Once upon
A simpler time
we were of the same extant soul
Ilk and harmony
spirits pressed together
As one
But we don’t talk no more
afraid of each other’s
beauty and richness
equal but lacking oneness
for no reason
we divided
and shamed the sun back thru the stars
eras unwind
when all we talk about is unity…

What’s really goin’ on?

All the ways
We choose to say
“I love you’
Dress it up in all the pretty words
And it loses meaning
All the songs
That mean to say
“You mean the world to me”
Never really do
The point gets lost in sound
All the poems
That are written to say
“I’ll never let you down”
Fail to deliver
So, just so there’s no confusion
I love you,
You mean the world to me
And I’ll never let you down.

years may pass before we realize
the true depth of a kinship
fast friends make faster enemies
people pass each other
every day
never seeing each other perfect matches
perfect strangers
and it’s out of their control
fortune twists into contentment with
close acquaintances
compromises ‘tween people who don’t
do certain things in certain ways on certain days
cuddle in with
just enough
of not alone
to make it through the weekend
but while fortune isn’t looking…
the lucky make time for tales
room for comfort
moves for bail
the lucky provide food for thought
leave space for failure
when time is taut
the lucky take one for the team
two over the limit
and bring back two for the dream
the lucky seek solace in few
and wear weakness only
where luck will soothe
the lucky are a loyal crew
for luck be such, in turn

Be we yet in chains, or not –
fools for freedom, bound by ought
slaves to substances and sot
and perpetually wrought?

Be our liberty for naught
fools for freedom, bound by ought
slaves to substances and sot
and perpetually wrought?

Be we better for the gain –
equaled by forgotten names
pimping pride for an acclaim
pacified to skirt disdain?

Be we still, in every way –
still at spirit, will at bay
blinded by that brighter day
ever yearning for allay?

Be we beasts of burden yet –
tilling, towing deep regret
bearing wherewithal to let
tangled up in epithets

Be we black, and only so –
never from a hue to grow
placated by false bellow
call us equal to send us fro?
…the skin it holds us in
unless it holds us out…

Be we yet in our own chains –
insecurity a blain
gives our weakness new ordain
enacts complacency on pain?

Be we trapped, lest we forget –
salvation lies in due layette
can destination be reset
if not our own, then for the next?

…the youth are the reparation
let them be paid in full…

Be we better for the aim –
for the cull, no more the same
opt for rigor, spite the flame
arrive at where we overcame?

Better for the sacrifice –
For helping my sister rise
For defining freedom’s price
As something we can all suffice?

Yes
yes we be
if we don’t let
ourselves
disregard
ignore
medicate

our struggle away

Yes
We be

with its tender feet
steps lightly through
the brush of life
leaving sweet-smelling imprints
on the surface
of the souls
it touches

sweet-smelling
and soft enough
for you to miss its passing
completely

then
its memory fades
as quickly
as the time it takes
to change you
from what you are
to what you will be

fear not, though
it has not gone
as long as you allow it
to live around you
free of bitterness
or resentment

remember
that it is tender

I promise you
Don’t have to be
Anything but
True
Brown girl

They will never
Understand your hair
Do what you want with it

Your skin
Don’t have to be
A burden
Please believe
Brown girl

Keep a place
In your heart
For yourself
Your strength
Don’t have to be
Your definition
But a caveat
Brown girl

So many things
Are at your feet
Choose wisely
Brown girl

It may not set you back
Enough to really set you back
May force you to fall forward
Into all the things you lack

The strength that you’ve been earning
From faith and sustenance
Is spent on begging Jesus
For a twenty-second chance

The woman on the corner
Out from in between the throes
Spends her spirit running from the shame
Of taking off her clothes

The secret ways you bide your time
Are more expensive than you know
Filling your home with wrath and worry
Leaves less room to grow

The cost of living day to day
Makes it hard for meeting ends
Has us budgeting our love
And borrowing patience from our friends

Then when the stale day starts to sour
And cutbacks bend your brow
You contemplate a tragic means
To escape the here and now

Take life at face value
And you miss the value in facing life
The price of precious lessons learned
Is more than worth the strife

So be careful where you spend your heart
And what a sharp tongue may buy
Because life has a wealthy answer
For your patient, worried “why’ .

when you talk
i find it hard to pay attention
to anything but what your lips are doing

what?
yeah. sure.
whatever you want.

i mean, i’m listening
swear i am
but i get distracted

by what you’re trying to show me
and i just smile
and nod

hm?
nothing.
keep talking.

and then you get to the part of the story
where it’s funny
and YOU smile

damn.

i can’t
see.