A DECADE+ OF STORYTELLING POWERED BY THE BEST WRITERS ON THE PLANET

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BE PART OF THE LEGACY

TAMPA BAY • FEBRUARY 23-24 2026

This FINAL encore experience will be unlike any other. Because like everything we do, it's been "reimagined" from beginning to end. It's not a virtual or hybrid event. It's not a conference. It's not a seminar, a workshop, a meeting, or a symposium. And it's not your typical run-of-the-mill everyday event crammed with stages, keynote speeches, team-building exercises, PowerPoint presentations, and all the other conventional humdrum. Because it's up close & personal by design. Where conversation trumps presentation. And where authentic connection runs deep.

Breathe

I can’t breathe

And I haven’t been breathing for years

I’m too choked up on tears

Or was it actually fears?

I can’t breathe

Garner could not gather his breath in 2014

It was that cop’s job to suffocate on scene

He was protecting and serving like a heartless machine

I can’t breathe

Neither can Breonna Taylor after a misplaced raid

For innocently resting after EMT work a price was paid

Shot 8 times causing her light to fade

I can’t freaking breathe

Ultimate action for nonviolent crimes

Cops choked out George Floyd as he lay their confined

Joining the pantheon of those murdered in these times

I can’t breathe

When it is okay to kneel on black America’s neck

But lord willing we must keep Kapernick’s knee in check!

How dare he stand for equal respect

I can’t breathe

Because I’ve lost count of the cases

So many situations so many places

Just to breath while black sours their faces

I can’t breathe

Because I was sentenced at birth

My melanin determined my worth

Just who are you to judge me on Earth?

I can’t breathe

because I have to teach my son to hold his tongue and hold his breath

One wrong word could mean his death

But even when he complies his life could be stolen by racist theft

I can’t breathe

Because black America does not know whether to vote or fight

Either could. cause execution on sight

But am I supposed to live in fright?

I can’t breathe

The hands of racism threaten my life

Where there could be unity, they cause only strife

This is the reality of the black man, always under the knife

I can’t breathe

LeTavious Hemingway
LeTavious Hemingwayhttps://poeticice.com/
LeTavious Roymar Hemingway was born and raised in Conway, South Carolina. He was raised by parents who lived through the civil rights era so he was taught to express himself and love everyone. He took these values to college and started to write poetry and short stories. In college he pursued his love of writing and his love of science, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Biology. After meeting his future wife in college, she urged him to write and complete a novel. Two novels later he still writes poetry and stories as he works as a laboratory supervisor at a veterinary hospital in Augusta, Georgia. Now as a father of a healthy baby boy he looks to share his writing with the world to show him that anything is possible as long as you work hard and dedicate yourself to it.

DO YOU HAVE THE "WRITE" STUFF? If you’re ready to share your wisdom of experience, we’re ready to share it with our massive global audience – by giving you the opportunity to become a published Contributor on our award-winning Site with (your own byline). And who knows? – it may be your first step in discovering your “hidden Hemmingway”. LEARN MORE HERE


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