hope

warm weathered
still standing

I touch a moving universe
it sticks to my fingers
luminous and translucent

Like silk, it pulls.

Where would I be without
my questions
soaring high over a milky bay?
the light from
far away stars

beautiful
and rash

nursing my sorrows

forever waiting?

the fish fry: a cautionary tale

why? because

she smokes;
even against better judgment
eats grits with butter, despite the cholesterol

and she’s hungry. Add to that

a philandering good-for-nothing
two bit desire
two parts liquid longing
allowed to boil and billow
over open barrel blues
served raw with sizzling peaches
sans
-- the pits

her saving grace-
wedding vows broken
before the stone faced china
a man who loved the idea of her,
like fat free buttermilk

it's the teeth. they said
gottabetheteeth.
opulent, square, they rest in the beveled
corners of brown lips
dripping with diamonds
that make even mighty panties
drop mighty
quickly

frying up rendezvous
two by two; over easy
ma'am, he says breathily
i'll take mine to go

her frizzy curls suck the humidity like a pipe
sticking to her neck like skin
she's archetypical
tar black and nappy headed
on saturday nites the only kitchen
she's fingering
is the pulse of the stolen moment
on the cusp of venus touch, moon rising
hearing her heart
pirouette in his obsidian stomach

a slip of his hand bows to her greatness
under a wind blown sheer dress
she's been told not to soil

they crushintolove

not
easy on the eggshells
eyes open
eating hot id, greedily, and bare handed

that southern style
sweet meat
that flakes
like fish
when hot

he offers himself
stirring her soulfully
golden glass bubbles
blow from
the cast iron
so quickly

they never saw the trigger

be as it may

be as it may then
that love isn't a begger
it's a borrower

one thing is needed

In Memory of Officer Kaliah Harper



inspiration passages....
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed." Luke 10:38-41

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.


I sense your name
Upon the shadows

You beckon to me with full voice
Speak to me with a clear mind

The vine is empty,
But the soul is full.

I sense your name upon the shadows
your awkward dream cushions me
chariots of your speech
deliver me from my moment

Your voice burns my mind
it sears; it kisses my charred lips
the nape of the dawn
dissolves my mourning ashes
with the cool dew of your might

You hover above my destiny
linger in every mourner
The heaviness of your hope
Heralds even ears to cry

I sense your name upon the shadows
The gleaned price
Because he who lives, dies
And he who dies, lives

All that a man might do means
Nothing
at the final hour
Without your breath billowing over the darkness
Beckoning our arrival
We mistake as life

I sense your name upon the shadows

And
Matchless
Holy
Mighty
Excellent


Is Thy name.

Favored-- a song

I can't tell--
I can't tell you
What to do
I can't even tell
you
not
to
cry

But might I suggest
You fall on your face
and thank the Lord
for giving you grace
while singing
"Favored, Favored, am I"



chrous

Favored, favored am I
favored, favored am I
You blessed be Lord
with your best
Overlooked my unworthiness
and so i sing
"Favored, favored, am I"

They may have left
left you
in the cold
and just walked on by


But might I suggest
You fall on your face
and thank the Lord
for giving you grace
while singing
"Favored, Favored, am I"

for dreamgirls

hug upon
my curves
like a road untraveled
golden thread unraveled
from a silken gown
my landscape is none other than lovely
plunging, daringly full
and dreamed stitched

do you dream as well as
you dine, drunkenly they ask me
or maybe as well
as you sleep
ma?
avec la vie si douce,
pourquoi vous rêver?


you watch
i'll walk upon me with
young come hither eyes
yellow flower
in my tender hair, child
spirit meek, but never mild

star too hot to touch
but
the spindle pricks like this

as you sleep on the beauty
that your fantasy
is too small
to capture
in your baby bottles


but you just keep on rubbin'--
waiting for a wish

the stilled soul

the stilled soul
surrenders
to life
opens its
ample mouth
kissing today
then
breathing in the
whimsical womb world
of
distilled
love
lets go

harlem is (a reflection)

harlem is
hips
hardwood
big bodied bricks
legacy rising
like the sun

bathing brownstones
over high highs

the pitter patter of
ten thousand feet
in a dream deep breath
echoing against
the ear of
New York --


music.

"eat your epicurean"

in my
so called naivete
I
withheld nothing
from you
believing that you would not steal
what was given freely

I cooked.
and seared.
and chopped.
and simmered.
and basted
tenderly,
with the best
wines---

I lost
my lover
a latent
rapist
who liked tender things
rare and chilled
even a head held high.

I no longer cook your meals
although I am seared with the scent
of your sex

a love
inverted;
it went down well,
but ended angry;
a spiteful
spicy
after taste
that leaves my mouth
bitter and sore with words

Fusion (coming together)

(spoken)
Tasting the weight of my own
worth,
I was satisfied
beacause I was redeemed

(sung)
How much would it cost you
to dream your own dream?
Potentially
Live your own life?
Potentially?
Is all that you are and will ever be
Wrapped up in your potentiality
Or are you just yearning
To be free
From the potential
I see

(spoken)
If time were to reach over and touch itself
And all that was left was the
scent of utter expectation
petal soft and sweet
but deep like death
would it smell as sweet once your breathed the last breath
would you even expect to breathe it in
I’m saying this young men
Before you get locked into
Your potential, unrealized

(sung)
What is a measure of a man’s worth
If not his worth
Not net worth
But expect worth
Expect that worth is worth something
Not because it is assigned
Or taken
But because it is lived

(spoken)
If you go to try to buy your soul
You’ll discover that you will never be able to pay the price
Of something which you live in
But don’t own

Do you live with the
Gloat of your ghosts
Of dreams that your dreamed so well
That you could almost smell
But have not lived to tell?
Is it so easy to live and die
From what we barter and sell
For 30 sheckles and a prize

(sung)
Is your God given potential
Simply a token prize
That you wear around your neck
To show the next man
That you, could be
That you would be
Can be taken if tried?

With every living breath of
All the tears of mothers who birthed sons who have died
Keeping their eyes on an unwinnable prize

(spoken and sung)
With every prayer that God hears
More frequent than gunshots
And lots
Cast for the man that deep down
You think you could never be
Inked by destiny
Potentially, realized?
Is the man you long to be the one that stares you in your eyes
When you reflect
Or have you become the enemy
You protect?

(sung)
But oh how I long to see you fly
In your worth
That is so prized
That even God died
That one
The rebellious, unloved son
Resillent repentance is in the way
A father takes his son by the shoulders
And say I understand
I believe you can be the man you dream you can
Think you can
Not by power, or by might, but by the stripes
Of my hand

(spoken)
That mold you
Holds you
Consoles the spirit of what
You gave up so long ago to an enemy
That will take it from you
That keeps on taking it and taking it and taking it
Until
And deny the charge
That sold you an empty bag
And left

(sung)
Flesh of my flesh
Breath of my breath
God gave you potential
Not to sell it
But to use it
Not to sell it
But to use it
Not to sell it
But to use it
The potential of your soul is already bought