Poetry

Welcome

Welcome to the page

Dedicated to poems

Penned by Yours Truly

Lecture

Animated and gesticulating, the professor makes a passionate speech

As my eyelids droop and dance.

My energy is slowly leeched

As this invaluable gift I toss askance

Why do I do this?

Some day, I’ll surely rue this.

Zora Neale Hurston’s complexity is discussed

Their Eyes Were Watching God and Barracoon.

The last couple minutes are always rushed

And we are dismissed all too soon.

To be a student forever would be bliss

But soon all I will have is this reminiscence.

Beautiful pictures ring against the walls

Uplifting and exalting divine black bodies

Poetry sings of peaks and pitfalls

Creating some of the sweetest melodies.

But as soon as class started its done

My bed off in my room beckons.

Evicted

Get the fuck out!

Evacuate your home,

The time has come to move on.

But where will I go?

Of mercy do you not know?

Why do you treat me like a worthless vagabond?

I don’t give a damn about your feelings, angst or fear

Don’t care where you go, but you’ve got to leave here.

Yeah! and what’s worse is you’re always so loud

And, compared to me, you’re not even half as endowed.

So go on, you heard the man

Pack your shit up and scram

On eviction day new neighbors are chipper.

As the landlord smiles slyly

And winks at them dryly

Another home sold to the highest bidder.

Persevere

Put me in the eye

Engulfed by the storm

Raging and billowing all around me.

See how I scratch and fight

Even as I’m evicted from my dorm

Verily stripped of human dignity

Enriching myself, I carry on with my life

Reinvigorating my writing in a firestorm

Enjoying the chance at simplicity.

Sink or Swim

There’s a certain peace that comes

When you’re struggling against the waves

and you realize;

You don’t have to fight it.

You can sink into the deep

The calm

And it’s all the same.

We all die anyway.

Almost

The decision came down, my greatest fears have been realized.

My academic future no longer jeopardized,

Now demolished.

I stand amongst the rubble, pulverized,

Struggling to think straight as I am mesmerized

By how quickly I’ve been forced from college.

And yet, this is just what was advertised

Brought down by a hateful contract, agreed to and despised

By most.

But now is time to scramble and organize

I have to find a way to balance and stabilize

My life and engross

Myself in literature, poetry, art and immunize

Against complacency, scraping by, and feeling demoralized.

I can almost see the positives in this. Almost…

All-Nighter

I’m loopy in the brain

I feel quite insane

But this paper is still hot garbage.

I would promise not to do this again,

But I don’t want to speak in vain.

My record isn’t exactly untarnished

Long Shift

My back groans

My knees moan

At least I can finally go home.

The Fifth

Hundreds showed up

Yet fewer than ten remain.

Some were eliminated by fire, a scorching flame

Others by the rushing waters of floods.

Freezing ice and bitter wind stopped a few in their tracks

Rot and decay picked off a few more.

But the ones that remained were revered and adored

By them, souls were soothed and relaxed.

And yet all are needed, every single one

The scorched, drowned, frozen, rotten and revered.

Though the first four may sound quite weird

Without their walking, the fifth would never have run.

The Lottery

I always know when I’m really broke

Because I think a lot more

About the lottery.

All my problems go up in smoke

And my fantasies become reality

Hopefully I see a day when these thoughts come no more.

The Drink Closet

Sitting in the drink closet at work

I sit by while my duties I shirk

Just passing the time

With these flippant rhymes

I think about my paycheck and smirk.

The Office

In an office so comfy, I sit another day

Closer to being fired, but I’m still getting paid

I toe the line

And know I’ll be fine

I don’t give a fuck what my bosses say

The Day

The day has finally come

With my shit, my bosses were done

They said “have a good day

Come back in two weeks for your pay”

I’m unemployed but it won’t matter in the long run.

Untitled

Concrete expanses and angry people

Just trying to survive in their own.

Some pull others down, in hopes of being equal

Others sit back and watch the whole thing unfold.

The streets of life have never been easy

But brave souls walk them every day.

Whether they feel up, down, or sleazy

Cities, towns countries, lives are by them controlled.

So let not life’s up and downs defeat you

Oh lord, for your strength and mine I pray.

But remember this advice, I beseech you

Find someone you love and grab ahold.

Life is hard for some and harder for others

We all gotta lean on parents, sisters, brothers and lovers.

Only you can live your life, don’t try living another

Don’t hole yourself up and close the shutters.

Guillotine

I climb the gallows and place my head down

The coppery smell of blood and death assaults me.

It won’t be long before I leave this town

A departure of spirit, if not bodily.

