Biography

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Virginia State University, Virginia, United States
Dr. Latorial Faison is an American poet, author & educator born & raised in Courtland, VA. She’s authored & edited 15 books, including Mother to Son, Love Poems, 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History, Vols. 1-3 & The Missed Education of the Negro. Faison has degrees in English from UVA & VA TECH and a doctoral degree from VA State University. She's been published in Obsidian, PRAIRIE SCHOONER, Artemis Journal, Penumbra, West Trestle Review, RHINO, Typishly, Southern Poetry Anthology, About Place Journal, Southern Women's Review, Deep South Magazine, Chickenbones, Typehouse & elsewhere. A 2019 Furious Flower Poetry Center fellow, Dr. Latorial Faison is a recipient of the Tom Howard Poetry Prize, finalist & semi-finalist for the CAVE CANEM, HUDSON, Wheeler & Stevenson Poetry Prizes. She's been published alongside Iyanla Vanzant, Danny Glover & Dr. Cornel West in the NAACP Image Award-winning book Keeping the Faith. Dr. Faison teaches on the faculty at Virginia State University. www.latorialfaison.com

Monday, December 31, 2012

Don't Waste this Time


by Latorial Faison

Don’t waste this time
Making a New Year’s resolution
Or debating God’s creation
Versus Darwin’s evolution

Don’t waste this time
Observing thy neighbor
Or coveting blessings
And the fruits of their labor

Don’t waste this time
Concealing infamy or shame
Or fixating on circumstances
From whence you came

Don’t waste this time
Enabling negative seasons
Or giving permanence to gloom
In search of profound reasons

Don’t waste this time
Deferring dreams and goals
Or neglecting faith in promises
Of what the future holds

Don’t waste this time
Denying wisdom and truth
Or chasing all the joys
Accomplished during youth

Don’t waste this time
Resurrecting issues now dead
Or awaiting those words
Left unwritten and unsaid

Don’t waste this time
Contemplating love
Or debating revelations
And the hate thereof


Copyrighted © January 1, 2013 Latorial D. Faison

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