{"id":637,"date":"2023-11-12T13:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T13:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=637"},"modified":"2025-02-06T14:03:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T14:03:15","slug":"a-reflection-of-my-lifes-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2023\/11\/12\/a-reflection-of-my-lifes-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reflection of My Life\u2019s Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COFFEE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Reflection of My Life\u2019s Relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By James Estwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a certain power about Spoken Word. Spoken Word can be whimsical, lighthearted, introspective, angry, vibrant, poignant, heartwarming, heartbreaking, loving, inspirational…yet overall, Spoken Word is deeply personal. Some, like myself, have to be in a certain mental space to write poetry; others do so easily, with grace and panache. Although people draw different experiences from it, no one can do Spoken Word like the poet. That being said, I bring to you James Estwick\u2019s Coffee: A Reflection of My Life\u2019s Relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estwick\u2019s collection came from the poems he wanted to share as an exhibit in an art show, the theme being \u201cConnections.\u201d For him this meant relationships. Like many of us authors\/poets, he had his concerns about putting himself out there. To do so meant being vulnerable, stepping out of his comfort zone. Once we do that, however, it empowers us and our passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured in his collection are the following: \u201cCoffee,\u201d \u201cSuicide,\u201d \u201cA Letter to My Younger Self,\u201d \u201cWatch the World Burn,\u201d \u201cRivers,\u201d and \u201cBloom.\u201d Estwick is intentional in the placement of each piece, designed to bring them full circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cCoffee,\u201d we see a relationship with his grandfather; the vivid memories of him, the questions never asked, what is held in the heart when someone significant in our lives is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuicide\u201d deals with self-worth, isolation, and the toll that hiding one\u2019s authentic self out of fear takes on a person\u2019s ability to love one\u2019s self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I read \u201cA Letter to My Younger Self,\u201d I thought of the It Gets Better Project. Everyone reading it will have a different experience of it; for me, as a same-gender-loving man of a certain age, I could have written that letter to my 17-year-old self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWatch the World Burn\u201d is so relevant to the events of today when everything seems to be falling apart, and yet there is hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connections of past and present in \u201cRivers\u201d have a bittersweet flavor when it comes to history as African Americans have lived it, the legacy that is with us today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cBloom,\u201d the sadness comes through about an unfortunate reality, where the memories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philandro Castile, and how they died are represented collectively front and center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned earlier, each reader will come away with something different in Estwick\u2019s collection, and I appreciate his creativity and the vulnerability in his work. I could almost see the exhibit as I read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coffee is available on Amazon and the Minnesota Black Authors Expo website, www.mnblackauthorsexpo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you, James, for sharing these stages of your journey, your passion, your hope, and bringing your unique voice and skills to this, our African Diaspora. If we don\u2019t share our stories, who will?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COFFEE A Reflection of My Life\u2019s Relationships By James Estwick There is a certain power about Spoken Word. Spoken Word can be whimsical, lighthearted, introspective, angry, vibrant, poignant, heartwarming, heartbreaking, loving, inspirational…yet overall, Spoken Word is deeply personal. Some, like myself, have to be in a certain mental space to write poetry; others do so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[100,308,92],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-lifestyle","tag-poetry","tag-self-worth","tag-spoken-word","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/A-Reflection-of-My-Lifes-Relationships-e1738850572383.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions\/640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}