Is There Brilliance in Resilience?

By Tier King

Is There Brilliance in Resilience? is about that down-to-earth homegirl whose resilience takes you for a walk during a pep talk in a relative way. It gives words to the unexpressed.

It is an honest book of poetic stories about family tragedies and life experiences that will rock you, shock you, and get in your face. It will allow you to feel and to share the depression, the extreme grief, and even the relief from the constancy of it. It forces you to look deeper into the lost and the broken to define it and to then empty it out and to refuse it. Yet the survival through it all teaches us to stand up to anything that breaks us down. It is a brushing of ourselves off. It is a taking of our lives back that is so therapeutic and necessary to our well-being.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524567392

Tier King

Tier V. King is one of the many Bakers, which is a large proud family of beautiful, intelligent, and strong people. Of the immediate family though, Tier is the fourth child out of nine children. They are all belonging to two excellent parents who were perfect examples of what a loving marriage and family should look like or be like. Tier started working really young, about eleven years old. Her father ran a successful family business. So working hard to enjoy a good life was taught young throughout the family. In fact, one of the descriptions that Tier enjoys is being a workaholic because she enjoys working hard and staying employed. So straight out of school, she was determined to maintain a good employment history, and she did. However, the one constant observation of Tier was her ability to write. She spoke well, explaining different episodes of her life, and anyone she shared this with always stated, “Your life is so incredible. You must write a book about it. It is a story that must be told!” Yes, Tier knew that she endured much and was saved many times by God himself. God stepped in each time using his saving power in ways that would unmistakably reveal his love and attention to all human matters. She had a responsibility to share these miracles. Is There Brilliance in Resilience? is Tier’s first book. Its poetry is bits and pieces of her life that expresses some of the tragedies that caused her dejection and potential ruin. She has said, “I wrote the poetry because during the shocking parts of my struggling life, I heard poetry. So I’d scurry to write it down so that when I finally write my life story, the people who read both books will notice and get what I meant in certain poems. Yet the poetry is a reminder for me of some of the happenings that I wish not to forget to include when writing my biography.”

Book preview

Is There Brilliance in Resilience?

By

TIER V. KING

ASEM

Copyright © 2017 by Tier V. King.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 08/31/2019

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

753879

CONTENTS

POETRY ABOUT LOSS AND GRIEVING

1. MISCARRIAGE / SHERKIA VERLEESE KING

IN MEMORY OF MY DAUGHTER, SHERKIA VERLEESE KING

Written by Tier V. King

2. YOUR BIRTHDAY / MY WORST DAY

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

3. STILL

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

4. FADED DUFFEL BAGS

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

5. SEPTEMBER 03, 2013 / LABOR DAY

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

6. CHARNEZ

IN MEMORY OF MY NIECE, CHARNEZ LEE

Written by Tier V. King

7. TODAY

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

8. EXTREME LOSS

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

9. FEELINGS ON THE DAY OF FEBRUARY 18TH

IN MEMORY OF HER BROTHER, TYRENE QUNINDELL BAKER

Written by my daughter, Taylea Teonna Baker-Reeves

10. NEVER SAY GOODBYE

IN MEMORY OF HER BROTHER, TYRENE QUNINDELL BAKER

Written by my daughter, Taylea Teonna Baker-Reeves

11. OH BROTHER

IN MEMORY OF HER BROTHER, TYRENE QUNINDELL BAKER

Written by my daughter, Taylea Teonna Baker-Reeves

12. MOTHER SONG

IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER, VERNITA ROBERTA BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

13. AUNT BARBARA

IN MEMORY OF MY AUNT, BARBARA ROBERTS

Written by Tier V. King

14. MEMORIES OF AUNT BARBARA

IN MEMORY OF MY AUNT, BARBARA ROBERTS

Written by daughter, Taylea Teonna Baker-Reeves

15. JULY 1996

IN MEMORY OF MY SISTER, PAMELA MICHELLE JOHNSON AND BROTHER-IN-LAW, NORMAN JOHNSON

Written by Tier V. King

16. THAT SAME JULY

AN ODE OF SISTER, DENISE HALANE BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

17. SCHIZOPHRENIA

A POEM ABOUT MY SISTER, DENISE HALANE BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

18. WHY SO CRUEL?

A POEM ABOUT MY SISTER, DENISE HALANE BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

19. MURDER

IN MEMORY OF MY SISTER, SUSAN ANGELA BAKER-KINCEY

Written by Tier V. King

20. GRANDMOM’S LOST

A POEM ABOUT MY GRANDSON, TYRENE LOUIS BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

