SKU: CF.CM9792

ISBN 9781491164631. UPC: 680160923540. Key: A major. English. Coty Raven Morris. Original.

The text for Dust came to me in a season of reflection. As educators and mentors to the generations that come after us, we have a responsibility to provide tools so that others can shape their future. Overtime, it can become easy to lose one's personal vision for one's self when influenced by so many outside factors. When the pressure builds, it can almost feel like a self-reckoning; an opportunity to build ourselves again. Though we are influenced by our surroundings, we are all unique in our purpose and design!These questions of self-reflection came first:How much of me flows from their blood?How much of me is built of their flesh?How much of me is manifested from their dreams?And just like our own identities, the rest of the poem begin to take shape. I hope that this text speaks to you wherever you are in your discovery and journey to your most authentic self.DustI am rubbleCarved into my ruins, you will find my ancestry interwoven with my identityHow much of me flows from their blood?How much of me is built of their flesh?How much of me is manifested from their dreams?The only way to my truth is through my foundationI rage against those who would dare covet this sacred spaceI am the temple and the monumentThis is holy ground.I must demolish myself.Tear down the walls that have held up your visions and destroyed mine.I must restore myself in my own image.And when the dust settles, you can see my bones.Pillars of strength, marble, and earthWalls painted with my blood, cracked with time, polished like my skin(Golden)I will not be complete, but I will be homethe dust settlesAnd we build again—Coty Raven Morris      .