Quarters & Spices

Written by: Stephon Lamar

“Grandma I need more money than this!”, the little butterscotch beauty named Chanta could not see the parallel value in what she had to what she wanted. Fully nestled into her Nubian greatness, her grandmother replied accordingly saying, “You do not, now hurry back Chanta with those spices, you should be bringing back a lesson learned as well.” Skipping vicariously to and then knowledgeably back from the store, the little butterscotch beauty bursts through the door, spices in one hand and an ice cream cone indicative of the lesson learned in the other. “That roll of quarters you gave me was worth 5 whole dollars!” Chanta declared. “Yes my love, but you couldn’t see the value because of the face.” “People and their things are always more than what they seem to be, delve deeper and you’ll see.” To which Chanta replied with sadness saying, “Well, doesn’t that mean people are afraid to be themselves?! Shouldn’t people show all of who they are, at all times?! I know I plan to!” The grandmother saw so much promise in little Chanta, she loved how Chanta would inspire responses out of her such as this one, “People are like sunsets baby, allow them to unravel their beauty and they will. Now THAT’S the true spice of life!!”

Lyrical Love from Stephon Lamar