took a very long time for my New Year to be happy again, even though it still hasn't been received on the same level as it once was. Why? Because on January 1st of 1994, I spent the evening with my family in the emergency room awaiting the news that my maternal grandmother had passed away. Since then, the fall/winter holiday stretch has not been my favorite time of the year. From Labor Day weekend, where I lost my maternal grandfather way back in 1978 to the middle of October when my paternal grandmother passed away. Then there's my oldest sister who passed away right at Thanksgiving and my dad who passed away on Christmas Eve.

As if that were not enough grief through sad memories to deal with, I find out today that my great-aunt has passed away.

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year