Some poems are more interesting just because of who wrote them.
( O, Time )

I can't count Assata Shakur among my favorite poets, but I count her autobiography among my favorite autobiographies. It is a great book despite the feeling that I get that she is leaving out a lot of important detail. I like the way she both defends what she was trying to do as a Black Panther and adds warning on how not to do it. But most of ( Read more... )

As I walked into work last night, I noticed some news trucks camped out across the street. I wondered what could be happening in the Ukazoo parking lot. Well, the news was on the television over the bar. The drama was in the Sheraton on the north side of the street. Four people were found dead in a hotel room. There aren't much more answers ( Read more... )

When you get out of the shower do you look at your un-adorned figure in the mirror and say, "God, you did mighty fine job; I am beautiful."? If not, why not?

( haiku )

I was looking at a woman today, or maybe a girl. About twenty years old and drop dead foine. Black hair, green eyes, dimples and a perfect, round ass. My co-worker thinks I should not look. Not only am I a married man but my own daughter is only a few years younger than this girl. So I looked deep inside myself and decided. I never wanted ( Read more... )

Young is from my mother's home town Clarendon, Jamaica. Does your poetry capture your hometown? Your today? Does it remember well your yesterday? When your work is read years from now, will the ready know how it feels to be you today?
( Vespers )

I first read this poem in the sixth grade (before most of you were born), and learned it because it was short and it rhymed. In my twenties I quoted it soooooo many times because I lived this way. This for me is what I wish I could be as a poet. She says acres in just a few lines, and it is simple and funny enough for a sixth grader to latch ( Read more... )

A couple of years ago my little family and I moved to Baltimore, city of Poe, where the Star Spangled Banner was penned. A real blue collar town. I never saw so many lower-income White folk where I grew up in D.C. I really like this town. I am certain your visit here would be better than Cullen's. About 52% certain.

( Incident )

Have you ever smiled because you didn't feel confrontation was the way to go? Maybe you were outnumbered. Maybe you were trying to keep a job that you hate, but felt you needed to eat. Maybe the person you were smiling at held your grade, or a badge. Maybe you were hoping to get laid and no one has smiled back at you in months. Maybe you were ( Read more... )

When this life is over, what do you want people to say about you?
If that day was tomorrow, what do you think people would say?
Is it the same?
If not, why not?
( note to my self )