I Don’t Need Your Guilt, I’ve Got Enough Of My Own

White light

Switch back to the darkness they can’t see

Black shadows hide my nature

And you are so afraid

Psychotic and punished by my brain

I take these streets

My brothers face down for nothing wrong

Fuck the police, the city, our people’s song

Cause sometimes I really hate you

Turn on the news, you’re marching with us

Trying to be black, you’re out of whack

Out of practice, out of luck, out of spazz

I go nuts on these pages, see me act out

I don’t have a message, but messages

And I need messengers to carry out the word

Not imposters, but responders

Backs who’ve carried the pain

Skin tones who’ve taken the blame

Hair textures who’ve taken the shame

Hands torn and mangled, became lame

I need someone a little insane

Because this life requires we be a little

Nobody ever stood out

Being like everyone else

Swimming against the tide takes guts

Dignity, and a whole lotta love

Rise above for your people

Rise above for your nation

And leave your white guilt at the door

I don’t need it

I’ve got enough of my own

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For My People

Pushed back to the edge of the page

with your white skin, green stacks

America’s Raid

the toxins seduce our contempt

muddle our rage

 

Some aren’t so lucky, they get pushed off

or they treat us like projects in their vials

confine us to ghettos, a hole in one

as they swing and miss our faces

until an entire people is undone

 

LeBron and Cam are special

because they’re athletes, built to entertain

I guess if we’re still on the plantation

I’m allowed to whip this fucked up shit till it bleeds from your veins

 

Water, water, it runs so dry

in these schools they vomit in filthy quarters

in these homes they vomit in filthy quarters

in these lives they vomit until they reside

to die, in these filthy quarters

 

Give me a pen, I make things happen

Give me a breath, I make things happen

Give me a hand, we make things happen

Give me hands, we make this happen

no bits on “racial diversity”, just action

 

Equality doesn’t need money, just your head

Equality doesn’t need committees, just hands

Equality doesn’t need votes, just hearts

you have no concept of the struggle

yet are the thing tearing us apart

 

White ass bitch, you don’t speak for me

unless you’ve got my skin, can’t vouch for me

unless you’ve got my chains, don’t pretend as if you were on that ship

you have no idea what it’s like to throw your own children overboard

 

To protect them from slavery, they killed

To protect them from the hatred, they killed

To protect them from the abomination, they killed

and yet they couldn’t save them all

Harriet, Frederick, couldn’t save them all

 

I’ve got royalty in my DNA, and that is true

we were kings and queens

we ruled and reigned

our wealth spanned the ages

now we make up the footnote of your pages

 

But not for long, the time is now

to put the hate to rest

and I’d hate to rest until the pain

is not tolerated, but addressed

and I need all of you

 

I need of all us who have felt the scorn

to rise up and find their fire

in fighting for us, you fight for you

so sit back and let it unfold

or give what you can for a cause that’s true

Red Lights, Blue Lives

Red and blue lights

Crystal day

Ominous night

Given the right over lives

And death

Angels guarding the garden with fire

Or demons tempting with tantalizing

and poisoned breath

What a catch

To inflict suffering upon humans

And be looked in in favor

Then give one man too rough a ride

And be handed walking papers

What a catch

To be given power and prestige

With too few watchful eyes

Yet when they abuse the power

Like they can do to people

We act surprised

#BlueLivesMatter, I do believe

But as in all things

All things are not as they seem

Beauty, Breaking, and Choosing

Paint me a picture

of what tomorrow has to offer

children rejected at distant borders

young wives lose budding husbands

to filthy coffins

paint me a picture with the blood

of aborted fetus

paint me a picture with the anger

of disbelievers

in the White House

where Trump says any and everything

paint me a picture with their tears

screaming, shouting for their voice to be heard

dear child, he cannot hear you

not us, not today

our world is cast into the fray

nuclear weapons are too easy a choice

but who cares for the average Joe?

how much does his voice cost?

what about his vote?

paint me a picture with the sins of blacks

and law enforcement

intertwined in a death game of the ages

breaking and being broken

Eric Garner was another token

and we all bought the lie with his dead body

how long will it go on

why is it the autistic that rallies you to the call

I’ve got enough of my own problems

my own pitfalls to maneuver

but I paint you this picture

riveting roulette of reckless

humans are so capable of beauty

humans are so capable of breaking

humans are so capable of choosing

what will you do

Dry Heaving Seasick Lullabies

My poetry

is for sailors and captains

with troubled thoughts

the nooses and broken stools

with self esteems to match

the rainbows, the puzzles

and the misfits in between

the native, the foreigner

and border crossing dreams

the misconstrued woman

who raises her children alone

and the father who leaves his home

to serve his country

rappers may have gold, athletes green

but don’t forget the kids working at McDonalds

is the American Dream within their reach?

the white under the bridge

the black leaving the Oval Office

the Indian Chief

and the Japanese who sell their daughters

to make a living profit

My poetry is for all

under the sun

to storm the castle

and take the world back

overdose it

give it a heart attack

and wake us from the slumber

we’ve been trapped in

for so long

Welcome To My Yellow Tape Parade

street blocked off again

yellow tape parade

features no admission

except the blood of a city, forever a victim

 

crime goes deeper than the bullets

beyond the jail cells and body cam videos

it’s a reminder we are sick

and protest does ill in making us well

 

dealers only sell cause someone buys

so give them reading and writing to fill their minds

not tests and awards for making it past second grade

awarding mediocrity is why we’re here in the first place

 

children grow up not knowing real success

so when they face real failure, they crack under pressure

drugs and booze, crime and cruise

they have pent energy that they can’t even use

 

government handouts make you weak

find a job, get off the couch, get on your feet

making your own money feels better

than stealing someone else’s

 

I grew up in the ghetto

but I wasn’t of it

I took school seriously, got a job

now I am above it

 

I don’t need the weed, prostitutes keep your tits in

I’m looking for something real to believe in

something I can only find in a  dream

the destiny that awaits you and me

 

stop blaming race, stop blaming cops

find your calling and put it on lock

cause the only thing that maters when X comes to drop

is the sum of the love inside your heart

 

 

The Darkness Chokes The Sense Of The Homeless

The darkness chokes the sense

of the homeless

throwing punches of humility

and stealing the cents out of hats

too big to fit the head of a ten year old boy

silence awakens the mind of a soldier

trapped in a traumatized mind

he marches up and down his home to Iraqi time

and swings an AK around his head like a toy

bullets rain down in a cascade of calamity

and with the blindness of humanity

there’s more to this never ending story

of birth, disappointment, and death

medicine buys you an extra breath

but takes away twice the life

adults cheat on each other

teens resort to the knife

and poor babies, they don’t get any rights

there’s more vacant houses on a single block

than the times the gangster will cock his glock

at the very thought of red and blue

shallow crooks like Hillary say they know what it’s like

If only they knew

an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth

here’s some ecstasy and pot

in exchange for our youth

mom’s leave their children

in search of better pay

while feminists overlook the rising level of strokes

and the blood in the streets from where kids lay

nobody to guide them, that’s fine

let Justin Bieber lead the way

but he won’t give them back their time

tired of hearing about gender

while the news makes everything about race

let’s focus instead on treating each other like humans

because we all belong in this place