Najee Carter

The World Through My Eyes Najee Carter

The World through My Eyes is my way of expressing my feelings about growing up as a teenage African-American male in a society governed by norms and expectations. Growing up in a single-parent home with violence and temptation surrounding me makes my perception of the world different from that of the typical American family. I view the world as being a place filled with evil and destruction with our only means of survival being God's love and mercy. Throughout my times of sorrow and pain, it is he who keeps me safe in a world plagued with violence, drugs, wickedness, and counterfeit gods. As a child, I always was captivated by the beauty of words and their different meanings. Whenever I heard a word that was foreign to me, my inquisitive nature would always persuade me to find out its meanings. Although I always had this love for words, I did not start writing poetry until I was thirteen years old. This was a time in my life when the poison of insecurity heavily polluted my very being. I found out at an early age that I didn't fit the African-American community's image of normal because of my very dark skin tone. It was only until I hit the pre-teenage years that this insecurity held me captive. Poetry to me at first was a way of escaping the reality that for all of my life I would be ridiculed simply for who I was. It later evolved into a way for me to face the reality that I would have to love who I am. As my writing ability grew, I felt myself growing, and it is still a journey I am on.