Beautiful Life

i.
I heard a rumor that she
was invincible--
a
stunning beauty
aching for
tragedy

ii.
The lingering lover
shadow hip hugger
improvisational conversationalist
she never sleeps with those
whom she's already bedded

iii.
Old love
New love
Often borrowed
And sometime blue
An evolvement of the sum total of
space, time and opportunity

iv.
A convergence of two souls
A union of remittance
And no matter how cold she leaves you
Get this
She gives
The longest
Hottest
Wettest
Kiss goodbye

poprocks and pepsi

The chain linked fence
remembers our wounds

our
skinny arms attached
like
subject to verb
you are me
the first valentine
crooked letters: be mine?

was there
ever such a thing
as inner innocence
back when your best friend
was a first love
not an alternative or a superlative
fighting over who got the last pack of grape pop rocks
who did the bump better
until you fell over with laughter
hitting the fence
separating asphalt from Mr. Chin's garden
ripping elbows, thighs, and knees--
if anybody else pushed me I would've
kicked their butt
but that was us
we pushed for each other

we
drank pepsi with the purple poprocks
or red punch
an oddly peculiar exploding
sensation ripped dewy lips

you
splashed me first
and it splattered on
our
white keds

i
missed the magic telepathic quality
of the mood ring
when you went away
that summer
I wishing I was blue every day
I wrote you letters.
Did you get them?

When
you came back
your black braids were streaked with white
Upstairs I heard your mama's
serenades of swearing
at the pasty no good so and so
who made her baby a woman
because he wasn't a man

What
did it feel like? theothergirlsasked
but I never did
your silent eyes
black and pearly
as your ring
told it all


the weeds by the fence have now overgrown the garden
I have learned to tend
a few spring flowers
of my own
I watch them play
in the yard, and smile
but
I watch closely

and although
we are past the age of
pop rocks

you are me
the first valentine
crooked letters: be mine?

even with the weeds,

The chain linked fence
remembers.

Enlightenment (In the key of Funky Blue)

(VERSE 1)
I see you got an education
Can tell your nouns from all your verbs
You can add,divide,and multiply
Are you hearing what I heard?
You can tell me about Egypt
tell me why stocks rise and fall

But my friend, if you don't know HIM
you don't know nothin' at all

(solo)
Whoa, nothin' at all
Nothing
Whoa, nothing at all
Not a thing

(Choir)
Do you know?
Do you know?
What do you know?
Do you know?
Do you know?



(Verse 2)
See I was lookin' for some healin'
but the healing must be lost
Cauze every man had a different brand
and y'all know how much it cost
Now I ain't trying to be discouraged
cauze I know who it is I call

But my friend, if you don't know HIM,
You don't know nothin' at all--

(solo)
Whoa, nothin' at all
Nothin'
Whoa, nothing at all
Not a thing

(Choir)
Do you know?
Do you know?
What do you know?
Do you know?
Do you know?

Not a thing


(choir)
Jesus,

The one who helps us through our pain
Jesus,
appointed to rebuke the rain
Jesus, he's a keeper, and he'll reach ya, if you call

But my friend, if you don't know him--
You don't know nothin' at'all

(solo)
Oooh at all
Nothing at all
Whoa, at all
Nothin'.

i, too, dream. (for 3rd i. rest in peace)

If you are considering taking your life, please know there is hope, beloved ones...Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem



the wonder
of winds
the kiss of the soul
a cold word
breaks, but won't bend

breath of my breath
skin of my skin

yet hungry to the bone

she leaves behind a packaged
poem--
soul, gone, home.

a pause between her eyes and the dream

the resident muse
has moved
but her things remain among us

what if's make me
why then's over take me
predicated on my futile fears
that seem to grow with gusto

you
captured by
the swell of the song
before the movie moment

i, cry to hear you laugh

i, pray to hear you dream

i, long to see your life
unedited

i, too, dream.

*****


I hear you knocking
by 3rd i

i hear you knocking but you can't come in
it's time i said no
stood my ground like an old oak tree that will not be moved
nor swayed by the dripping of honey that come from your lips

oh...i hear you...but you can't come in

www.myspace.com/3rd_i



Isaiah 61:3 To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.

Two poems

i.

You claim that I have
Been derelict in my loving
But the dereliction
was in the delivery

ii.

