Recently, I’ve found myself in difficult places,
searching for answers hoping they’d come simple enough to help me move along.
Instead, I discovered layers waiting to be uncovered.
Weeks, days, and hours spent peeling back what was built long before I could even recall a memory.
I’ve caught myself picking at old wounds left by broken relationships,
buried hurt, death of loved ones and whatever else that molded me into the person I’ve become.
At first, it was frightening to face it all
but with time it turned into something healing as if every line I wrote
helped me breathe a little easier.
Strangely enough, words were never my strongest suit
yet here I stand on a page filled with nothing but them
Alongside these beautiful photo’s by Calvin that share the same sentiment.
searching for answers hoping they’d come simple enough to help me move along.
Instead, I discovered layers waiting to be uncovered.
Weeks, days, and hours spent peeling back what was built long before I could even recall a memory.
I’ve caught myself picking at old wounds left by broken relationships,
buried hurt, death of loved ones and whatever else that molded me into the person I’ve become.
At first, it was frightening to face it all
but with time it turned into something healing as if every line I wrote
helped me breathe a little easier.
Strangely enough, words were never my strongest suit
yet here I stand on a page filled with nothing but them
Alongside these beautiful photo’s by Calvin that share the same sentiment.
IZE
Calvin Pony (Photographer)
Moments where all the air has been knocked out of you,
you remember the value of breathing.
That crippling feeling of wanting to regain each breath you loss
only for your lungs to feel just as a whoopee cushion looks once pressure is applied,
stuck in place.
At a standstill your surroundings begin to silence,
lights begin to dim,
all the thoughts you were temporarily troubled with subsides,
all you could seem to focus on is something you never
thought you’d live without,
the air forcibly taken from you.
Fear begins to sink in,
for once something outside of you holds more control over your body than you ever did
paralyzed by the absence of each breath you took for granted.
And just as the cushion
once pressed against begin to inflate
you begin to remember each breath you take serves as a reminder
that as long as you stick around for the fight,
you’ll always have the means to continue.
You just need to remember to breathe, one breath at a time.
Whoopee Cushion (Phrenospasm) IZE
Calvin Pony (Photographer)
you remember the value of breathing.
That crippling feeling of wanting to regain each breath you loss
only for your lungs to feel just as a whoopee cushion looks once pressure is applied,
stuck in place.
At a standstill your surroundings begin to silence,
lights begin to dim,
all the thoughts you were temporarily troubled with subsides,
all you could seem to focus on is something you never
thought you’d live without,
the air forcibly taken from you.
Fear begins to sink in,
for once something outside of you holds more control over your body than you ever did
paralyzed by the absence of each breath you took for granted.
And just as the cushion
once pressed against begin to inflate
you begin to remember each breath you take serves as a reminder
that as long as you stick around for the fight,
you’ll always have the means to continue.
You just need to remember to breathe, one breath at a time.
Whoopee Cushion (Phrenospasm) IZE
Calvin Pony (Photographer)
Back-stroking, body floating, feet paddling,
struggling to stay afloat in the strange waters
that bring me comfort
as I surrender to something
that could carry me away with ease.
Like a child in the womb,
I know nothing of what’s to come
nor do I care.
Dream-state, pure,
untouched by the world.
Instinct takes over
drawing deep breaths to sustain life,
ears submerged beneath the surface.
Silence unfolds,
and the sound of my heart
becomes my closest companion.
Here we coexist
without distraction.
The sun kisses my forehead,
dopamine rising
no drug compares
to what I feel in this moment.
Faint memories of warm embraces
return to me.
I’m content with my fate.
Because as I rise from the water,
just as in baptism,
I am born again
this time reminded
of what love has done for me.
(Strange Waters) IZE
Calvin Pony (Photographer)
struggling to stay afloat in the strange waters
that bring me comfort
as I surrender to something
that could carry me away with ease.
Like a child in the womb,
I know nothing of what’s to come
nor do I care.
Dream-state, pure,
untouched by the world.
Instinct takes over
drawing deep breaths to sustain life,
ears submerged beneath the surface.
Silence unfolds,
and the sound of my heart
becomes my closest companion.
Here we coexist
without distraction.
The sun kisses my forehead,
dopamine rising
no drug compares
to what I feel in this moment.
Faint memories of warm embraces
return to me.
I’m content with my fate.
Because as I rise from the water,
just as in baptism,
I am born again
this time reminded
of what love has done for me.
(Strange Waters) IZE
Calvin Pony (Photographer)
This morning I got dressed slowly to see you.
This morning,
I got dressed slowly to see you
layer by layer, lie by lie.
I pulled the hoodie over my head
the one stitched in Milan,
same one I wear when I don’t want anyone to notice me
or how much i’m unraveling beneath.
Shades on to hide the pillows beneath my eyes
I’ve became one with each piece of clothing.
