The cock crows at dawn
telling you to get attached
Your bladder nudges
yelling it’s time to let go
The difference
between the two
is just as knotty
as your next poker move
The contrast is set
in concrete
evoking smiles and heartaches
Don’t learn nothing
from the past
All your valuable lessons
Are molded
into this moment
image credit explore
I wrote a good plot
maybe
not a candid yarn
that we’ll all make it
home at nightfall
that the breaking news
will bring smiles to our faces
every sunset
that we’ll all be friends and lovers
evermore
but herein is life
with its bold snigger
almost a grin
guarantees
are fantasies
uncertainties
reek of truths
changes
reign forever
Maybe
our freedom starts
when we break loose
the addictions to certitude
when we take up
the sour courage
when we face squarely
the queer unknown
with a parallel smile
leaning onto
sober hope
like an octopus on roller skates
life will spring surprises
and we’ll cross the abrupt bridges
when we get there
image credit retrospective
I wish to know
How you found your peace
How you discovered the courage
That puts you to slumber at dark
I am dying to find
The deities that smiled at your eyes
That told their lids to shut untethered
How your mind finds restrain
To the corners of your crib
As mine travels
To yesterday, tomorrow and where
I wish to see
Why the night choose you
As its golden child
Why you die every night
Like a timber of wood
And wake up reborn
Like a term neonate
Whilst I march to the labor camp
Thinking I lay my head to rest
I wish to know how you got to Eden
In solitude
While I languish in Goshen
Unhinged
seye observe image credit
You can cry a river
Or a cupful of soul
You may shed
Till the tears make rhythms
Like mallets on marimbas
The heart can still perceive
What the eyes can still receive
A stream of tears
Never suffices
Never drowns
The eyes that strewn it
But you must be valiant
Dare to open those eyes
To see the things up on high
Always
At the obscure corner
Of scrutiny
There lies a different view
Other than the one
That snuffs your breath
The monsters that lie before you
Have powers much less than
Your view of them
kenza image credits mallet
A world without honey
Or honey without bees
A world without flowers
Or flowers without petals
A world without stigma
Or stigmas without ovules
But if all these must be
Pray may I have
Just one wish
A perfect world
One without pollens
For without pollens
Days of sorrows
Shrink
Days of dyspnea
Wane
I can exhale
And inhale
With no cares
In the world
And the drips
From these nostrils
Can take a break
Without pollens
I can join the folks
That burst with joy
At the triumphant
Entry of spring
image credits wonder
I was told
I am the sole captain
Of my ship
The chief architect
Of my building
Did they not say
If I fail
If I succeed
I will be praised
I will be blamed
It will all be
My own making
I charted a course
I set my sail
I gave my life
A sense of direction
But here am I
In strange waters
Here I am
In parallel strokes
With unknown sharks
Here am I
Lurking between
Unseen reefs
Swirling between
Unfriendly eels
Despite
All my preparation
Life happens
Notwithstanding
All my determination
Plans fail
Here am I
Lost ashore
I cannot cry
Salt water stings
More than my tears
Why try cry
The shades of twilight
Are soon to be swallowed
By trenches of gloom
Am I alive
It’s still so painful
Pain is a sign
A symptom of life
Death is yet a myth
Shrouded in reality
Is it my strides
Is it just life
Is it all right
Is it alright
To leap and land
In the very same
Lost spot
I am alive
There is work
To stay afloat
The storms are happy
Those storms
They’re going nowhere
I ‘ve got places to go
I’ll go
With my scars
I’ll go
With all the pains
I’ll go
Without the past
Good
Or bad
I’ll live my life the fullest
I will pursue a rescue
I will purchase a cure
I will peruse sustenance
I’ll cling on to something
If there be nothing
I’ll hold
On to perspective
The waves have wheels
I just need to pedal
Obstacles have springboards
I just need to launch
Rafts can ride the storms
I just need to hold fast
There is a shore at sight
I just need to wipe my tears
image credit viable anna waldherr
I saw you swear
You are a black man
Never heard you yell
Except in quietude
You do not dream
Whilst staying awake
Or stay alive
while dying inside
Never heard you cry
While you shed the tears
You have not spoken
Without using your voice
You have not touched
When you love and look
Or tell to all
What you do mean
Without being mean
If you’re keen
You would have seen
You are quite tough
But not thick-skinned
You are brotherly
A man
Or utterly
Black
Of such a thing-
As a black man
Have I not heard
image credit black
would you know
what makes people
stick long together
love is a glue
love is hard
love is tricky
comes too quick
goes too soon
yet people stay
not for lust
just for respect
there is one
not the other
but without passion
with regard lacking
everyone flees abroad
or shrink aboard
when these go
respect and love
and some stay
it’s called abuse
it’s deemed prison
it is war
captive and captor
inmate and warden
partner and abuser
an unholy alliance
things that once
went all around
stand motion still
an ugly picture
carved in debris
of dreary memory
hold onto them
don’t let go
they are fabrics
the paper textiles
covering all the
things we adore
yet easily torn
by ego cascades
and fleeting feelings
hold onto them
if they go
we are gone
image credit neighbors
The earth was once flat
Then God made man
Man made guns
And man loved guns
More than God
He sacrificed animals
For his guns
But the guns were not
Satisfied
Man slaughtered his enemies
For his guns
But the guns were not
Content
He massacred his neighbors
For his guns
But the guns were not
Pleased
Man wasted his friends
For his guns
But the guns were not
Delighted
He shot his family
For his guns
But the guns were not
Satisfied
Yet man adored his guns
More than God
And God became jealous
He made the earth round
Proclaiming
That whatever goes around
Would surely
Come around
tame image credit
We are one for once, so completely
The storms have broken down our walls
We give our love so sweetly
The rains have washed away our flaws
We reunite to restore our abode with pleasure
Convene to rebuild our acres beyond measure
I can’t believe this unspoken magic
Passion rekindled when days are tragic
Why it takes a gust for you to hear me
How I needed a tempest to let you be
Where your kindness was hidden before the gale
How I became human when you started to wail
We do not need more of this strong breeze
But hope the ardor will not be brought to freeze
When the typhoon is gone and the puff is done
Will our differences play us once more like pawn
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