3/30 Echo

sometimes in the dark
i hear things
maybe it is you voice
or some far away owl
sweet talking me into existence

i always want it to be you
happy and light in all the right places
speaking to me directly
right into my ears
a seduction of vibrations
a hanging of light

i never investigate its origins
i know that sound
your voice
lives in me

25/30 Maudlin

another black man committed suicide 

today well it was accidentally on purpose

his back broken surrounded by blue

but he did it to himself isn't that the way 

it happens always every 28 minutes

in America those magic hued thugs

those escape artists the way they shoot 

themselves in the faces while hands cuffed 

behind their backs not smoke and mirrors but

some other kind of magic they try to convince

us don't exist the cameras roll

they so magic we don't believe our eyes

we have so many question like

why they be breaking their own backs

why they be shooting themselves in the back

never once but multiple

why your wallets look like guns

why is it that after you're shot dead

you still gotta be handcuffed

how do you hold your breath so long 

you can no longer breath

we saw the video just don't believe our eyes

so good those officers hugged you

goodbye who needs evidence

when you live in a land surrounded

by all that blue

23/30 Rules

it is 2015 and I am still setting

boundaries that should be understood

explaining how I am no object

not here for your admiration or touch

I am not an extension of your greedy hands

my hands should have never left the

safety of my side fingers clinched

refusing to be produce am I ripe enough yet

the hands should have never raised to

shove you away I gave up pugilism years ago

the only living witness the cashier and the 

hair growing from my head the bouquet of flowers 

drooped when my hands gave in 

the clock on the wall confused that this is still happening 

do we still live in a time where people are inspected like cattle

her name was Regina red script on a badge

attached to her heart she never wanted to see this

never wanted to share her frown pretended your

white privilege had nothing to do with the freedom

of your hands on my black body

here eyes say I would never do anything like that

though she is doing it by holding her tongue

weighing if I'm worth her fucking tip

the stale smell of your breath on my face

as you tell me how pretty my hair is

because how could I know if you didn't say

the taste of violation as I suck my teeth

consider for a moment slapping the tongue from your mouth

the sight and feel of hands, not mine roaming my body

the sound of colonization

only I know why I sequestered my inner pugilist

my attempt to avoid jail time and hash-tags

I remind my children they are bigger than that

don't lower yourself to the levels of others

but defend yourself if you are attacked

your hands on my body without my 

permission is an attack

I keep this knowledge in my palms

the last time I lifted my hands to push 

another person away next time my words will

singe more than the aftermath of parchment

thirsty to fill you with the knowledge

to keep your damn hands to yourself

16/30 derringer-do

So, it will end the way it began 

full of confusion guts and guns 

a people attempting to survive 

while others hunt them down 

in the wildreness they call home 

tears spent 

no change 

fear festering in secret 

only to out themselves 

become bigger prey 

a party we were never invited to 

this way of men and their games 

play reguardless of the consequences 

blanks or live fire 

the only thing that matters 

is winning all day everyday 

if infiltrated turn inwards 

hold yourself hostage 

ransom note your own obituary 

photoshop your own tombstone 

create a new club in the afterlife