bluebill

If I could take the pain away

I would paint you

blue

like the tears

and teach you to swim

like you taught me

to laugh at

the things that hurt you the most

I would sing

the blues

and change the key

to unlock

the door that

leads to eternal life

I would

color the sky

to tell the world

about your

new wings

bluebill

please keep

the color

in your memory

for me

 

 dear anonymous black woman

I’m writing this letter to you on a Monday because of partly cloudy skies partly because I know why the caged bird cries and why the hummingbird flies

I’m writing this letter to you Anonymous Black Woman

Because I remember your maiden name
Because I bathe in your reflection
And I hear your song tap dance on the airwaves

When I see your face in a movie scene
It has the word slave scribbled across the screen

I’m writing this letter to you because I hear you scream
You are suffocating my Africa

When you read between these lines I hope love is what you find
I reach for you but your end has no beginning
Your mane is now blonde and stringy
Your complexion blended to peer perfection
Your beauty bargained with Photoshop tricks
My lips and hips still thick built like a brick
My crown and glory contained in corn rolls, braids or Afro
Sometimes curly and sometimes kinky

Some say nappy

I’m writing this letter to you because you don’t look happy

Seems like the rules of engagement have changed
You married a system and he martyred you a victim
Your taskmaster traded chains for fame
Frame by frame and page to stage
Your identity is starting to fade
Sooner or later you anonymous black women all look the same

I’m writing this letter to you
So at least you can remember my pen name
You used to call me soul sister

The one that looks like you in a forgotten picture

   spyder poem

tyger, tyger burning bright                                                                             elephant’s ears parachuting in the sun lion dancing                                   lion of Judah dancing a pirouette

black panther afro fist in the air

statue of liberty slammin’ in a bikini                                                     imagination swimming in rivers of cold

Coltrane’s horn blowing smoke signals                                                         pearls on the pond                                                                                                       blood on the fields

inhale God

blood on the fields |  pearls on the pond

Coltrane’s horn blowing smoke signals                                               imagination swimming in rivers of cold

statue of liberty slammin’ in a bikini                                                                   black panther afro fist in the air

elephant’s ears parachuting in the sun lion dancing                                       lion of Judah dancing a pirouette

tyger, tyger burning bright

babylon graffiti     Android earth  | 

Concrete coward | Rush hour rat race | Ponzi scheme | Pedestrian maze / pipedream 

Cardboard condos | Shopping cart mobile homes 

Robots in windows sipping portable cities

Dark tunnels / vacant subways

Burning bridges falling down

Babylon graffiti

        Message in a bottle

                                                Somebody said / “The jungle is dead”

 

 

    mother of my marrow 

Kiss my reverie / when summer quivers

Entice my midwife / Induce the supernatural

Taste winter’s bread / deceive Judas

Betray my bitter fantasy

Redeem a barren destiny

Sing a lullaby / don’t call me crazy

Awaken my inner child / nurture this baby

Breathe life inside brittle bones

Be the mother of my marrow

Or the father of my tomorrow

Just don’t abort my dream

 

salty skin        

the portico between the altar and suffering
sometimes feels like a caterpillar’s coffin
a cocoon enflamed / burning like a pre-roll butterfly
fragrant flowers bleeding THC
emotional embers blowing like hostility in a gusty wind
a dry desert / the land of milk and manna
the tension of temperament
teetering on breakthrough
tethered to teary eyes watered
weathered storm weariness
this Christian crawl space smells of flesh
salty skin / satiable sin drenched revival
giving up the ghost for buried promises
the fire of this furnace has exorcised my addiction
send for the preacher man / the priestly pimp who makes
my head spin / fucks the freedom out of me to face these demons
teach me to slay dragons / release peace to the relatives of Cain
with eyes open / close the windows of the matrix
keeping the secrets / spying on Goliath and the guardians
as they prepare/ readying for recompense to war my soul
crush olive leaf / break stone bread / rock this tomb
pour new wine

 

without art /

there would be no color

no sculptured dance

no life design

no song to sing / no poem to read

without art /

there would be no freedom

no reason to believe

without art /

no reason to dream

no reason to teach

no students to reach for the moon

without art /

no space to create

no air to breathe for you and me

no country tis’ of thee

no liberty

without art/

we would all be bland

robotic pieces of sand

no oceans deep or mystery

     queen of fiends

tender tongues born of bourgeois vagabond

middle-class sobriety / intoxicated inertia

soaked in vain humility / parched lips pucker

thrashing daggers / stinging swords

we fight like family

jousting for the jugular

bastard of the blood line

harmonizing with grief-stricken grandma blues

fooling with the wife of strife

bruising the root / singing a funeral song

instead of wedding cake

we eat the fruit of apple seeds

rotten at the core our melody

jealous relatives / the joyful queen of fiends

 

testimony

 I’ve tasted a slow burned romance after the fire was cool

Sipped it slowly and felt it sizzle on dry ic

Wishful thinking

and whiskey gone sour have turned my bittersweet

I have ransomed hope for second guesses and last chances

Memories of you will have to suffice and satiate

the decadence of regret

Until

the substance of my longing quenches the languish in my heart

Until

we collide in another life or a remembered place and time

Until

we see face to face pressed lips and eye to eye

Until God says yes, amen and prophesies the beginning from the end

No matter what I will cling to the essence of you

at the root of my apple tree

at the root of my apple tree

Like Adam and Eve

Like Isaac and Rebekah

Or Ruth and Boaz

Like diamonds and topaz

We were made to believe and conceive the impossible

Promise has a process

And before a seed blooms it’s buried in the ground

A treasure is sometimes lost before it’s found

I am stripped down to the nakedness of my truth

Vulnerable in my conviction to pour out my offering

Even if it means watering the soil where roses never grow

Even if the wind never blows

Summer remembers Spring and Winter never forgets  Fall

My ear is inclined to the whisper of your call

I hear your soul even in silence when it speaks

Deep calls unto deep

Fairytales are laced with knights in shining armor

And fables of fair maidens being swept off their feet

I just want to sit quietly at a dinner table or in a room writing poetry

Sipping tea and watching you breathe

Helping you build the foundation of a blissful eternity

Simplicity distilled down

Two matching crowns

His and her towels

Showered clean in yesterday’s purple rain

Purged and purified in purpose and pain

Sacred in the pursuit to possess the miracle moment

I can’t let go so forgive me if I lied

I tried

You turned my water into wine

My stony heart changed a spirit of heaviness into an oil of gladness

My mourning into dancing

Like embers from a forgotten flame easily kindled with a kiss

Or the brush of skin on chastity’s canvas

Love lasts

I’m a witness and this is my testimony

So let the mountains be removed

And let the power of light fill our dimly lit room

Until the sun and moon declare holy matrimony

Until the fruit of forever is birthed

Until heaven meets earth

The value gained in loving you will never lose its worth.