“Because of this mixture of traits, these twins called Genius and Madness often appear to be the same thing.”

And therein shines one major definition of what it meant to be Clinton D. Powell: someone who looked for, trusted in, and helped empower (if you will) the best in others.

Horror tore this world asunder. While inside the bleeding smoke and beyond the shredded weeping flesh we memorized tales of infinite good. -from The History Lesson

Whereas the insufficiency of a love neither sustained nor supreme cannot be ignored, the same should not be taken as cause to avoid one’s total spiritual contractual engagement to this world.

With my ninth mind I resurrect my first and dance slow to the music of my soul made new.

Because Mr. Mandelas early opponents invested so many resources into distorting the true nature of his advocacy

Love is our most unifying and empowering common spiritual denominator.

It becomes more and more difficult to avoid the idea of black men as subjects of not just racial profiling but of an insidious form of racial obliteration sanctioned by silence.

Others would say it was the triumphant meaningful way he lived that allowed him to rise heroically above absurdity.

Love, Mercy, and Grace, sisters all, attend your wounds of silence and hope.

Within the universe of the extraordinary, those qualities we designate to human concepts of gender are often shared, exchanged, or even completely obliterated.

War poisons the land Like diseased minds downloaded/ into bowls of tears.

When reading about what may be described as the lesser celebrated heroic figures of the Harlem Renaissance,

History dressed up in the glow of love’s kiss turned grief into beauty.

The act of writing itself is much like the construction of a mirror made of words.

Hope drowned in shadows emerges fiercely splendid–– boldly angelic.

They may have for their lives, or, exercising sufficient strength of will to make those dreams a reality.