Archives for January 1, 2015

” Wake up”

Young people, be attentive
And do well,
why are sleeping,
wake up.
The day is already shining,
come and see;
The goodness of sunshine.

People are rejoicing
And they enjoy the work,
of their hands,
Hard work is a journey
Nothing comes easy,
Hard work pays
Season is coming.

The sky weeps when I’m not looking

Angels with broken wings may never fly
but the hymns they sing will touch the sky
and grasp the wind like an infant’s first touch

Remember the first time we met, I asked for your name
and your smile stole my breath from me like the rain
on a sunny day, when you told me your name I grinded
the letters separated the syllables rolled up the pronunciation
and inhaled the melody from your voice and got high from
the sound of my last name joined to yours,
Like bones joined to souls
I wish I could be your backbone so I could back the bones
inside of you that ache when you sad and I would promise you
that I will break the bone from the society’s definition of beauty
do a bone marrow surgery replace it with Maya Angelou’s Laughter
and use your pain as the bandage
That Sunday morning when the pastor preached about
fornication I looked at you with silent eyes that pierce through silence
as if to say don’t listen to him
and then a voice said to me Love her like your own
and I was confused like Moses’ encounter of the burning bush
my cup of spirituality has been leaking lately
and the cup has stayed half empty
But that night I drank from the blood of Jesus and got drunk
from the word and regurgitated my sins like the holy spirit
took over, I slept but I didn’t dream that night cause’
dreamers can’t dream when the world keeps speaking
if your life was a movie I would watch it once, replay it in my
conscience and tattoo the credits to my kneecaps so every time
I pray God will know I found you and
I’ll love you like the 4 seasons and every time the wind blows
or leaves fall I’ll love you
I’ll love you like summer because that’s the only season I believe
in, even when my days are cold your warm flickering sunrise smile
will grace my heart like Mary’s miracle
And I’ll walk bare feet in the spine of your mind plant a dream
resurrect a cross nail myself to the arms of your thoughts,
pierce my sides with your fondest memories and
I’ll bleed the water of life so every time your brain
tells you that it hurts your capsules will water the dream
and grow the Jesus inside you
I wanna be inside of you I want to know what went through
your mind when you found out that Eve stole our freedom
to freedom like we soldiers fighting a war for civil rights
like what’s the first thing you think of buying when they say
its offering time, what do you have time for?
I want to chain our minds together and let our emotions run free
and hope we never fight, but if we do let’s fight about sex
like the males that keep dying every day or the females that get
raped every 20minutes like how churches feed the hungry
and yet people are starving for the word of God like how

Manchester united needs a new coach already and no I
don’t like the fact that you support Chelsea but
before I curse you out I’ll show my laughter how to pray
to the God of Abraham and the Son of David
and let the words I speak bless you, let my tongue taste you
I love how your lips taste like Gen 2:18
and how you always smell like a freshly grounded prov 31
woman every morning
I pray that God ceases fire to Israel and brings it back to you
let every flower petal be named after your dreams
and I hope that I’m one of them
I’m not sure which part of me loves you the most
if it’s my soul or my spirit I’m not exactly sure what’s
the difference but I’ll love you like
the mountains love the clouds and the clouds love the
sky and the sky dreams about the moon but the sky
belongs to the sun a love triangle to be jealous of
I want to plaster my love for you on every tree so
that you won’t breathe without me and
I want to raise your flaws like they’re kids I never
had and I will introduce them to Christ and watch
them fall in-love with their own skin
And God said to me
you are made in my image love others as I have loved thee
and love her like she’s your own beating heart because
Angels with broken wings may never fly
but the hymns they sing will touch the sky
and grasp the wind like an infant’s first touch

I love you

Misfits

My Virginia Woolf in disguise –
My veil, my apprentice, shaman, owl wise.

I see Jean Rhys’s ghost in-intervals.
Joyce Carol Oates’s hands, and rouge.

Rapture. Oh, rapture.
There was Plath’s lipstick.

The milk, the buttered bread, Ariel.
Gas. Gas. Gas and stamps.

Updike’s father’s tears.
A child’s eyes can see the worm.

Daddy’s painted drum.
Let the dishes rot-into-nothing.

Hemingway’s earth does not waste-anything-in-the-end.
The cornfields of Illinois are pretty

Where David Foster Wallace
Grew up. His childhood

Was made up of bonfire anecdotes
Shark teeth and infinite jest

He was the pale king sitting on an earth-throne
The so-called psychotic bewitched by libraries

By the halls of Amherst the Midwest where of-all-things
Genocide took place. Murder and speeches

His dream songs. They came from space
He gripped his pen. Left behind an alphabet of supernova writing

There were monsters hiding in the closet
Monsters under the bed. The room is smaller

Than he remembers when he returns home
From Amherst water and lobsters pouring out of him

As he evaporates. America offers shelter for some
Meat and potatoes kind of women and men

Worms, holes, the dark, maniacs
Hooks already programming him.

