INSPIRATIONAL VERSE FOR THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST

Soul Food for the Soul

Title: 
Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst [A Book of Poems to Feed the Soul]

Author: Artemis Craig

Publisher: Artemis Craig Publishing (Nov. 6, 2013

Genre: Inspirational and Religious Poetry

Paperback: $15.00   Pages: 64

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Inspirational-Verse-Those-Hunger-Thirst/dp/0989087603

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KXDLFGC
ISBN-13: 978-0989087605                 ASIN: B00KXDLFGC
Facebook: @inspirationalverseforthosewhohungerandthirst
Press Kit: https://inspirationalversebookepk.blogspot.com

Website: http://artemiscraigpublishing.com

Publicist: Marlan Warren  Phone: (323) 347-6762   E-Mail: roadmap.girl@hotmail.com

Summary:  Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst takes us on Artemis Craig’s firewalk from spiritual bankruptcy to redemption via compelling, heartfelt poetry and prose. Through the power of Faith, Poetry, and Love, she finds the strength to cope with Hollywood “failure”; devastating family losses; homelessness; single parenthood; attempted suicide and breakdowns. Her poems honor and reflect “the strong women of God” who wanted her to be saved, and serve as a testament to her “Never Surrender” determination.

Craig has risen out of the ashes of Hollywood as an evangelical poet who has walked through fire, and lived to tell her story.  ̶  ̶Midwest Book Review

Her poems are like devotions. Artemis Craig takes us on a journey through her darkest moments, becoming very transparent about her suicide attempts, depression and hopelessness . . . and Hope.

                       ̶  ̶Ellen Sudderth, ESP Literary Podcast

About the Author Artemis Craig was born in rural Birmingham, Alabama to a steelworker father and educator mother. The only African American in her class, Artemis graduated USC with a BFA in Film Writing Cinema/TV. She is a member of the Gifts of a Wordsmith group and performs at the Carver Theater’s “On Stage” showcase. Artemis is finishing her second poetry book, Southern Fried Comfort Food: Recipes to Encourage the Soul, and her first novel, A Little Taste of Death, a sci-fi murder mystery. She divides her time between Birmingham, Alabama and Newport News, Virginia, and is the mother of one son, Roderic, who is her inspiration.

EXCERPTS

Southern Fried Soul Food

Finger licking fried chicken, so good I chewed on a bone,

While Granny would tell me how

God would never leave me alone

To face life on my own

But would always provide tender loving care.

According to Granny, God would always be there

Faithful to show up when I was filled with despair.

She made sweet corn with bacon, the thick kind,

My mouth waters even now when I think of how

I crunched on the rind.

Back in the day with Granny making sure

The corn didn’t scorch or burn,

While I listened to her stories from the Bible

That I eventually learned

And appreciated enough to put them to rhyme,

So that I could cherish them as something

We shared as a moment in time.

I can remember her theory that a person’s soul needed to be fed,

Without reading the Bible, prayer, and having faith,

A soul would wind up dead.

Granny told me that God showed his love to us through deeds

He wanted us to do the same,

To do that we needed to exercise our faith

We need to believe in miracles

That had been performed in his name.

Granny warned me to keep God in my business

If I wanted to succeed,

And I believed just like her Southern fried

Soul food satisfied my natural hunger

I could find in God’s Word everything on which

My spirit needed to feed.

Life Not Mine to Save

One, one thousand, two, one thousand

Chest compressions like I’d been taught weren’t enough

Formed a seal over your mouth and into it blew a quick puff.

Stay with me! Stay with me! But you refused to wake,

Over again, over again the previous steps I’d vainly take.

Panic crept stealthily up along my spine

Clinging to my will like a choking vine.

Fear gripped me at the thought of your smile

Being gone forever,

Broken was the promise that you would leave me never.

The air sucked out of the room along with your final breath,

My life filled with gloom as you traded your life for death.

The relationship between father and daughter had never

Been stronger,

Sadly we were not fated to have our bond last longer.

Our journey together ended and family told me to be brave,

Though it’s hard to believe, your life was not mine to save.

Anger at God is all I can feel,

That along with the hope that somehow

This can’t possibly be real.

You’ve gone on to a better place are words I don’t receive

People ought to leave me alone while I grieve.

If I hear one more time, “I know what you’re

Going through”

Don’t judge me when I respond with, “How could you?”

Suspended in dark space filled with shame

Holding on to guilt for not saving your life

I feel I am to blame.

Away from me, Daddy, your body lies in the cold grave

It seems like only yesterday, try as I might,

Your life was never mine to save.

But mine to cherish in moments of panic and doubt,

To keep as memories when I feel trapped and can’t get out.

City of Angels

Came to the City of Angels to find love,

Ended up having to rise above

The fear that I would not succeed,

But I never forgot Granny’s advice about avarice and greed.

Got accepted into the University of Southern California

Film School,

I studied with top filmmakers which felt pretty cool.

God was good, I was on my way,

To have the world hear what I had to say.

City of Angels, land of opportunity,

Be a map and show me

The way paved to fortune and fame,

Make it soon while I’m at the top of my game.

Doors opened quickly in the film industry,

I learned my craft and couldn’t wait to see

The lengths I would have to go to make a movie.

Granny was elated at the news that I was doing well,

She always knew my grades before I had a chance to tell.

City of Angels, land of opportunity,

Stretched out before me, my future I clearly see.

Be a ray of sunshine shining bright,

Lead me to the place closest to heaven’s light.

Just as things seem to fall into place,

I ended up going to a very dark place.

Granny was taken in the dead of night,

I didn’t get to say good-bye and that was far from right.

We had been separated by two thousand miles.

I would have done anything for one of her smiles

For a single moment to help wipe away my tears,

And encourage me like she’d done for so many years.

City of Angels, land of opportunity,

The place where I searched for ways to be free,

I’m blinded by pain, my way I can hardly see,

Be an ocean and let me drown my sorrow in thee.