VITILIGO Friends "VITFriends" 

The norm, rules and standard are

Constantly shattered

Imperfect concepts - man made

Never mattered ....to

Those who walk to the beat of

a different drum

We smashed and throttled the

Rule of Thumb

Kissed and divinely fashioned

We are dappled

Lacking understanding, and faith

You’ve always grappled....so

Shift your paradigm, and change your mind

Look through our eyes

You will see the beauty, transition and power

Then come to realize

Bold Patterns, our designs are by the most high

They dapple our skin

It is a glorious new world, no need to hide

My Vitiligo kin

(Presented at our 2015 Boston Vitiligo Conference)

As an adolescent,
My conception,
Was that my completion,
Could never change directions,

And I didn't accept my skin,

Till one day it donned on me
I'm turning white so I better enjoy being black as long as I can,

Diagnosed before i knew
Michael had it
Age 14,

And it made me feel like
Martin Luther King
stripped from his dream,

Made people love it
Some tried to make me hate it,
On the next I'd never wish it
It took years to love my pigment,

Never met or seen a person with it
Till I had it for 15,
Thought it was just me
At least that's how the shit seemed,

Came out of no where
Can't hurt me but can't cure it,

Forced to endure it
It's made my kind the purest,

And I never really hid it
Convinced that GOD did it,
And Only 1% of the world
can say they live wit it

Nonhereditary
the only in my family
some would beg the differ
But that's not what was said to me

A spontaneous combustion from within
That leads to the discolorization of the skin,

Tried make up once
Felt like a lie
Cause yea I look like the "norm"
But the real me was in disguise

I was conceited at a young age
Thought I looked the best,

Then GOD touch me
And the Vitiligo took effect

Started slow
and I knew something was strange,

And when the dermatologist said
Diagnosed
everything changed

I shut down for years
But I always had talent
And that kept me at the forefront
Pretending to be balanced

Made my own circles
Unconditional acceptance
Freed from rejection
To deal with it head on
I made my name my completion

Vitiligo Tone 

                         To child bare causes tears; To dream bare causes pain.
That child in the womb, she must be planted, watered, nurtured to grow
Why do tears disillusion?
Is she not a seed planted in Earth- like the tree?
Is she not to sprout up green and lush with a wide trunk - healthy, sturdy, secure and free?

Creation is forming her - full term gestation Woman.
Her fight through abortion "... Will anyone value the gift that is within?"
If it is only she that loves her...She will thrive to fullness...Flourishing in the midst of foes and friends
Her branches reach out and extends comfort as her own tears water her roots
The tree that cried herself to life stands still
Unshaken by earthquakes, bowing in the hurricanes, yielding to the winds, surrendering to the snows

Her form submits to the impediments of her mother nature
Determined to take in life from the source: sun or moon or star or sea or lake or stream or tear
Drunken photosynthesis; Her well of inward strength pours; Her moans are whales of audacity
She cannot move, A lightning bolt decapitates her branch of hope;
Severed, She cries, Severed, She grows, A morbid cycle, Life bearing pain, Pain bearing life.
The cord - Cut - The connection - Chopped - Her well - Empty.
No one will hear her fall, No one will hear her cry, Everyone will see her grow, This is what trees do...

Custom Designed  Pastor Perry L. Riley - Houston, TX (7/2013)

No need for validation, I’m already stamped with approval,

An approval not from arrogance or conceit, but one of humble assurance

knowing that I’ve been sketched by the hands of the master,

Yes, I’m Custom Designed!!

Custom designed because there will never be another like me,

Just as a tailor patterns a tailor made suit:

The specifications of my character are infinite,

The measurements of my depth and abilities is ever evolving,

The quality of my fabric is not a degree less than pure,

Yes, I’m Custom Designed—check me out if you may!!

To whom much is given, much is required

I’ve got work to do…custom work that is; designed specifically for me

No time for self-pity and I refuse to live a lie,

Playing yourself small doesn’t serve the world

Custom Designed is a mindset, a lifestyle,

The Apostle states it best—“So as a man thinketh, so is he”

God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies those he call

Therefore my deepest fear is not that I’m inadequate,

But that I’m powerful beyond measure

It is my light, not my darkness, that most frightens me as well as others

And so, I shine…I shine…I shine

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

Ain’t gonna make it shine, just gonna let it shine

The light is mine, so I shine…I shine

As pure wine…I shine… custom designed …I shine

Just as Gwen loves to be dined…I shine

Neither an imitation, nor birth with limitations…I shine

I shine…I shine… I shine

I shine!!!

Out Out damned spot I used to say.

Why the heck won?t you wash away?

Serial thief in the night

Slowly stealing my color

Making me light

Tried my best to keep you at bay

Protopic, UV had little effect

All it did was cause delay

The brown complexion I used to cherish

Now spotted, white patchy

Continues to perish

Dermablend and Lauren Hutton are now my best friends

They are my security blankets

When does this end?

I must realize my sum total is not my skin

It is my character, heart and what lies within

I no longer groan, gripe and cry.

Mourn my color, or ask God why

Had an epiphany, no longer afraid

Vit patterns are beautiful.

We are wonderfully made.