Don’t heed stop signs or lights
Might pass the Devil, mid-flight
Two or three times a week

From the bend to the bight
Not an angel in sight
On this forsaken one-way street

‘Neath the cover of night
Is enchantment and sleight
As the pavement pulls your feet

Though the faces invite
The air is contrite
Don’t trust a soul you might meet

You speak to me
In riddles and rhymes
I follow every turn
You lay me down
Between the lines
My body starts to burn

I know your face
I’ve seen your truth
Still I do not flee
You spin a phrase
To steal my youth
And bind what’s left of me

I pray to what
I know is true
For wisdom that will stand
To reveal what
I thought I knew
Like footprints in the sand

The way is long
But love is longer
Hell is deeper than the sea
Your tongue is sharp
But I am stronger
And I will remain free.

Black Mystory
Is a comedy
Full of life and laughter
With happy endings
And bright beginnings
To last me ever after

Black Yourstory
Is a drama
Riddled with emotion
Full of heartstring tugs
Of screams and shrugs
And promises devotion

Black Ourstory
Is a horror
A tale of pain and tears
How they beat us down
Tried to steal our crown
And bury us in our fears

Black Herstory
Is an epic tale
Of triumph and devastation
How the dreams of one
And the needs of many
Sparked a great migration

Black History
It’s no mystery
We’ve seen all this before
Through our darkest days
Our hope still stays
And we live to see once more.

Who I was before
The strongest pull in the room
The hardest beat in the line
Heavy
Having you in my life
Offsets the rhythm of my heart
Staggers the beat in my chest
I murmur
The people around me
They say I’ve changed so much
And they’re learning to tolerate you
In stead
Like the sand on the shore
The tides of your charms rise and fall
Each time taking a bit of me
Further out to sea
I have to applaud
The sneaky way you stole my power
But I don’t have the strength
To say a word

I love the freshness
The tap, pop, fizz
That is
The newness of you

When close together
My body pitter-pats
I react to
The newness of you

I love the learning
The yearning for more
The core of
The newness of you

When I see you smile
Inside, I rise like yeast
A beast it’s
The newness of you

I’ll miss the presence
Once I know who you are
By far of
The newness of you

That is, I react to the core of the beast that is the newness of you

This is the house that Jack built.
This is the girl that lives in the house that Jack built.
This is the heart that lay in the girl that lives in the house that Jack built.
This is the man that broke the heart that lay in the girl that lives in the house that Jack built.
His name is Jack.
Them damn Jacks, always startin’ trouble. It really is about time for him to hit the road.
Because that girl that was layin’ up in that house, well, her name was Jill.
And she’s sick of runnin’ up and down hills with him and his love.
What he need with all that water anyway?
And she laughed – hard – when he fell. He deserved it.
And he wasn’t nimble and he wasn’t quick, ’cause when she caught him cheatin’ on her, she she beat him in the head with that candlestick.
Then he was jumpin’.
And Old Dame Dob wouldn’t patch his nod ’cause he’d pissed her off too.
Yeah Jack, get your bags packed – go ahead and hit the road.
Yeah, she’s keepin’ yo’ house, but you gotta go.
Hey, Sprat, you might not be big on fat, but she can’t eat no more of your crap.
Take your clubs, your spades, and your cold heart, too.
But she’s keepin’ the diamonds.

Yes I do
I read you like a book
Lick my thumb
To turn your pages

Late at night
When I should be sleeping
I’m huddled around the light
Trying to follow your story

And at the end of every chapter
Just when I think I’ve got you figured out
Your cliffhanger throws me into a frenzy

I want to put you down
But in the end
In your last paragraphs
You redeem yourself
And I’m back at
Once upon a time…