For me, it’s armor
To you, it looks like a sword
slicing through the illusion you admired from afar.
Despite the sharpness,
you stood before it with your own weapon
held with resistance,
prepared and fearful of what you couldn’t name.
Funny how clothing can shape a person
a tight collar to keep from speaking to loudly,
Long sleeves to hide all we’ve been through.
I’ve been dressing like this for years
not for fashion, but defense.
Still,
I rolled one sleeve up to show you a few of the wounds
etched long before us,
and you revealed both of yours
not to relate,
but to compete.
As I stepped inward you sharpened the blade you hid,
Now exposed
you proved why i’ve stayed hidden all along.
Just like an unwanted text,
I was left on read
Ignored.
Forced into yet another battle.
So, I remain in full disguise.
Nothing on me is honest.
I’ve become a mannequin in my own life
polished, styled and hollow.
But the worst part isn’t what others see
it’s what i’ve forgotten underneath.
What my skin feels like without all these layers
what my voice sounds like when it isn’t muffled by metaphors.
(Undercover) IZE
Calvin Pony (Photographer)
Hard to piece together what my parents once were
when my connection to their parents
was severed by early exits.
Takes me back to the first time I crossed paths with my father’s mother.
Sitting in a wooden chair inside a warm room
in the house directly in the heart of Burundi.
Words slipped away,
lost in translation.
I couldn’t speak my family’s native tongue,
so my eldest brother became my bridge,
my interpreter.
“You didn’t get the chance to take care of me,
but when I’m gone,
I will watch over you,”
She murmured,
pain threading through her voice,
her body weakened by sickness.
I didn’t grasp the weight of her promise.
Instead, I felt shame for my distance,
yet gratitude for hearing her words at all.
Even now, I hold them close
a reminder that whether I walk steady or stumble,
she walks beside me,
telling me to keep going.
Son of her son.
It felt like she was meeting her grandchild for the very first time,
though I was seventeen
with dreams of meeting the woman
who once fed the man who feeds me.
We shared small similarities,
but it’s our love for milk
that lingers in my memory.
I smile,
imagining us raising glasses together
toasting to the past and the present
to the life that began with her.
I wonder about the life she lived,
how the world treated her when she was my age
if she knew heartbreak,
or if my father’s father
was her one and only.
I wonder when forced to stand on her own
how did she find the strength to raise not just one strong man,
but a few.
These questions remain,
but they push me to be strong,
just as she was.
My life shifted
the day I was called out of class
to be told she had passed,
just three months after we met.
I was young, inexperienced,
still dreaming of one day
sharing the life I would create,
with her.
But it’s okay,
because when I raise this glass of milk,
I feel her next to me
smiling,
with a milkstache
to match mine.
(Mama Marie) IZE
Calvin Pony (Photographer)
Ark Frost - IZE
Contact@ark-frost.com
X-SCAPE.ME
I feel it’s snooby to self proclaim myself one thing or another, because I didn’t take the necessary time to seek further education to be bestowed with the title properly, but funny enough I’ve been screwed in life enough to know that I am a student to the world and with each lesson, I experience different phases and sensations that spew into whatever medium I feel is fitting for my madness at that moment.
Some may address me as a Creative Director,Designer, Research junkie or even just a friend. For me, the best one of all is a friend. One jump roping through the ups and downs of life, no better than any other man. Hoping that I reach the places I desire to be, completely still intact.
Atlanta, Georgia
SELEKTWO
01. Dialed In - Concrete Boys (CAMO! ft Draft Day)
Creative Director
02. Love Language - Concrete Boys (Draft Day)
Creative Director
03. RIP Follies - Concrete Boys (Karrahboo)
Production Assistant
04. Up Yo Standards - Concrete Boys (CAMO!)
Creative Director
05. Exhibit A - J DLUX
Creative Director
06. Playing’ It Cool - T$AN
Creative Director
07. NIKE X IT”S US AIR FORCE ONES
WARDROBE PA
Draft Day - Love Language
Co-Creative Director
with Dexter White
April 3 2024
Concrete Boys - Dialed In (CAMO! and Draft Day)
Co-Creative Director
With Dexter White
April 10 2024
CAMO! - JETLAG
Creative Direction
October 8 2023
“Wherever the Drummers Are”-
IZE for The way I learned to fly by
Meseret Mariye
2025
“Undercover”
IZE
2025
“Whoopie Cushion”
IZE
2025
“Light Bearer”-
IZE
2024
“God’s Gift too Earth”
Collection by Double AA for
Bad Land
2020
“Sunseeker” -
IZE
2020
AFR 001 MIX -
ARK Frost
2020
Collection by Double AA for
Bad Land
2020
“Sunseeker” -
IZE
2020
AFR 001 MIX -
ARK Frost
2020