"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" melodically hauntingly sung by Roberta Flack, is part of the soundtrack of my life, an urban lullaby. Hearing it again is like reading an old journal entry. Many memories rushed back.

The poetry of the lyrics, the voice, and the interactions of the musicians grabbed me. Her voice seemed just as conducted as the cellos and violins. Back in the day, it sparked me to begin understanding and writing poetry.

With songs like "Where is The Love" and "Back Together Again", music seemed to shape the mood of the neighborhood, in fact, the entire community. 

This part of my life's soundtrack stirs up forgotten feelings of my youthful confusion, self-conscious, and my many insecurities, or should I say puberty. 

Writing helped make sense of these feelings. Forty-seven years later I find myself calling my poetry Urban Lullabies.

-Yodi Vaden October 17, 2019