21. THE BIGGEST HATER

A POEM ABOUT LOSS AND LOST LOVE

Written by my son, Malique D. Woodhouse

22. AFTERMATH #1

Written by my son, Malique D. Woodhouse

23. WHERE DID YOU TAKE ME AND LEAVE ME ALONE?

A POEM DEDICATED TO MY SISTER, ALLISON ADEL BAKER, WHO LOST HER FIANCE

Written by Tier V. King

24. I BELONGED TO LOVE AND LOVE BELONGS TO ME

A POEM DEDICATED TO MY SISTER, ALLISON ADEL BAKER, WHO LOST HER FIANCE

Written by Tier V. King

25. WITHIN THESE WALLS

IN LOVING MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WE HAVE LOST

Written by Tier V. King

26. UNWANTED CALLS

REGARDING THE HORRIBLE CALLS OF BAD NEWS

Written by Tier V. King

27. GUILT FILLED

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

Written by Tier V. King

28. APOLOGY

IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER-IN-LAW, SILVESTER DOPWELL

Written by Tier V. King

29. CHARNEZ AND TYRENE

IN MEMORY OF MY SON, TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER AND MY NIECE, CHARNEZ LEE

Written by Tier V. King

JUST A TASTE OF LIFE SITUATIONS POETRY

30. LITTLE GIRL’S DESTINY

Written by Tier V, King

31. DINGY STAINS

Written by Tier V, King

INTRODUCING THE POETRY OF YOUNG MR. JAIME JONATHAN GUERRERO

32. THE SYMBOL OF FREEDOM

33. THE PLACE

34. A BLACK CHILD’S PERSPECTIVE

INTRODUCING THE POETRY OF

MR. TYRENE QUINDELL BAKER

35. I WISH I COULD CRY

36. TEARS OF MY MOMMY

37. RELEASE THE PAIN

38. MY WORST ENEMY

39. DON’T JUDGE ME AS AN IMAGE

SPIRITUAL POETRY

40. PLEASE BE THERE

A POEM OF WISHFUL PARADISE WITH MY HUSBAND – MAKING IT INTO THE PARADISE WORLD

Written by Tier V, King

41. IMPERFECT

Written by Tier V, King

42. GOD DOES HAVE A NAME!

Written by Tier V, King

43. MY GOD, YOU WERE THERE

Written by Tier V, King

44. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW DAY

Written by Tier V, King

45. OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW

Written by my daughter, Taylea Teonna Baker Reeves

46. BURGLARS, MONSTERS AND MURDERERS

Written by Tier V, King

47. IN HONEST PRAYER

Written by Tier V, King

48. MANKIND IS DANCING WITH THE DEVIL

Written by Tier V, King

49. IN CRITICAL TIMES

Written by Tier V, King

50. APPRECIATION FOR OUR ELDERS SERVANTS AND WIVES

Written by Tier V, King

INTRODUCTION

In 2 Chronicles 1 : 5 - 7, 10 – 12 – King Solomon asked God for wisdom and knowledge in order to judge and to rule as King over a great many people. God not only granted King Solomon wisdom and knowledge but he also gave him riches, wealth and honor such as none of the kings had that were before King Solomon’s rule or thereafter.

I thought of King Solomon’s request when I found myself in need of asking God for help with something I deemed imperative to my healing. I remembered as a young girl, whenever I was down hearted or experiencing woe, I would find a peaceful spot in our family home, usually in the basement. There I would sit in a quiet corner, by the boiler room, on the bins. There I would write the most beautiful poetry. There I would express myself in writings about what I could not or did not want to talk about. There I would write away my emotional wounds, like a smoothing them with coca butter, soothing them away with soulful poetry. Yes, poetry was that satisfaction that I gave to myself and a very young realization of a gift from God. It was that pat on the back that I gave myself and even a It’s going to be alright now nod.

However, years later I would find that I lost my poetic ability and I would find myself in a tearful prayer for poetry.

You see, as a family we started going through a lot of loss. I described it as an eerie feeling of being attacked, beaten or battered by extreme tragedies, one gut punch after the other. I was already going through so much in the life that I was living but as a family, like most families, we had to stay brave to live through the ouch of it all. We suffered much heartache but kept getting up, brushing ourselves off and going on with life.

So poetry became a necessary therapy. I reached for it but I could not find it. I needed it so that I could dig out that gnarly feeling deep within, that gnawing, that clawing away - deep inside of me. There seemed to be no way to sooth it or to empty it out because with all that was already going on and so wrong in my life, at that time, loss became just another constant beat down.

The beginning