Fathers, Sons and Unholy Ghosts

Age-old addiction

      turning

            reasonable suspicion

                    into

                            critical condition

then flatlines 

you see

                                              this is

                                              the only

                                            (trinity)

                                              we've come

to know

                                          here

Rorschach

Amadou had a wallet

Trayvon had Skittles

Black boy had a BB gun

Might as well had a missile

The Draggers

WE

pick at each other's reputations

like cotton formerly situated

between index and thumb


my knees are bruised in whole

from nights praying

that some graceful day

WE

prove William wrong.

Burdens greater than me

Be enough to have your back broken in

two by promises that never left the plaque

(of a friend's teeth)


Be enough to have the world you

knew so well turn to inkblot

(in 4 days time)


Be enough to have darkness engulf

your aspirations swallowing them whole

(before reaching the pillow)


Be enough to accept sorrows frigid dance

on your throat while it muzzles

(screams for God's mercy) 


Be enough to endure

because you

always

have

had

to

(be)

Poverty is Violence

Pretty soon empty spoons cut gums

like razor blades across faces in penitentiaries

the summer of 98 took lives

off of family porches

&

out of family portraits

it also took the Jordan's off of Jermaine's feet

along with his breath

last words were "don't scuff em"

&

when people don't eat

They eat each other bone and all

I AM, staring at an empty closet

waiting for the bones to fall

&

because an empty stomach

gets filled with lucifer

we been keeping the door locked

everyday this June 

the wavy apparitions rising from concrete

reminded us, summer was in

&

the heat was on

Flawed for Eternity

to

      appreciate

                          me

you have to understand


just as,

the flute has many holes

through which

the musician blows

should the

wounds seal to close


no song could be played

Daughter


she asked me,

father, what. am. I. made. of ?


have you forgotten?

why you are

an atomic bomb

wrapped in rose petals

the last gasp of a songstress

a tectonic plate of felicity


and for these reasons

you must always  have

a volcano

in your saliva

grenades between

your lips

The Wealth of This Nation

trickle down economics

fickle stories to tell

about a capitalist flood

over community wells

the robber baron's heaven

is a commoner's hell

mixed messages say the mind

is where the poverty dwells

trust a dotted line

is where inequity swells

Demons

I stopped 

equating 

progress 

with 

being exhausted.

 

I stopped

equating 

success 

with

being exalted.

Standardized Tests

God teaches

 

blood is ink

life is paper

experience is notes

pain is proofreading

editing is second chances 

 

death is final drafting

 

Puzzles

Be careful                                                                                                     

They'll have                                                                                                   

Your oppression                                                                                          

                                                           Tasting Like Cheetos

 

You'll be                                                                                                        

Licking Fingers                                                                                            

Digesting death                                                                                           

 

 

Our Glass

Mortal 

atmospheres

where

energy is finite

waste = waste

evermy 

a banking transaction

with our

mind, body, & SOUL

what's your balance?

balanced?

balance?

Riots

Art & Politics
       are
the bottom
       and top
                lips
of
the oppressed
(Re)pressed
and aborted

honor
their rage

For the tongue
may very well be
their only sword

Ecology

I watched a baby's soul pass through the concrete

mothers bruise knees beggin fo da Lord's redemption

aunties walin at a sky nobody gonna drop from

don't them balloons deflate too soon?

ain't nobody comin to save us

 

Mr. Ghetto ain't you tired?

Mr. Ghetto don't cha take no breaks?

Mr. Ghetto don't cha have no leisure?

 

I watched a man-child dance in a purgatory

fathers beat walls  yearnin for second chances

uncles tip 40oz bottles of heroine in mother earth

don't teddy bears make you nauseous?

ain't nobody comin to save us 

 

Mr. Ghetto you generations turnin in them graves?

Mr. Ghetto ain't it prayer you said would deliva me?

Mr. Ghetto who built you?

 

 

 

Extroverted Introvert

be. patient. with. 

the face.

new. acquaintances.

are. showing. you.

their. apprehension. 

to. express love.

the hidden truth.

may only. be seen if.

they. turn around.

and. show you.

the knives.

friends. family. and. foes.

have lodged.

between.

their shoulder blades.

Affirmations

I. you are more than acute suffering & transgenerational trauma
 

II. you are more than dichotomies of peril & unattainable perfection


III. you are more than regrets that make teeth clench, grind & chip away at esteem


IV. you are more than surreptitious social anxiety & gatherings (everyone is going to be at)
 

V. You are every atom of the universe happening at once

VI. And sunrise is earth's way of saying "thank you"---- for being

Curry

you are dark matter

inexplicably able 

to split spheres 

with spheres 

to remake men 

as boys 

catapulting magic 

in rims silently 

composite leather 

underestimation

under-appraisal 

and under-appreciation 

have made you poetry 

swish