By Jamal Carter

From: Cultural Weekly

Over the last decade, Mike Sonksen (Mike “The Poet”) has mentored emerging writers in a variety of locales from Cal State Los Angeles, Woodbury University, Southwest College, View Park Prep High School, St. Bernard High School, 826LA, Hillsides in Pasadena, with the Get Lit Players and also at the Stella Adler Theater. Mike’s new column, “Tomorrow’s Voices Today,” will feature essays, poems and short stories from some of his brightest students. Most of the selections will be current high school scribes, but a few will be from the college level as well.

The first student to be published is Jamal Carter. Mike’s former student from View Park Prep High School. Carter is now finishing his Bachelor’s Degree at Cal State LA and on his way into the Teaching Credential Program.

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Gaia’s Ghost Dance

Gaia, our beloved mother, such a beauty is she/ More breathtaking than a single tree, or anything intimately known to man, wouldn’t you agree/ No make-up needed, for she’s one of thousands and thousands of faces/ With more backgrounds than ethnicities and all human races/ From her arctic glaciers where she’s shrouded in white sheets of sleet/ to her dry, rough patches in the middle east/ Reminisce on her tropical jungles, petrified forests, and many stages of beauty/ Or move toward her waistline in Africa that can scorch feet rudely/

All imperfect aspects but working together near perfectly/ Still vainly trying to wrap my head around the vastness of the mind, that her body is mirroring/ But it’s futile.. Regardless, I forever thank the cosmos for her birthing me/ Allowing me to experience.. and absorb the highbeems to observe what I see/ Honestly, her love is all I need/

If you follow her physique, it’ll lead you to creep/ up to proud crowned mountains which fountain and peek, down at us all/ And if you continue your meddling, you’ll witness her reveling/ in wild rivers that wave, “hi”… As swift, fluid salutations to the sky/ She holds in oceans of emotions, but you know when she’s under the weather/ Because when she gasps and sighs, the subtle spirits of the winds ripple/ Read Rest of Article Here.