Theme: Moral Crossroads Life doesn’t always present clear right and wrong choices. Sometimes values clash. Sometimes silence speaks. Sometimes we justify what we know better than. Today we explore the tension between what we believe and what we do. ⸻ Prompt 1 – From the Outside Looking In Write a poem about judging someone else’s decision before you understood their situation. Explore what you thought, what you didn’t know, and whether your perspective changed. ⸻ Prompt 2 – At a Crossroads Write a poem about a moment where you had to make a decision without clear direction. Not knowing what comes next, only knowing you cannot stay where you are. ⸻ Prompt 3 – I Knew Better… And Did It Anyway Write a poem about a time you went against your own morals, justified something you knew wasn’t right, or chose convenience over conscience. Explore the why.

Ok let me get this straight Cause people use social media to try to rage bait See I'm trying to understand dating in this day and age So if I like you and I show it then I'm doing to much That if I'm in tune my feelings, then I'm considered soft And that ain't what a man does But if I act nonchalant then now I'm wrong and I ain't doing enough I get labeled heartless, an asshole and other things as such Like do you know what you want Better yet do you know what you need cause if you do then I'm all ears to hear it Or is all this just some type of science experiment We treat it like a game and we're all leveling up with bad experience points that should be used for don't and do's Instead we sit in an echo chambers of our broken views Recycling the pain of yesterday's news And on cue a person says you what's wrong It's that there's pee in the dating pool But what do you expect when we're turning over the same rotten soil demanding it grow something new So is dating the problem or is the problem with me and you "Griot of the 13 Court Guards" - BANKAI An'twion Shamar

Theme: Emotional Labor Some people don’t just feel their own emotions. They carry rooms. They manage moods. They translate tension. Today we explore the work that happens beneath the surface. ⸻ Prompt 1 – Who Taught You to Carry That Write a poem about where your emotional labor started. Not just that you do it, but who or what trained you to. Was it family, survival, culture, trauma, responsibility, or expectation? ⸻ Prompt 2 – Emotional Translator Write a poem about interpreting what people don’t say. Reading tone, body language, silence, energy shifts. Explore what it means to understand people before they understand themselves. ⸻ Prompt 3 – The Smile That Did Overtime Write a poem about performing emotions that weren’t real. The laugh that covered tension. The calm that hid chaos. The version of you that made others comfortable while you carried something else.

✨🙌🏾 LARON HENDERSON🙌🏾✨ @Laron Henderson, has reached the fifth resonance of the Aftertongue™ path the stage where words design. In the Guild of Lexicon, Level Five is the maker’s threshold: language becomes architecture, and sentences learn to bear weight. His consistency, precision, and emotional intelligence have strengthened the sound structure of this circle.

✨ This week, y’all been in your bag—staying productive while tapping into the National Poetry Month prompts. I see the consistency, I see the effort. Thank you for pushing your pens especially this month. ✨ Special Shout Out To Our TOP Three: @Ericka Floyd @Michelle Cox @Naomie Thomas Honorable Mentions: @Laron Henderson @Antwion Shamar @Tiara Nelson @Tierrah Nicole @Craven Smith @Brian Griggs @GhoZT STorieZ