Black On Black Love
When she stopped me at the grocery store
and told me she’d seen me at the show before
doin’ poetry
And was truly shocked that this capacity for sagacity
could actually be trapped in these tattoos and locs
and flow like warm honey through this frown I got
I told her
I get around a lot
Suggested to her
that she shouldn’t judge the club based on what it looks like on
the outside
rather
take the time to peek inside and listen
at least long enough to find out
if the music’s hot
Cuz from young brothas on the block
who rock the current fad fashion of baggy pants saggin’
to single sistas who seem like superheroes
the way they simultaneously push baby buggies
and manage their X men baggage
all of us got problems
Problems that be like advanced mathematics
complicated by no good preachers and scheming
politicians
who make more than a comfortable living
off our miserable circumstances
So if I appear unapproachable
it’s only because every day that I’m alive
the life battles that I go through show through my cold
eyes
but baby
it’s alright
cuz them be the same reasons I build myself strong
keep my black fist up when I roll by and refuse to pledge
allegiance
loc’d my hair and learned to dread the heathens
I don’t know about y’all
But to me
these days seem like 1955 than 2015
Too many unexplained slayings
Too much poverty and penitentiaries packed
with black people in ‘em slavin’
that’s why I write these poems like they gon’ save us
continuously sit home and flip pages
And most of the time while folk sittin’ home
I get gone and rip stages
Rip apart mics
until all in attendance have to bear witness
that this is G_d like and
I’m far from the religious type
but I’ll be the first to admit that maybe
they are right
Cuz when things like barely gettin’ from check to check
gets us stressed and depressed
and weed, liquor or a nightclub full of music
can’t do it
culture be the conduit that keeps us movin’ through
this hard life
So, when people tell me my poems sound angry and ask
me what I’m fightin’ for
I tell ‘em
with every verse I ask myself
if I ain’t fightin’ then what the f**k I’m writin’ for?
Our need for freedom be the reason for every breath I’m
breathin’
So, take a good look
This is way more than mere spoken word you’re seein’
This is every one of our sacrificed and slaughtered
sistas' and brothas' blood
This is Malcolm’s mindset
It’s Huey’s gun
It’s the reason I was born so
I live to do this
and I do this for us because
This is beyond poetry y’all
This is Black On Black Love