The executioner steps forward, his hands on the lever

I plead “Have mercy, Doctor, on my humble life”

Mercy doesn’t live here though; this is the end of my endeavor

This man is a reaper, the guillotine his scythe.

All at once, the lever is pulled

The blade quickens towards my neck.

My future I once marketed to these merchants and sold

Now all I can do is sit and wait for their beck.

These pinings shall soon end though

With the swift slice of my throat.

The breaking of bones, sinews snapping to and fro

And a gush of blood as I choke.

My head will bounce and they will applaud

“Another bad egg removed, we’re closer to purity.”

If I had known they thought me so flawed

I would have never sold them my destiny.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. It’s all life anyway.

Though I really do wish I could stay.

It’s too late for all that for on this executioner block I lay

I’m all out of time now, here comes the blade.

Blunt Progression

I said I’d make it to all my classes on time

“That missing classes shit is dead”

Now look where the fuck I am

Laying asleep in bed.

I disgust myself on many occasions

Skipping classes, shirking homework just to smoke weed

Don’t get me wrong, I got nothing against blazin’

But getting high during class just doesn’t sit right with me.

But screw it, I don’t really give a shit

Just make sure that blunt is pulling right.

I think the other end needs to be lit

I’m so damn high, my classes are outta sight

And mind. But not my peers; they absorb knowledge, I THC

Maybe that’s why I’m dropping out and they’re getting degrees

Fuck me.

#1

First love, then loss, tugged my heart deep into the unknown

Pain and joy, sorrow and jubilee all found me there.

In youth, these extremes softened my soul, then turned it back to stone

Yet now, I enjoy everything. Changing? I wouldn’t dare.

Yes, now I simply ride the emotional sea of life,

Not fretting about the feelings that used to rock my boat.

I’m finally content and relaxed, even as wind and waves fill my vessel with strife

For I know that I will remain afloat.

Love, loss, death and sorrow are formidable foes

Please don’t misconstrue my boasts of confidence.

But to them, myself never again shall I predispose

As long as its within my power of cognizance

And yet, exposed to love I am already

I adore and cherish her, and the sea feels unsteady

Music

Oft imitated

She could never be repeated

My love, a sweet song

A symphony of beauty,

Grace and love plucks at my heart strings

Crimes of the Court

Brothers and sisters, look: watch whiteness work

As a rapist rises to our nation’s highest court.

The country lauds him as a genius; their morals contort

And yet, if he were not white they would be going berserk

Let it be Eric Garner, Trayvon, or any other Young Turk

But they were all extrajudicially executed, no time for hearings or support.

Yes, it seems whiteness is a universal veil in which ethics are distorted

As hicks and politics their “christian” values they shirk.

Wake up all you sheep, unwittingly going to slaughter

Do not stand by and promote this monster

Let’s call these rapists, these murderers what they are

What if she had been your wife, mother or daughter?

Man the fuck up and have some honor

Because this “he was mentally ill” or “he ain’t know better” shit won’t get us far

The Left

As I walk through the wilderness, I come to a fork

The left or the right? Was the question posed to me

I’d been thinking left, so I thought I’d see

Where this path leads. To the left I went forth.

This way was not without hardship, I expected some of course

But the path soon turned sinister, testing me with hellish fury

Each obstacle was followed by another, daunting and beastly.

My muscles strain, brain throbs, heart beats with terrific force

And still I persevere with defiant strength

These tests may break a weaker man, not I though

There’s no possibility of failure. Quit? Not a chance.

No, I am determined to go the length.

Stopping now would kill me; I’d rather die alone.

Besides, I see an oasis in the distance.

Brick

Cracks run up, down, throughout

With little pockmarks like a mini moon

Exploding from the inside out

Foreshadowing a future of dust and ruin.

This brick, like some that came before

May stand for thousands of years, maybe more.

But, like all things it will have its day

When it stops standing and on the ground will lay

Everlasting Glee

When I looked upon her I knew I was done for

Her raw beauty, soft eyes, and loving heart had me.

I pursued her like a commoner would a queen

And she accepted my love, to my glee.

She makes me feel like a boat just come ashore

After a night so long and stormy.

For this, I heap affection upon her like a machine

And she accepts this love, to my glee.

It has now been a year, but I still adore

Her every move, smile and decree.

She’s amazing, spectacular, everything I ever dreamed

And she accepts my love, to my glee.

If I could live for a thousand years more, I’d love her every second I breathed

And she’d accept this love to my everlasting glee.

You Are My Everything

The clouds I walk on

The flutter in my heart

The energy coursing through my veins

and the love overwhelming my soul.

