Photo Credit: Dandelion Cells
THE
IMPACT
THE
BREAK DOWN
And since African philosophers and western scientists agree, everything is everything, The technology, the scope that enables humans to delve into the dynamic unseen spheres of wellness, emotions, inner thoughts, and feelings, I have coined as The Poetry-scope.
BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™
Poetry-scope, Mental Health,
Wellness & Healing Tool
BDCV is unique with morphing capabilities. The integrative education platform serves different purposes depending on the population need, from Flint to Togo Africa, from 3rd grade to graduate studies and beyond. Since 2022, BDCV has been building the capacity of literacies with a focus on the literary, but something changed in 2025, and Mental Health Professionals and Social Workers are the change agents. Below is a 3- step process outlining what happens during the shift from literacy goals to a Mental Health, Wellness, & Healing Focus:
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Identification: Young people and the young at heart from varied ethnicities study and strongly identify with the Black Dandelion poem on personal or societal levels.
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Magnification: Elements of poetry and the design of the poem creates a life-like reality in the mind and emotion of the reader. In this instance, suppressed and invisible feelings emerge.
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Transformation: Given the 4-stage life cycle of the dandelion plant, with the 4th -stage being the blowing of dandelion seeds to ensure legacy, thus, fostering hope and celebration of generational resilience.
The BDCV Poetry-scope enables learners to activate their Microscopic Intelligence to see their sublimated responses to circumstances, both personal and societal.
Microscopic Intelligence assumes a heightened state of awareness, perception, and
understanding, of that which is concealed, of things that are not immediately visible but are deeply and profoundly felt – from our joys and traumas to broader forces like history, gravity, even the passage of time, systemic barriers, power, and magic.
As students of the universe and emerging Ubuntu architects, we draw from the chaos of disintegrating binaries to create realities of unity, where what is often unseen is brought into sharper focus.
The social workers of Children and Family Services of Contra Costa County, California extol the positive effects of using the poem Black Dandelion in their practices. During the Black Dandelion: Convergent Voice™ City of Flint Literacy week, I observed the Mental Health professional, Supervisor, Lisa Sarno’s transformative workshop, “Resistance, Resilience: A Black Dandelion Birth into the Future” where participants created an “I am ” narrative that was invigorating and captivating. Licensed Clinical Therapist, Ayana Fordham, Founder/CEO of Klockwise, Inc. developed a PowerPoint that compared the growth challenges of a dandelion plant to the survival of marginalized communities.
The powerful testament of a 9 th grade girl who explained to me that after studying Black Dandelion she no longer wanted to unalive herself, was chilling.
While working with Peckham Career Academy, a member of the cohort was shot and killed on the streets of Flint. The students, staff, and administrators utilized Black Dandelion to process and navigate grief by creating hauntingly beautiful art. These vivid encounters convinced me that BDCV is not only a successful integrative-literacy education platform, but in equal measure, it is also, a Poetry-scope, meaning, it is a Mental Health, Wellness & Healing tool.
Semaj Brown’s practice authored the poem Black Dandelion. Ms. Brown’s pedagogy
and andragogy, PSL/ Poetry as a Second Language: The Semajian Method™ derived the international, integrative-literacy education platform, Black Dandelion: Convergent Voice™ (BDCV). From BDCV The Poetry-scope, a Mental Health, Wellness & Healing tool was developed. The technology, the Poetry-scope brings forth Microscopic Intelligence, a heightened awareness that facilitates seeing the invisible.
This process forges strong bonds that integrate functionality into a four-dimensional
molecule of mission, memory, mindfulness, and momentum, generating distinct
pathways through the space-time continuum of our cherished Communal Classrooms.