Where to begin? Sometimes poetry can be so complicated and very simple at the same time similar to my life. Collection of Poetry Volume 1 was written over a span exceeding twenty years. In fact, the poem "Tantrum" was written in 1987. I was fourteen that year and submitted that poem for an English class. I don't remember my teacher's name, but I do remember her disbelief. She couldn't believe I had written that piece. Throughout the years of my becoming of age into this adult world, leaving high school, and enrolling in Morgan State University's precollege program, I seemed optimistic about the journey. Only on the surface does the water appear calm, though. Underneath are waves of emotions, searching for a vent to be released in an expressive way, using creativity as the wheel behind the driving force, penetrating the surface, breaking into an atmosphere that is breathable and somewhat refreshing. In the first volume of several to come, the reader will encounter youthful thoughts pertaining to a young man's philosophy on isolation and his struggles of identifying himself without a mirror. We all grow, learn, and develop. But for some, it can be a crash course. For others, it's a breather. It was both for me—yin and yang.