Let Me Live!

Let Me Live!

I'm respirating, respiring,
Looking for some reciprocity,
But all I see is animosity

Bang! Bang!
One shot to the neck
Hot lead to sign my death certificate
My eulogy written in blood

Let Me Live!

Bang! Bang! One shot to the abdomen
Shattered in fragments
Momma's tears went stagnant
As baby boy hit the pavement
Broad day light,
But ain't nobody saw it
CSI ain't solved it
Back page under the auspice...
Of homicide
A secret cover up for...
Genocide

Ravish my neighborhood,
Then gentrify
Chem trail clouds floating through the sky
Breath gone and I close my eye
I told God, "I ain't ready to die"

Let me live!

My father cried out, "God why?"

Let me live. Let me live.
I still got too much to give

Shots fired and I couldn't duck
Heart stopped and I can't get up

Let me live.

(In loving memory of Rod) 

The Man and Woman: Rivals or Lovers?

This is not necessarily an examination of the relationship between men and women from both perspectives, but more so analyzing how the woman interacts with the man. All things herein are not definitive, as I seek to explore ideas and that which we observe in society. This topic is broad and cannot be summed up in this small posting with all of the elements that would need to be considered in investigating the relationship between men and women. Nonetheless, I do hope to invoke minds to reflect introspectively for positive movement toward healing ourselves, our relationships and communities.   

Can we truly understand our men? It is true that we share DNA, cultural identities, our homes and much more with our men, but can a woman know what it is like to be a man? Despite the depth of study or the closeness of the relationship, a man and woman have different hormones and genetic construction. This alone will affect how we think and feel and this is irrespective of what science today is able to do with the human body; I am speaking of the human in his or her natural born state.

If social constructs are to be considered, then we must look at the demands of being a man or woman. What is expected of the woman? How has she been shaped by society, all including religion, social media, career, school, and childhood? In this same respect, ask these questions of the man. How does this play into the psyche and inevitably our character and who we think we are? At present, our men are being assaulted, killed and imprisoned at alarming rates. Our men have a social pressure unlike any other and the double standard of life presses us in different ways that are undebatable.   

How are mothers raising their sons? There is an abundance of single mothers and this statistic dominates in the so called "Black community."¹ The female caregiver in the home is the child’s first impression of a woman. A single mother is raising a male child from a female’s perspective, and she encourages him and disciplines him in the same manner, and although she may be a good teacher, she cannot give him the masculine energy that a man can. If the father is not there, how does this impact the son and the mother? If that child is never given an example of an adult male and female relationship, how will it affect him in adulthood when he seeks a relationship?

If both parents are present in the home the same inquiries can be made. What are the parents modeling for their son or daughters? Do we teach our children how to love themselves, to love others, or how to conduct healthy relationships? Are children helped in exploring their identity and self-pride from birth?  

Do we know how to love the man? There are many influences that shape who we are or who we think we are. Reflecting on the above statement of the home and child rearing, and also to mention society’s impact on our psyche, do we understand how to love? It cannot be what we think love is because that will vary by each person you ask. So, it seems we have a dilemma. How is love defined?

If we are to love the man we must first admit to several things. True love is not what a man can do for you, that is expectation. True love is not expecting a man to build you up or make you feel a certain way, that is insecurity. True love is first knowing one’s self—period. Of course there will be practical expectations in growing any relationship, but if you are sound in who you are and understand your purpose in life, then you do not come in the relationship needing things, such as the false fulfillment sex, someone to take care of you, needing someone to fill your childhood voids or daddy and mommy issues, pacify your insecurities, curb your trauma from sexual abuse or any of the other experiences that may come along with life. If the man and woman are sound in who they are, then they can avoid coming into a relationship with lack or a need for the other to give them something. This curtails disappointments that may diminish the relationship. 

Now the task is to seek if we really know and love self and honestly concluding on that matter.

Does the woman really know who she is on a soul level beyond what has been scripted in religious texts and social constructs? What was the true purpose and role of man and woman and how does knowledge of this directly affect a woman’s ability to love her man? 

