when i write (stream of consciousnesses)
when i write these rhymes
i wear my heart on my sleeve
i’m really so damn afraid
that you all might leave
they used to say you’re a poet
boy you don’t even know it
all along i knew you see
but i was too afraid to show it
sensitivity didn’t seem to me
like it was high school currency
so i’ll posture like i’m angry
while you keep doing what you do to me
but tell me what do you see
your definition of what true is:
the opposite of falsehood
or is it the opposite of clueless?
you can tell a lie with facts
and the masses wont see through it
you can paint it white and black
and they’ll never know what hue is
or you can tell a story
and share it live in living color
change the names and places
so we see ourselves in the “other”
find love among the graceless
hearts ablaze with fire like lovers
until the day we all have faces
until the day we all have brothers
the sister pops or the mother
robbed of when we were younger
ablaze like the sun and stars
let no man or devil set asunder
this love story that is ours
was written in the beginning
clouds of doubt may bring showers
but cannot obscure our ending
Lenten Desert
another Lenten season without ministry placement
just borrowed stoles, borrowed robes
and occasionally filling another’s pulpit
can i stand another season in the desert?
each ray of hope that breaks desert sky
bends to present my thirsty soul with a mirage
run full speed ahead, only to taste, touch
and feel more sand
sift with calloused hands
each ray of hope that breaks desert sky
bends me
each ray of hope that breaks desert sky
sends me
wandering, at a distance trying to keep pace
wandering, at a distance trying to see his face
bread from stones sounds mighty good right now Lord
I’ve no temple or pinnacle to throw myself from
at the foot of the mountain I stand
my gaze turned upward
if you can see the world from there
please turn your gaze towards me
bid my devils flee and your Spirit not divert
I want not kingdoms or riches but a parish
lest I perish here in my Lenten desert
~wwb
Transcend
the child becomes a poet
cradled in those fascists’ hands
when all is spoken for him
first he doesn’t understand
only wants his own voice
but it’s driven underground
if he had ever had his own choice
he might have never made a sound
but the child becomes a poet
when he’s left with idle hands
his thinking all done for him
he travels to distant lands
there’s another world inside him
a place where they can never go
but he may have never found it
had they never tried to break his soul
Zeitgeist (For Trayvon)
Some days I feel like we’ve come a long way
Other days I feel there’s nothing good to say
Like the more things change… and a lot of old clichés
That I can’t bear to finish ’cause I want a brand new day
That my generation keeps declaring is on the way
But this feels more like the first time I heard “The Predator”
Right after the Riots in LA
So where’s the next Ice Cube to help us cool the tensions?
To help expose the falsehoods that we see on television
Instead the Faux news is pushing stories about suspensions
Like some pot residue makes a black kid worthy of a lynchin’
“This was Brown on Black Crime” Like it makes a difference
When the whole world’s forced to look thru white male vision
The mindset of inequality is nearly all that anyone can envision
~wwb
long way home
i am dorothy waking up in kansas
i have lost all sense of place
i have seen the ugly and the beautiful
i’ve seen another life in your face
you were there and you were there
you had brawn and brains and grace
you gave me a sense of coming home again
the first time i saw your face
but
we’ve never really been here before
we’re taking the long way home tonight
we’d have to take another dozen detours
to show you where i’ve been in life
they did to me what they did to you
they did it in many different ways
they did it on 37 and fawn ave.
to remind me of my lowly place
they reminded me on main street
the threw rocks on bender road
they pulled a gun at crystal gas
now flash forward to our home
i was beaten down and defeated
though they barely left a mark
you’ve got my heart but i’ve got this fear
they’re waiting in the dark