The heart is
a slippery creature
but it like to be held just the same

Moving day

I try to 'cop a 'tude/ like I don't care/because it hurts less that way/because the risks are so great/the returns so infrequent/because they never love me, but the idea of me/beacause i always said it would be the man that couldn't walk away who would have me/cauze walking is a man's sport/and I have known the stars/cauze above all else I come with my own things and i don't need nothin' on nobody's lay-a-way that i cannot afford

and then--- you.

maybe it is

the ripple of your
voice
as it hits my ear
and I flinch
from the reverberation
of your pen

or

the poised
syllables strong as Armageddon
striking
me
into
still

or the fact that you boldly
call me out on my own porch
them fightingwords
pulling me close
until the sultry moment sticks
to my clenched fists
like cologne on your skin

but I
I breath heavily, pause, and lean in
to the dampness of you

maybe it is

the prolific pause
of your lips
kissing life
drowning me in volumes of
words I wouldn't even whisper

or

simply that
I need
to need
you


All I know is
I'm in that kind of mood right now--
them fine lines
are cracking
me like the break before the rush
reflective gaze is blowing my limbs
like trees swallowed by a storm
I'm aching for your awe

and

if you stand up
in your full majesty
if your eyes search to know me
if your fingers
touch
my face
tenderly
I just might break
I just might return
I just might be moved

good fairies

Who killed little Miss America?
the flaxen haired
tawny curled beauty
that so many secretly adored?
Was it an
adulterous
slight
of hand
cutting through the night
or was
it the sight of her
an angel
freeze

framed

in her family photo

innocence and knowledge
dancing on her forehead
like sizzling beads of sweat?

who will dance for us now
who will bw the coveted dream
that no one has
but we all long for
like the ache to the tooth
before the good fairies come

Somewhere between Heaven and Earth

I lean into the sloping curve
of a naveled nexus
and lick
bitter
sweet
fruit
salty, like lime on the lips
of a glass
where the drink has taken
inroads
to the human valley
somewhere between heaven and earth

it is
the in between
that gets me every time

the sin and the reconciliation
the love and loss
the faith and fear

"All the evil and all the love" as Shug Avery says

that keeps me
thirsting
for something more

To Be Gifted...

Hey-yay-ay
It's a new day!
(It's a new day!)

Hey-yay-ay
It's a new day!
(It's a new day!)

Your gift
from God
is your debt to the world
you give because
it was given
to you
free of charge

To whom much has been given
Much is required
The requiem of a dream
rooted in God's desires
No matter how hard it gets
keep that inner fire
And God will take your talent
use it for something higher

Hey-yay-ay
It's a new day!
(It's a new day!)

Hey-yay-ay
It's a new day!
(It's a new day!)

Your gift
from God
is your debt to the world
you give because
it was given
to you
free of charge


Don't you bury your talent
you got to let it grow
if God has given it to you
let the people know
Much is required
We were are given purpose
so let your purpose show
and when the spirit leads
you'll feel that warming glow!

Hey-yay-ay
It's a new day!
(It's a new day!)

Hey-yay-ay
It's a new day!
(It's a new day!)

If you're a writer (write on)
If you're a mother, be strong
If you're a singer sing praise
If you're teacher, show the way
If you're dancer, jump high
If you're an actress make them cry
Use your gifts, don't let life pass you by

Marcus and Patricia

(sometimes the characters come alive..)




Oriole Slugger
Cat in the hat lover
Lives to paint
Her
Smiles

He’s gotta heart of thunder
And lightening
and
That frightens her
Into fierce defense
Ready for the pitch

He waits
And wants
Cotton candy mouthed
For her

Never has such a whole
woman
Made him feel more like a man
Bold, bodacious brassiness
So warm and real
He watches her
With a quiet awe

This woman he’s been fussing with all his life
This woman who knows his every scar
From roller blade to handlebar
This woman who tells him
The truth even when he’d rather hear the lie
This woman who has leaned into the curve of his lonely arm
And made it a home

Beautiful women must camp out at your doorstep
She says
What would you want with me?

He smiles
Awiite
Woman, awiite.

If only she would let him love her
With the lights on
Love her changing seasons
The rushed
penciled in notes to herself
The butterfly wing tips that span her dreams
Wider than she thinks
Her hips are, when she smooths them
Self consciously
And pulls on the short wisps of her hair

This woman who lives loud
And is ashamed
This woman who survived the cruelest love
This woman who knows his heart like the back of his hand
This woman who was done wrong
Yet did right
This woman he has been fussing with all his life
He knows her every scar
Butterscotch kisses each truth with love

As they stand there in the
August rain
White walls parted by a smooth black sky
His heavy heart longs to remind her:

His lips long to taste her
Beautiful women camp outside his door
This woman is
the one
the only one
He lets in