Books & Poetry

Water Therapy is a lyrical collection of poetry and prose exploring love, spirituality, community, and the intimate journey of becoming oneself.

Like a glass of water held to the sunlight, these pieces reveal what has been hidden: lingering doubts, quiet fears, hard-won lessons, and illuminating (Read more)

Luminescent Ships is a lyrical love letter to the experiences that bind Caribbean and American life. Across twenty-four poems—including free verse, rhymed verse, sonnets, haiku, and a villanelle—Faith P. Nelson celebrates a culture shaped by migration, memory, imagination, and resilience.

A creation myth begins (Read more) 

Anemone Village was once a beautiful and peaceful underwater home. Now plastic waste covers the reef, the coral is dying, and Gertie the Turtle has swallowed a plastic bag. Octobuzzie, a courageous young octopus, is sent to search for somewhere safer—but then she discovers who has been dumping rubbish into the sea. (Read more)

Humility starts with a permit.

I am not permitted to breach your

3-ft aura to give you bread buttered

with unsolicited lectures about your

need to change. My opinion

is the least favored relative or tight

clothes you are forced to wear

to Thanksgiving dinner. Cut your eye.

Disinvite it.

Humility starts with a permit.

Permit me to find you water

to wash your caked-up hair 

and override the wretching against your

smell that wants to erupt

from my solar plexus. Humility is love―

a knowing that we are the same

gatherers of life changing experience.

Keep doing it.

Humility starts with a permit.

Permit me to learn as you unravel

complexity inside your borders. We

see you walking around with your
shopping cart, your baggage
on the outside and pretend you do nothing,
but you’re on it! You are a reflector
of 360 degree full-body scanning for the Self.
I’m grateful for it.

by Faith P. Nelson

Chairs scrape. We offer

contrite smiles to the hopefuls

waiting patiently for our booth.

We meet in the Diner, a constant

in this crazy world, for morning

food, births and other successes

that begin with “Guess what …!”

But life’s not all coconut pancakes

dressed with maple syrup, so we

train light on yellow belly deceit

too, the thirty pieces of silver paid

for us yesterday. It’s just the right

mind care and heavy lifting for less

than a C-note and counsel from

strangers. Between crunchy toast

and flaky Chesapeake crab cakes,

we surrender the Judas to the ocean

of love and mercy and the long arm

of karma. Dessert is a return to true

family and future success stories.

Knives clatter on stoneware  

as we catch our breath and wrap,

our hunger assuaged for the day.

We keep masterminding our lives.

                                by Faith P. Nelson

The two of us were friends

from the same neighborhood.

The two of us had no money.

The two of us, Audrey and I

went to the same high school.

The two of us were taught
the same values by our parents.

The two of us had crucial exams.

The two of us had eyes glued

to our textbooks at Hope Gardens.

The two of us were hungry
and she, a willing vehicle for Spirit,

pulled out sandwiches to share. Two

pairs of bread each with their own

thin smear of ketchup. Me. I split

in two. The first me demolished

the sandwich. The second me sat

lost in thought, puzzled that she felt

no shame about meatlessness.

Two states of consciousness,
hers in love with preparation

and defining change while
mine is frozen in the belief

that meat is a type of currency

and assets are the destination.

Fortunately, my loving Self

in collaboration with the formless

substance, framed the two 

so I could integrate the difference.

by Faith P. Nelson