Take My Hand and Walk With Me is a collection of new and selected poems spanning the years 1995 to 2018. Drawn from my earlier chapbooks In a Little Corner of a Black Man’s Mind Stand I…, Tempest, A Heart’s Song Sung to a Friend, and In Due Season, along with newer poems, this book follows my growth through changing seasons of faith, identity, and self-understanding. In a Little Corner of a Black Man’s Mind Stand I… (1995) was born during a deeply religious period in my life, after I embraced Islam upon leaving a cult. Tempest (1997) reflects my Afro-centric awakening and my deepening study of African history and the history of enslavement. A Heart’s Song Sung to a Friend (2000) belongs to the season when I was coming out and learning to live openly and honestly as myself in the LGBTQ community, without shame. In Due Season (2012) emerged after I had walked away from rigid and manipulative religion and begun to live for myself. Taken together, these poems document a life in motion—through belief, struggle, history, love, liberation, and truth.