#30for30

Kendrick Lamar and SZA have been making waves together recently, particularly following SZA’s standout contributions to Lamar’s album, GNX, and their announcement of a co-headlining tour for 2025. Now, Kendrick has made his mark on SZA’s new project, LANA (SOS Deluxe), by delivering a guest verse on the track “30 for 30.” This collaboration marks the only feature on the album and is packed with…

"dedicate a poem to your most recent teacher, who changed you with their lessons."

this is not a poem but a free write reflection

mx. sobriety continues to teach me a new lesson every year

a new lesson every heartbreak, every season, every circumstance

sobriety strengthens my discernment

sobriety strengthens boundaries with myself and with others

i protect my sobriety at all costs

emotionally, spiritually, somatically, mentally

if an environment, person, energy, connection makes me feel high, drunk or addicted that is a sign for me to fortify my protection and to keep a distance or cut ties

my sobriety keeps me safe and well

my sobriety keeps me connected and grounded

sober people, energy and environments give me a sense of safety

this is how i know i can trust someone, trust their intentions, trust their ability to show up, trust their actions, trust their Spirit

and if that's not possible, i send love and go along my own way

4.4.23

30 for 30 decolonization through poetry

day 4: “how does your body reflect the lands you come from and the lands you live on today?"

i am the water from the tal-talon (rice fields) my grandparents farmed

the basket woven by my great-grandfather after carving the bangka (canoe)

i come from many earths but i'm probably a cowrie

traveling far from home off the shores of naha

turned pebble in the darkness of the so-called atlantic

shape shifting jellyfish off the coast of the cree-muskogee

who most likely a honu • pag-ong • sea turtle all along

my body is the land is where i like to take naps

resting on my favorite sand then retreating into my shell

riding waves with no timeline or urgency

just a mermaid with many names and callings

30 for 30 decolonization through poetry day 2: “what is the magic you were taught to forget, but you are remembering and practicing?" --

when i return to the ocean again and again

i call my 4 year old soul back from when she was taken and

i call my 13 year old soul back from when she refused to leave the cowries among the coral

this is a constant mending between my heart and the sea

a ritual where i cannot tell the difference from my tears and their waters

--

east china sea • philippine sea • what is your true name?

surrounded by the warmth of your depths

you are the only place and being i have ever fully trusted

even now in the pacific, off the westside and north shore of this island

you still remind me how possible it is to soar high

flying by floating behind your barrels

rising with each of your inhales and exhales

i can surrender

held here with all my loneliness

longing for safety in this body

longing for comfort with some.body

some.day on earth

will i get to rest easy and lean on them too?

feel as calm and at peace like i do in your waves?

--

this sand made of thousands of the tiniest seashells

hugs my skin cooling off heat from the sun

such flagrant evidence of your affection for the land

by bringing stardust to her shorelines every morning

and marking her cliffsides each sunset and moonrise

--

when you return to the land again and again

and

when i return to the ocean again and again

30 for 30 decolonization through poetry day 1: “write a poem that tells the world who you are in this very moment.” --

i am wanting

waiting

for the spirit i am becoming

i am tired

of flying into wildfires

only to return with ash

from grieving our star kin

these minuscule crystals sleep in my palm and

must be mixed gingerly into fresh sugar cane water

i pray it is enough

to surface the markings of the chosen ones

tap tap

we

are the ones

i am. among you

here to unearth what we'd almost forgotten

beings from galaxies and oceans beyond

this multiverse cannot fathom

tap tap

download the sunrise into this vessel

ancient melodies breathing light into our temples

remember how water flies freely as song

i am everything and nothing

tap tap

weaving constellations that detonate lava

brighter than the rage of sacrificing our slumber

for the new earth we are building

i am wanting

tap tap

waiting

tap tap

for the love(r)

spirit

warrior