Poem by Lyrical Faith

You will graduate from your Dream University predominantly. White institution.

HBCU, Ivy League, CUNY, SUNY, whatever it may be.

and when your pockets are empty, like slaves in the depths of your sleeves, and you’re running low on sleep, because all you can do is eat, sleep, and breathe your jaded American dreams just keep swimming.

You will still experience racism.
You will be young and black with a college degree. But yet, when you ask a white man for directions, he will walk right past you on the streets, or a woman will put her bag next to her on the train. You won’t be able to sit in seats.

They will follow you around in them stores with them cameras on repeats, they will still treat you like Emmet Till.

Like you don’t deserve to exist above the Tallahatchie and the Mississippi heats as if your skin is an excuse for them to hang you by your feet, and they’ll swing you below. H. 2. 0. In hopes of defeat. But when they do, I need you to keep swimming for me

You will lose hope.

You will lose friends ever be in your life, and others will come to an end. They will say you changed, even if you’re the last fish in the sea, if you’re about to jump in from overboard, and drowning is not a want to believe in.

It’s all too familiar, and this feeling will be the last breath of air that you breathe before you dive into a pool of your destiny.

You will swim long, just to remind you that the fish were hunting, slaying, and eating alive before they saw this day. You will swim like you are hungry. So staying afloat on this boat will be all the food you need.

You will drive, you will keep your head above water, they will try to suffocate you. They will try.

Believe me, there was only a matter of time, and when they do you will keep swimming.

Like your spirit was built to fly

Lyrical Faith is…

  • 30 years old
  • Female
  • African American
  • Straight
  • Middle Class
  • Christian

Lyrical Faith is a Black American Educator, Activist and Spoken Word Poet from The Bronx, NY. She has been featured at prominent venues such as the World Famous Apollo Theatre as well as colleges and universities across the country and globally. She is the 3rd ranked Woman Poet in the World as of the 2022 Women of the World Poetry Slam, a two-time Bronx Poet Laureate finalist, and the 2015 Syracuse University Poet of the Year. In January 2025, she was featured on four episodes of America’s favorite game show, Family Feud.

She’s a graduate of the Public Relations program at Syracuse University, a Masters degree recipient of the Higher Education & Student Affairs program at NYU, and a current Social Justice Education Doctoral student at UMass Amherst studying the intersections of arts and activism. Her work has been featured on NPR, Write About Now Poetry, Huffington Post Black Voices, and News 12 The Bronx.