 

You’re the jazz lingering in my head

The sweet, smooth notes coming from my sax

You’re my companion, waiting for me when I come to bed

And the calming elixir that helps me relax.

 

You, the melody, harmony and drumbeat

keeping the whole band on track

You love me at my best

and you keep loving me when I lack

 

You’re the director, the soloist

and the sheet music too

This symphony would be absolutely nothing

without you.

 

You’re my everything, girl

and I know I say this a lot

But I love you so much

and I’m never gonna stop

Religion

What one sees as evil

Is to another the gospel

and the same is true vice versa.

We must give up this insidious game of hate

Before it mortally hurts us.

Buddhist, Christian, muslim or witch

One shouldn’t give a shit

Except for about what they are doing,

who they are, and how to make sense of it.

Whatever being that be or god that may exist,

for now we have each other.

Just try your best to be your best

and love your sisters and brothers.

Quit placing so much emphasis on the names and forms

that others choose to worship.

Just love, thats all

and focus on Your own conscious

Growing Pains

I’m stretching my hand to you

But you’re just out of grasp

I try to bridge this gap

so this love can last

I’m hoping, trying

but can only love you in spurts

I want to love you all the time though

and that only makes it worse

I love you, I do

With all of my heart

I’ll tend and care for this love

As if it were my last

But in that care, I won’t forget me or you

What we are together is nothing if we aren’t something apart

Because no matter what, I love you

I could never stop caring for your ass

Annoying

Theres something about you, baby

That I just can’t place

It’s not your body,

your hair, nails or beautiful face.

It’s all of you together

with your soul so pure

My chest has stopped hurting,

My heartache is cured!

And yet when I see you,

My sternum explodes.

You may be the cure,

But tonight I wanna overdose.

You’re in the door and I’m kissing,

touching, drinking you in.

I’m just tryna give you all this love

Before I’m banished again.

The Nature of Man

The river that gathers

from many tributaries and offshoots.

The tree that extends high in the sky

anchored by its deep, expansive roots.

The mountain extending

up from the sea, high into the sky.

The person with passion

dancing in their heart, ablaze in their eye.

Peace

I realize now

People and places are like clothes.

One day they fit perfectly

And the next they are no longer yours.

I don’t say yours possessively,

But merely to express the comfort one day,

Then the feeling the next

That it is time to leave this place.

Thank you South Dakota,

Everyone in this state I call home.

I love you all, but it’s time;

I must embark on this journey alone.

Reflection

Inhale, look within

Realize your luck in life

Exhale, be happy.

I so loved Summer…

I so loved Summer last season

And you were the reason–

The amber sunsets too–

Because these you so loved to admire,

I so loved you.

 

This year, last season’s feeling I can’t recover–

My heart’s passion no longer aflame.

This year, I shall love Summer for Summer,

And admire the sunsets all the same.

Lost Time

An old friend laughs, deep from her gut

Soft eyes look back, reflecting a happiness from within.

Whenever we used to be alone, the conversation hit a rut

But now, it flows out as we laugh and grin

Reading

Thanks to my mother, thanks to my dad

For this wonderful, still-giving gift that I have.

Steinbeck, Hemingway, Marquez and Camus

Of course, for the gift of reading, thanks also to school.

Each book that is bound contains an entire new perspective

Some I’ll read in English, and some in electives.

Wherever I read them, the knowledge is never quite the same

Some authors are painfully rational, and others insane.

Whenever, however, the reading is done

Each unique experience is utterly fun.

Just finished with East of Eden, lent it to my mama

Next on the list? The Book of Joy by Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama

Dad

When I picture a man I see my Dad

His smile beaming, his brow furrowed in thought

As I sit here and think, a recent grad

My soul writhes with pain, love, and lessons you taught

 

So deep was your love and passion for life

So complete was the agony after you were gone.

You taught me morality, honor, and ambition when you were alive

Your death was the final lesson.

 

Through it, you taught sorrow and fortitude,

Pain and empathy, and the true meaning of death.

For all of my good qualities, morals, all the knowledge I’ve accrued,

Thank you for everything Dad; your love, my life, my breath.

 

One day, I’ll get to see you again.

Until then, I love you Dad. Amen.

Senior Summer

Disconnecting,

Parting from the soil once called home,

And saying goodbye to friends of many years,

leaving for the road to roam.

Deja vu swells in my breast

And yet I feel the difference.

A rich, full nineteen years is my training;

I’m ready for the test.

Thank you to my loved ones

For all that you have done

But I’m more than ready for D.C.

Howard, here I come.