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Haiku/Affirmation: Dignity

A haiku and affirmation honoring the legacy of Sidney Poitier.

Bill Holmes
1 min readJan 7, 2022
Photo courtesy of abcnews.go.com

Dignity

Breaking glass ceilings

while paving new roads with grace,

staying true to self.

Copyright © 2020 by Bill Holmes.

My thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of the phenomenal and brilliant actor Sidney Poitier who transitioned with the ancestors today. His body of work was legendary starring in films like The Defiant Ones, To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and Uptown Saturday Night. My favorite performance by Mr. Poitier was the silver screen adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun as the patriarch Walter Lee Younger who had dreams of investing a life insurance check to create financial security for his family’s future by selling alcohol at a liquor store despite his relatives having other ideas to spend the money. I’m in awe of and inspired by this outstanding trailblazer’s body of work that broke many barriers for future actors like Denzel Washington without compromising his integrity. Rest in Power, Mr. Poitier.

Today, I will honor the legacy of the ancestors who gracefully employed their talents to create opportunities for others to pursue their dreams.

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Bill Holmes
Bill Holmes

Written by Bill Holmes

Writer. Poet. ESSENCE Best Selling Author. Filmmaker. Personal development aficiando who lives and breathes the mantra "I will not be denied!"

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