1. http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/107-children-in-single-parent-families-by#detailed/1/any/false/573,869,36,868,867/10,11,9,12,1,185,13/432,431

And also see for example, http://www.actrochester.org/children-youth/family-support/single-parent-families/single-parent-families-by-race-ethnicity  

Poem #30

Six Feet Under

Borrow up your debt

Borrowing your life

Buried in yo debt

Buried in the ground

Ashes of the earth

Food for the Serpent

Burrow in your emotions

Drown in yo misery

Medical dispensary

Medicate the misery

Then repeat that history

Death you pay homage

Covers for yo visage

Egos you massage

Follow the mirage

The depths of your soul

Where? Nobody knows?

Nowhere to behold

Drowning in the depths

A loan for your life

Then drown in yo debt

Debiting the future

Credit in ya past

Present checks you can’t cash

But give homage to the banks

Shippin out your heart

Dearly we depart

Departed from where we started

Stranded at where we landed

Marching to what we’re handed

Scandal on top of scandal

Pounded with the hammer

Swingin with the scales

Dying in the sea

Dying, no mercy

Sea, can’t you see?

Agents in a flesh

Askin for permissions

Of false jurisdictions

Wayward superstitions

Spiritual disposition

Soul deposition

Sold across the water

Mary sold her daughter

Serpent came and bought her

Never knew her father

Born into labor

Labor into birth

The fall you enter first

The self at its worst

Carried in a hearse

Carried in momma’s purse

Bills for the first

Gifted in the curse

Babbled away ya worth

Bowl of beans for ya eye

A tax lien for ya pride

Sharp blade for ya hide

You got down for the ride

Pledged to be by his side

Arms open wide

Knees opened wider

Struggle to survive

Down beneath ya feet

Bound to repeat

Buried six feet deep 

Poem #29

BLEACH

Bleach for the dirty laundry

Bleach for the floor

Bleach for your teeth

Bleach for the pour

Bleach for your skin

Bleach makes a mask

Bleach for your all of y’all

They even got bleach for yo ass?!

No protection, bleach seeping through pores

Bleach doing damage like fictitious religious lore

This intricate compound crafted in the vats of robed wizards

A bats wing, seven spiders legs and the tail of a lizard

Stir three times to the left and ten times to the right

Now pour into the movies and media, let ‘em dream about it at night

Bleach to wash your brain

You waking up brainwashed, can’t remember yo name

Poem #28

THE CHANCE PRINCIPLE: PART II

If I had a chance I’d dance among the stars  

Hop some constellations and wave good-bye to mars

My dreams would shoot me way beyond the moon

Into galaxies infinity and I’d make it home by noon

I’d light the path to your conscience in realms light years away

With a tuning of the right frequency, shifting from pause to play

If I had a chance I’d solve the world’s great mysteries

I’d figure out what went wrong in all the great histories

I’d cause healthy crops to grow that nourish the mind

The freshest fruits, purest water, milk and honey divine

Here I am caught between the same plain game of mundane

Four seasons of sunshine, autumn leaves, snow and spring rain  

Desire still tingles and tickles the root of my soul

Reality remains stagnant, but can’t taint my goal

I’d be the light if I had a chance

#TheChancePrinciple

Poem #27

Young God born in the ghetto
Struck by Gepetto
Goddesses worshiping stiletto

Do they know?

Can they see the secret societies
Secret proprietaries
Denying me
Lying to me
Hiring me
Turn around and firing me

Pictures of matrices is what you paintin' for me

We no see divinity
We cannot heal like a shaman
We can't make it rain with a rain dance
Not like strippers do    
I'm talkin' voodoo
Haitian integrated indigenous DNA
Melinated
Propagated
Now my warriors castrated, emasculated
Indoctrinated, that's the only way we know to make it
Incarcerated, slangin' and bangin' is how we made it

Satrseeds fallen from the sky
Eating American poisonous pies
Feastin' on trumped up American lies

YO EVOLUTION WON'T BE TELEVISED!

House of Cards
Game of Thrones
American Gods

This is your chance
To take a stance
Introspection
Positive reflections
Higher self connectin'

Arise

Poem #26

Congratulations Burj Khalifa!

Iconic and filled with grandeur,

Travelers flock from around the globe to admire your beauty.

With a viewing deck cleverly named “At the Top,”

It measures just at 555 meters.

All of its shining glory is measured at 828

And two more to the tip make it a round 830.

Congratulations Burj Khalifa!