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I come from a place far off.
Where there is no day or night.
All there is is the depths in me,
because I am eternity, light and
dark, beginning and end, first
and foremost. You can not hear
me, see me nor feel me, because
you’re not here anymore. You
don’t exist. And from the way
you acted in your last lifetime,
I’m not sure you ever will. Did
you not hear me telling you what
choices to make? Giving you a
straight path back to me. You
chose to love only what you saw,
never realizing you had it all
from day 1. Now you’re no more
and if you’ll ever exist
again Remains to be seen in
a million mo’ years or 1 soul’s
dream.
Emil D. Hemphill (Idrissa Khu)
Jazz
Pulsating
Through the
Thick-ly
Smoked room
As the man
With the bass
Guitar
Strums up
A Dream-World
A Cool-World
A Groovy-World
That the
cat
On the drums
Can work
His magic to
Making a
Cool
Breeze
Flow
Around the
Thick-ly
Smoked room
To the
Hands of
The dude
On the
Ivories
Trans-form-ing
The Dream-World
The Cool-World
The Groovy-World
To Jazz
It
IT MUST BE THE SKIN THAT l‘M IN
THAT CAUSES HEAR IN WHITE MEN
AS If KM ABLE TO DO THEM HARM
IT MUST BE THE WAY THAT I DRESS
THAT CAUSES WHITE WOMEN TO CONfESS
WHEN I MOVE ON THEIR BLOCK THEIR ALARMED
IT MUST BE THE TEXTURE Of MY HAIR
THAT CAUSE ASIANS TOST ARE
WHEN I WALK INTO THEIR STORE
IT MUST BE MY AfROCENTRIC NAME
THAT MAKE EMPLOYERS REEL ASHAMED
WHEN THEY SAY THE JOBS BEEN TILLED
AND SHOW ME THE DOOR
Chekesba Roberts
‘KS'nmMse'M# 09 wtms
Long ago, I walked upon the grainy sands of Egypt as a revered man, a king.
But like a chameleon adapting to its environment, time and things change.
No longer was I content with the beauty of my homeland;
I now craved a desire to see and experience new dimensions in my life.
The decision to leave this Utopia was difficult, the place where I learned how to love, hate and love again,
I would one day long for its vivid memories.
Etching my decision in stone, I ventured upon the adventure of a lifetime.
Searching the vast lands in search of my new home became a long and tedious chore.
No more was there someone to hold my hand once I had fallen or clean my cut after some rough play with
the local ruffians.
Now, there were only rude brush offs; ask someone else, do it yourself and you should know better than that.
Sitting in my meager accommodations, I question the thought of ever leaving Utopia.
But after contemplating my question, the realization came to me that the decision that I had chosen was the
right one.
I am pursuing a thirst that only life experience can quench.
The luxuries that I once took for granted at home will one day come to me in this foreign land as long as my
faith and belief in God remains strong.
But until then, I will remember the good times in Utopia with my queen, for one day the prodigal son shall
return home.
Adversity
The substance of time so
difficult to savor - when the
Black
salt has lost it’s flavor - the
many dimensions behind my
antisocial behavior
Drenched in seas of misery,
apathy, lackluster realities -
perplexor of modern
psychology - unfulfilled yet
stimulated
via material urges for
currency
The feeling - similar to
clipped wings, tarnished
dreams of
Afrocentric scenes in an
Anglosaxon land
A dead man walking, not
talking, proceed to stalking a
niche
within the capitalistic fibers
of society, the fire no longer
burns inside of me, lost
perceptions of my destiny
No more pseudo fabrications,
illusionary fixations.
Falsifications, theoretical
models of content - fallen
prey
to torment, despite horizons
of hope once evident
Where is my place in the
space occupied by the Negro
race -
discarded my slave face
only to embrace a people
seeking
progress through
superficial self-destruction;
internal
genocidal combustion - and
wonder why “Niggas can’t
have nuthin’”
Enough tears to cry ‘til my
soul flies, but then I came eye
to
eye with my downfall, my
past, my pathetic submission,
and
the rendition of my new
mission
Saw a reflection of spiritual
protection, an upward
direction
to combat the virus of
nihilistic infection
The way to become a man -
fortify a spiritual house upon
rock,
while fools inhabit worldly
temples upon sand - know
thyself
before loving someone else
- know thy creator whose
power
of vitality ensures that no
adversity can endure for an
eternity
JeVon
Eric Rose
By Larry K. Sanders