The Climb: A Book of Poems

By Skinny Hightower

The Climb is a book of poetry that encompasses a wide range of experiences, moods, settings, and philosophies, all of which are based on biblical principles. Textured with the sights and sounds of modern schools, to church in the South, through the sunflower-ridden fields of Kansas, all the way to deserts and dark waters, these stunning poems tackle racism, depression, loss, and folly, but also love, hope, spirituality, wisdom, and potential.

Through an aesthetic given to montage using an assortment of styles, these poems address the uneasy questions about relationships, love, death, forgiveness, riots, entitlement, and God’s unfailing love in spite of us. Hightower assesses America’s predominant fascinations with wealth, fame, pleasure, and acceptance. What is the meaning of life? How important is being accepted? Who are we beneath the surface of our flesh? These questions resonate within the halls of Hightower’s poems, and seldom are the answers reflected back without first requiring the reader to ponder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664294172

Skinny Hightower

Skinny Hightower is a poet and nationally recognized jazz artist who has garnered multiple number one Billboard singles throughout his career. He hopes that his poetry inspires others to be the best versions of themselves. Laced with Bible-based principles and practical observations, Hightower's work embraces wisdom with a rhythmic cadence that speaks to his musical nuances. Sometimes structured, but oftentimes free of any comprehensive format, Hightower’s poems always reveal truths hidden behind a mask of descriptive lyrics. “Poetry is my opportunity to express my musicality and spirituality verbally,” he states. “My goal is to uplift, encourage, and awaken the reader. If a life is changed for the better in any way because of my poetry, I’ve done my job.” To learn more, visit his website: www.skinnyhightower.com

Book preview

Contents

Be

Three Seconds

Let’s Start a Riot

Weeds

Control

Back and Forth

Distant

A Disgrace

Times Have Changed

My Last Valentine

God Will See You Through

Let Him

The Veil

Zoo

Swing

A Better Day

I Think of My People

Make Room

This Land

Many Sides

You

Tune Me Up

Priceless

Fresh Love

Strong

We Love Social Media

Slaves

Twisted Society

Lighthouse

Life

Spark

The Climb

Eyes Front

Lemonade

101 in the Shade

Listening Ears

Dam

Cheers

One of One

Payday

This or That

Divide

Philosophy I

Surrender

Genuine

Sunflower State

Blood in the Water

Alien

The Traveler

Fire Truck

Philosophy II

Gaze

Gone

Timing

Let Go

Irreplaceable

Branch

Soldier

Philosophy III

Jazz Is

Hunt

Hurricane

Snowflake

Good Inside

This Day

Dreamer’s Soul

Gun To School

Mondays

Let Me In

Sittin’ Down

Tired

Enough

Break

Jump

Seasons

Scales

Lose My Mind

All Sinners

A Story Untold

Second Lady

The Healing Blanket

Barbershop

Soul Food

Mark Time

Black on Black on Black

Thirst

Shadows

Coat of Skin

A Teacher’s Lament

Seeds

Rare

I’m Still Here

About The Author

Be

Be.

And if you cannot be,

Become,

For being and becoming

Are the only foundations

Upon which to build.

Pray for those who only wish to have,

For having is merely holding.

And if you lose your grip,

Well,

You hold nothing.

Therefore,

Be.

And if you cannot be,

Become.

Be.

Become.

Three Seconds

It took me three seconds to hand my life over to someone else.

Three seconds cost me dearly.

It took her three seconds to change her last name.

Three seconds unwisely spent.

It took him three seconds to call that four-cornered thing

His residence.

Three seconds with a sizable price.

It took me three seconds to be someone’s modern-day slave.

Three seconds with a chain attached.

It took her three seconds to officially belong to someone else.

Three seconds on impulse.

It took him three seconds to give up thirty years.

Three seconds seemed right at the time.

How I regret those three seconds.

How she wishes she could get those three seconds back.

Oh, how he longs to rewind the hands of time.

Three seconds is all it took.

A crying shame it truly is.

Here’s a bit of advice for you

Just in case you, too, wish to spend

Three seconds on something:

Think before you sign.

Let’s Start a Riot

Do people often say, Let’s start a riot, or do they tend to

just happen?

Out of frustration, anger, and pain, they tend to be the language of

the unheard.

The outer eruption of inner grumblings due to the inner eruption of

outer grumblings;

often the knots in a daisy chain of events—to include looting and vandalism—are sometimes for a good cause but occasionally fueled by some pointless tantrum-ridden motive.

By the damage done, who knows the reason?

Nonetheless, when we empathize with the rioters, it’s hard not to condone

their actions.

But when we know not the severity of a rioter’s vexations, we cannot see beyond

their actions.

The damage done causes some people to stop—whether stopping to think or stopping to repair, stopping to question or stopping to shake their heads in disgust—and we never know which result our riotous actions will

bring about.

One thing is certain: you will take part in a standoff of sorts with

the law (boy, do they hate riots … makes you wonder if they hate

the rioters,

            their actions,