Category: Love

Jazz Dancer

Jazz Dancer

balancing

brassy bronze

jazz sax solos

with your

ballet shoes

 

Notes in the air

scoop up

your feet

and you dance

on

beams of wood

and

bars of music

 

Ah, there you are,

Spinning en pointe…

En garde, my heart!

(but I’ve already lost this fight;

in fact, I’ve taken a dive for love)

 

In your movements

I hear Beale Street

 

In your eyes I see

Storyville

and

Birdland

and

Paris

 

Your feet write rhythms

 

Your hands transpose keys

 

Your elegant fingers twirl them

together into something

Transcendent and Divine

 

You are a

Jazz Dancer

and I

a mere mortal

crying with gratitude

at the

Miracle

you’ve given

me.

 

 

Across the Miles, Across the Ages

Across the miles

Across the ages

Parchments

Scrolls

and ancient pages

 

Tell of Beauty

Dark and Sweet

from palace royal

to city street

 

Our daughters

Mothers of the earth

The queens of men

of noble birth

 

Protect them

Love them

Make them strong

while death yet tarries,

but not long

 

Instill in her

a sense of self

that no man

places on a shelf

 

And father,

when you’ve gone away

with her inheritance

she’ll say

 

I want a man just like my dad

who saw the worth in what he had

in me and mother with his love

that he now shares in skies above

 

Across the miles

Across the ages

Parchments

Scrolls

and ancient pages

 

Tell of Beauty

Dark and Sweet

from palace royal

to city street

 

 

 

 

When Grandfather Stood Up

Grandfather,

they made you

bow your head

and not

look at them

because, they said,

you were unworthy

 

they made you

bend your back

to place burdens on it

no man should have to carry

and told you

to carry it

 

they made you

quiet the warrior

within you

and told you

to swallow

your pride

and bite

your tongue

And be a

‘good nigger’

 

And you did

because

you

were standing up

for

me

Black History Month

A proud people,
A nation of farmers
warriors
families
royalty
nomads
scholars
keepers of tradition
stewards of the world’s
most varied wildlife
sitting on a wealth
of gems and minerals

Captured, netted, chained
transported, thrown overboard,
sold,
whipped, stripped, beaten,
broken, lynched
castrated
burned
raped
thrown in jail
segregated
attacked
stereotyped
blackface

caretakers
workers
artists
singers
musicians
athletes
speakers
teachers
actors
dancers
astronauts
scientists
inventors
architects
soldiers

writers
poets
rappers of
Black
consciousness

feared
copied
lied about
blocked
redlined
discriminated against
hated

stay silent
keep humble
pray and wait
don’t protest
get out
go away
go back

rise
strive
break free
survive
think
live
be

We
Still
Here

Black
Right
Here.

 

Shadow Priestess

Come you from the shadows, priestess?

Do you now take my confession that

thoughts of you

make me restless?

 

 

Come you in the starlight, priestess?

Are you corporeal, that I might

hold you and fulfill

my longing?

Or ethereal, that I might

dream forever

in vain?

 

Come you now at eventide, priestess?

Do you now reveal your true form

to the unworthy wretch

who worships you alone

in the empty temple

at night?

 

Come you now at midnight, priestess?

Will you mock and laugh

and point in scathing

amusement

at the burden of love

I bear you?

 

Come you now to dance, priestess?

Doffing dark robes,

pretending you’re alone

while dancing

to the rhythm

of my heart?

 

Come you now to sacrifice, priestess?

Lighting tallow candles,

singing eldritch songs,

your slender, sacred fingers

on slender, profane knives

to split me, and read your future?

 

Or come you now as bride, priestess?

To honor me with your

presence in my life,

binding us together

forever in

shadows?

What a waist…

I wanted a Coke, but all I got was Ginger…

She Battles Him

She battles him

when war is done,

and whether win or lose,

when her blood is high and hot,

she climbs

the mountains of his thighs,

heedless of wounds,

heedless of weapons,

And pulls him to

new heights of

painful ecstasy.

Lustful as any warrior

he’s ever faced,

and more deadly

for the love she bears,

his flesh is claimed

as a  trophy of

love’s war,

empty of seed,

but not of life.

 

I Wanted to Surprise You

I wanted to surprise you

I’m hoping that I did

I had to steal these flowers

because I’m just a kid

 

You see I had no money

to buy them on my own

because it seems you only

earn money when you’re grown

 

But still I hope you like them

although I couldn’t pay,

because they mean I like you

and that I’m going away

 

I wanted to surprise you,

I’m hoping that I did.

I’ll be in jail an hour;

I have to do my bid

 

 

You see, the cops are coming

to put me in the jail,

but I’m returning for you,

so be here without fail.

 

They’re only gonna keep me,

and call my mom and dad.

I hope you like me too though,

‘cuz I’m not really bad.

 

I wanted to surprise you…

 

Melchora’s Spells

Melchora’s spells

enrapture me

capture me

sap me of strength

and will

to defy the

tidal pull

of her lunar love

 

Melchora’s spells

bind me

blind me

and find me helpless

at the base of her heart

 

Melchora’s spells

lift me

gift me

and seal the rift

between my need

and her mind

 

Melchora’s spells

smell of lilac and lavender

and honey and ginger

as I breathe deeply and

my soul turns

to ashes and smoke

 

Melchora’s spells

are vital

and gentle

and my reason’s reality

is contained between her hands

 

And I want to look away,

And I want to walk away,

And I want to be away

from her,

But that too, is part of

Melchora’s spells….

 

 

 

Anchors Away

See the sun set on our longing

to invade a distant shore.

See the dimming of desire

to go sailing off to war.

 

Harbored safely and securely,

anchors lowered close to town,

we will speak no more of killing,

and with families settle down.

 

Though the noble masts jut proudly

in the darkened twilight sky,

Hear the cannon’s silence softly

Sing a sailor’s lullaby

 

See the sails tied to the rigging?

They’ll no longer catch the breeze.

And there’s no more pipe and jigging

On the rolling, dancing seas

 

And the whales will give birth again

to calves beneath the moon,

fearing nothing from the surface

be it net or sharp harpoon.

 

And the lighthouse keepers

get to leave their cold and noisy

towers,

for there’ll be no more ships coming

in the darkest morning hours.

 

And violent storms that claimed

the lives of those who’ve gone before

will have no plunder for their crimes

that leave this happy shore.

 

So weep no more, my lovely bride

The tide is standing still.

And I’ll face the sunset with you

Til it sinks beneath the hill.