For Sylvia Plath

Addiction to neon –
Sumptuous marriage. Playful.
Montage of ill health.

Now what does that all mean.
Let us take the word ‘neon’.
It can mean stripes of light.
Hallucinogenic Technicolor.

‘Sumptuous’. Does that mean
That we are sitting down to a feast.
Us gulls to fill our bellies?
Fatten them up with tiny golden

Arrows of haiku’d up words
And sumptuousness. And now
We come to marriage and playful.
Let us go skinny-dipping in them.

Let us not let ill health
Keep us back. Our bones are
Ancient. Everything lovely
About it. Out there are our

Doppelgangers reminding us
Nothing is by accident. They
Tell us to sit down at our desk
Writer, poet and to make a living

Out of it. In time we will
All fade away like squiggles
Of moonlight and my brother’s
Laughter is explicit. It fans

Itself into waves –
I have been here before. A-fri-ca!
I still burn for him.

Yearn for him like a plague
Yearns for famine. Those lean years.
He feels nothing for me.
I am a useless zero. An empty cup.

So I have haiku’d life away.
Worn this chip on my shoulder
I am a distillate. Mere fog.
Now I play at writing maps.

Capture and Release

A flash of red caught Thomas Gene’s eye. For a brief moment he thought he was delusional. The closer his car got,the more bewildered he became. Red wellington boots. Green stockings. A toothy smile. A thumbs down,the universal sign for ‘hitchhiker’.

Looking back,he would have liked to believe that he stopped because of the rain,but he knew that a large part of him stopped out of intrigueness and a vague wonder of whether or not she was color blind.

She slid into the car with a sigh of relief,wiping away the dark hair from her pale face. She looked up at Thomas and he soon realized that her lips were moving.

Shaking himself out of his reverie,he cleared his throat.”Pardon?” “I said thanks a million for stopping,I’ve been standing there for over an hour. I know the colors are off putting but they don’t exactly say cat skinner “she giggled softly.

He smiled weakly and decided to concentrate on driving. “I’m Levi” she said quietly. She didn’t mention her last name and Thomas did not ask.

“So where are you off to?” Thomas glanced at her sideways and saw her shift uncomfortable in her seat. “Oh you know,here and there,just wondering about”. His eyebrows creased,you don’t wonder about in the middle of a highway during a storm.

“I’ll be fine at the next gas station” Levi blurted out abruptly and the rest of the drive continue in silence.

Soon enough they came to a gas station and Levi stepped out,mumbling an untangible thank you and disappeared around the corner. Thomas sat for a minute,started his car and went around the very same corner.

He looked left and right,trying to spot her and suddenly there she was. Red wellington boots. Green stockings. A toothy smile.

Levi stood talking to a scrawny man whose only contribution to the conversation was a few curt nods. A warm handshake was exchanged and they went their separate ways.

She looked over her shoulder and spotted Thomas sitting behind the wheel of the car and fled,but not before he could see the look of horror in her eyes.

He ran after her,twisting and turning in the slippery streets and finally into a dark alley. He could see her shadow lingering in the corner. A dead end. Thomas approached her slowly and heard a whimper of fear escape her sweet lips.

“When did you start dealing?” Echoed his voice in the isolated alley. He flinched,surprised at the harshness in his voice.

Levi shook her head. “Don’t lie to me!” He grabbed her jacket and felt it rip. Several packets of white powder scattered across the grimy floor.

Taking a deep breath,Thomas looked into her huge eyes. “You know what this means don’t you?” He asked her. For a second he thought she was going to flee again but then realized she was surrendering. There was no more fight in her.

Thomas gently turned her around,bringing her hands behind her back. He heard himself reading Levi her rights.

The rest seemed like an out of body experience. Walking back to his car. The fingerprinting. The statement taking. She looked so small surrounded by large grey walls. She transformed into a little ball,rocking back and forth,knowing that there would be no rescue,knowing there would be no savior.

Detective Thomas Gene couldn’t sleep. He knew the system would swallow her up and shuddered to think what would happen to her in prison. Cursing loudly,he leaped up and hurriedly put on his clothes. He knew that his window of opportunity was rapidly closing.

At 3am,Thomas knew the station would be deserted,with only the guards monitoring the inmates. He glanced at his watch. He waited and soon heard familiar voices.

“Its quiet tonight Jay. There’s no trouble here.” Thomas identified the voice of the guard leaving.

“Well that’s good to know,I’m off to get a bite to eat downtown” said Mike the guard that would be taking over.

Soon the voices became distant and Thomas knew it was now or never.

He reached the cells and unlocked one. He helped her to her feet and wiped away the black smudge under her eyes,which were filled with awe and gratitude.

He smiled and gave a nod of acceptance. She walked into the night and he watched,emotions within him running amok.

He took in the sight that was slowly disappearing before him. A toothy smile. Green stockings. Red Wellington Boots.