Beauty

She was born by the river
In a little tent
And just like that river she’s been
Running ever since
It’s been a long
A long time coming
But she knows
Change gon’ come

She has forgotten her beauty,
Too busy giving, spending, doing,
Living, tending, pot brewing,
Bending, breathing for others.
Her days are weighted with
A 9 to 5 that she ain’t really feelin’
The sighs of restless children,
Stacks of bills she can not pay,
Coveted glimpses through
Catalogues of dresses she can not afford,
And the occasional date
Who arrives always too late
And does not suit her as a mate
But she fucks anyway
Because she deserves to get laid
And she remembers what her mama used to say
Nothing in the universe remains the same
Yet, nothing is new
Just made over and rearranged
So she waits for her change
For her chance to dance naked
Beneath a canopy of trees
And be lifted on a breeze
Like the melody of a lark,
To swim through the quiet current
Of the Caribbean Sea
And be embraced by its warmth and rising tide,
And if she
Could see
How regal her flowing crown is
As it cascades
Onto shoulders shaped
So sensually that the
Ends of each strand are
Just grateful to rest there,
Then she would know that her light radiates
Even in the darkest hour.
And within the substance of her spirit
Lies beauty in its rarest form,
Inherent and free
But the trees bear no leaves on her street,
And the dirty water in her kitchen sink
Gives back no reflection. 

It’s been a long
A long time coming
But she knows
Change gon’ come

She’s never needed protection
Just some true affection

Some pure human connection

Something more than half-hearted erections
Avoid the shallow images of 
Skin deep perceptions
Stop guessing at the lessons
Find some direction
But who is she to question?
When
Every step forward
Puts her two steps closer
To where she has already been
Looking for answers to mysteries
She can’t understand
It’s not about needing a man
It’s not about lonely nights and
It’s never been like her to be without a plan
She knows she can
Take care of self
Without needing any help
Mend the hole in the plaster
Though she’s no master
With tools
But if the light fixture wiggled loose
She could put in a screw or two
Still it starts to occur
To her
That the reflection in the mirror
Used to be clearer
To recognize
But she’s only looking with her eyes

It’s been a long
A long time coming
But she knows
Change gon’ come

A victim, maybe not
But easily forgot
Because no one ever told her what she’s got
And not a lot of love has been brewed in her pot
And she couldn’t be still
Long enough to stop
And when she reached for some peace
There was hardly ever any stillness
Reaching back for she
And if something
or someone
was there pulling for her
she didn’t see
She thought
That the love she sought
Was supposed to come from the external 
But thank God
Something greater than her called
She followed
Because her heart said so
Because she finally looked out
From the center of her soul
Funny how time changes point of view
She thought her happiness was
Somehow contingent upon who
She linked herself to
But she needed to be healed all the way through
And it was too much for her to ask any man to do
And too complex for sex to be the answer to
Because for sure
There is no short cut for
Getting to the core
Of who you are, nor
Defining who you want to be
Shaping reality
Requires some sense of
Knowing what is real

It’s been a long
A long time coming
But she knows
Change gon’ come

Today, she’s just still
And patient in her understanding of
A truer definition of love
Void of lies
And defeating compromise
She realized
That her beauty had not faced demise
It had only been in disguise
Sometimes
She might forget to confess
That she is truly blessed
Though everyday is a test
For her there is rest
You see
Infinite possibilities
Are born of faith
And she learned to wait
Allow God to be the substance on her plate
She’s whole
And she just knows
That the man for her is being designed
By the perfect hands of the Most High
And all she has to do to claim what is hers
Is let her bond be her word
Equate what she has given to what she deserves
Treat her body like the temple that it is
Focus on achieving her dreams
Before she tries to fulfill his
So that when her King arrives
She will be able to see him with her eyes
Know him intimately in her heart
Give him the oneness of all her parts
And where he ends is where she’ll start
But until that day
She will remember what her mama used to say
Nothing in the universe remains the same
Yet, nothing is new
Just made over and rearranged
So she waits for her change.

Wisdom
Copyright March 2001

ONLY REAL HERE

There will be
No existing
In a dream-state
Here
Because I am mindful of these words
Acceptance and Integrate
Here
No distorted terms
That perpetuate
The theory
That laws can be made
To stop the hate
Here
Because I see the evil
Here
No illusions of being equal
Here
Politicians can only change policy
Not people
For real
No believing that
These United States
Will cease to tolerate
Those who choose to discriminate
Here
Because mental imprisonment
Has always been at play
Here
And your belief
In this American Dream
Keeps them safe
The obvious intent
Here
Everyday witnessed in this government
Here
Is to keep the niggahs chasing dollars and cents
Here
So that they focus less on their environment
Here
Care less about the percent
Of black folk whose housing is deficient
Here
Wages barely paying the rent
Here
Education insufficient
Here
But there is no basis
For white folks to feel superior
To African races
Here
Privilege is not the same as superiority
So they have no authority
Here
No waiting for their concern
Here
Let no more niggahs burn
Here
No identifying
With the deliberate
Mystifying of your blackness
Here
No feeding into
The things they believe
About you
Here
No more
Dancing a jig for a dollar or two
Here
The ghetto you were born in
Is exactly where they intend
To bury you
Here
But what they do
Does not testify to our inadequacy
Their mastery
Of destruction more accurately
Speaks to their lack of humanity
And to their inclination towards insanity
So no making peace with mediocrity
Here
No finding comfort
Within the conditions of poverty
Here
No pretending like what we live in
Is a democracy
Here
Can’t ignore the hypocrisy
The irony is in the mockery
Denzel can win an Oscar for his debauchery
But not for portraying Brother Malcolm
But they can stop the charade
Here
We seek not their approval
Nor their accolades
Here
So no more bending over backwards
Trying to see the sun
Here
No more trying to overcome
Here
And no more running
From America’s cunning
Here
Ain’t a damn thing funny
Here
No more believing that
Being ghetto is equivalent to being black
Here
No more being unaware of
The strength of the blood
That flows through these veins
Here
No more being left
To drown in floods
And insurmountable waves
Here
We take the reigns here
No arms stretched open
Towards assimilation
Here
No begging
Asking
Or waiting
For reparations
Here
No explanations
No need for validations
Here
One black groove
For one black nation
Here
No long debates
Trying to rationalize self-hate
Here
No coded words
Or hidden language
Here
No giving into anguish
Here
Only real life
My life
And yes I talk about
My fight
Here
No shame
For the way I speak
Here
I speak so that my people
Can understand me
Here
No walking that tight rope
Strung by this society’s
Twisted ideologies
Here
No anticipation
Of an apology
Here
Can’t justify slavery
Logically
Here
No devil’s stones
Breaking my spiritual bones
Here
Too Black, Too Strong
Here
You won't find no
House slave
Here
No hair straightening
To get a job
Here
No corporate oppression
Holding me down
Only forward movement
Only upward bound
Here
Understand
What I am saying
Here
Yes, I wear my pride on my sleeve
In fact
It's right
Here
Next to my reality
Because here
Before I am
Woman, Mother,
Daughter, Sister,
Wife, Lover
Professional
Or even Poet
I am first black
Here
Accepting
Nothing less than respect
Here
Unapologetically
Living my life
Here
Molding it, asserting it
My way
Here
You know the deal
Here
It’s only real
Here

Wisdom
Copyright August 2007