EVERYBODY got ‘em a cell phone
pissant with not a nickel to pay his rent got him one
i ain’t got one or the quarter to use this pay phone
sittin’ there behind me waitin' for me to feed it
and hear that jingle like some slot machine that always pays out
temptin’ me like some shiny new toy
but i got two pennies and i ain’t even rubbin' them together
back then, back when nobody had no cell phone
i filed pennies down on the street to make them the size of dimes
when one of them dimes could by me a marshmallow pie
from a vendin’ machine at the bowlin’ alley
that ain’t there no more
but some cell phone store is
but that don’t matter
i don’t want no cell phone
i would like me one of them marshmallow pies
and an extra quarter to give this hungry phone
yesterday, some lady give me three quarters
and i give two of them to Jose to call his mama and sister
he gave me two smiles
i kept that other quarter to make a call
but couldn’t think of no number
or no soul
want to hear my voice
so i give that quarter to a little boy
who was all alone
and didn’t have no cell phone

We leave parts of us in the words we write
For our present selves to live and believe in
For our future selves to wonder
For our past selves to be remembered

-- Isn't that beautiful?

Writing lines like conversations
That live on as long as they're read
Never washed away from the imprints of history
The greatest things left unsaid

Reading minds from long ago
A place no one else will know
But see, in writing you get to be
Yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever

-- A legacy.

What is there to love;
What remains for me?
What it means to feel
What it takes to leave?

What it does to forget
What it takes to recall;
What does a voice mean--
Why does it ring often?

What might love be
What hurts--but what does not?
What has pain made us
What wound has left us?

What does paint say
What do words write?
Tell me, tell me now--
I do not know how.

Why shall we stay
at the end of the day;
What made us leave
What does it mean to live?

What to promise after pain
What to seek after regrets,
To laugh after tears;
To see when rain clears.

What does time keep
What does it let go;
What went loose, went stray
What shall die then?

What does voice tell
What do thoughts do?
Why do minds believe
Why do eyes see?

Why our hands, not feet
What our hearts, not chests
Why does blood flow;
Why do feelings grow?

Why seasons change
Why do years go?
When all stops at night
Why is it hard to know?

I am a child, a little friend
Confused by love and pain;
Too much darkness, and villains
Altered, forlorn, inane.

I am a child, knowing not
Bitter secrets and retorts,
What fantasies mean--
What they have been.

I am a child, a small fiend;
From seeing much disdain
All around me was fake
From a life no-one would take.

I am a child, a rogue hand
I envy their lyrical land;
I wish I knew more sound
Before my years float aground.

I am a child, a mythic
I am unsatisfied with poetics
I used to sing a lyrical song;
Not knowing it was wrong.

I am a child, a cynic
All that is left is antics;
Yet they shall not want to see me
I am petrified here, lonely.

I am a child, a breath
Such a breath shall die;
Even years later, that
When blue fills the sky.

I am a child, a wand
My magic has not betrayed
I want it today, at hand
Then it came to be yesterday.

I am a child, a sonnet
All my paint was in mad red;
The color of roses and dread,
The one love to be met.

I am child, a lover
Although love takes forever;
Who hurries me to say--
Who cannot feel me today.

I am a child, a writer
My fantasies last as ever;
But not knowing to write
I shall learn over the night.

I am a child, a poet
I have travelled wide roads
The roads that heavens gave;
My mother used to have.

I am a child, a star
There seems to be knots in hearts;
I heard a myth, a story
Which are not always pretty.

I am a child, a moon
I hath to understand soon;
What love sees, what perils shed
A tale too swift to be read.

I am a child, a heart
I am with whom night has parted;
I live now, a day at once
I live and play under the sun.

I am a child, a love
That love itself shan’t be enough
I can see that as brightly;
The world has none more to see.

I am a child, a life
Lives are now bland and rife
With all chains and darkness;
No joys stay, nor brightness.

I am a child, a truth;
To look deep in my youth
And find that love hath gone;
Like a morning rose that drowned.

I am a child, heaven;
The whole world feels like hell
And in no time shall dwell--
My poetry is my last haven.

I am a child, paradise--
In such worlds, only live lies;
Love is a fault, a failure
And hatred is the cure.

I am a child, a triumph
With a victory in my doom;
And when faith is gleaming,
I start brightly singing.

I am a child, a fear
They fear that love could still be here
They fear that I could be heard;
They fear I could conquer the world.

I am a child, a fair
And which goodness is unfair?
When all spells hate, why shall I care,
Fools and wicked ran at my dare;

I am a child, a fire
The song of triumph is just, not dire;
My joys are near, closer--
Love is to dwell again, ever.

She feeds those chickens everyday
And the rooster struts and crows
As the steam  rolls from the ***
Plucking feathers for dinner she knows

Your wife sho taste good to me
Mister rooster chest puffs up
Sitting at the dinner table smiling
She fills up her drinking cup

Yall chillen leave those chicks lone
They might think their meal is a little pet
She keeps them away from the chickens
She is planning on wringing their neck

Bow yo head and thank the Laud
For this here chicken wez bout to eat
The children all obey their mother
To them the chicken is a real treat

Sitting at the dinner table
Smiles would shine from within
Now the children tell all their children
How everyday Granny fed them

I will work for food
The sign he held in his hand
As the cars drove by
Giving nothing in his can

Thinks of his children
At school learning ABCs
Wondering tonight
What food will we have to eat

A passer by yells
Get a job you piece of crap
Times used to be good
Then economic mishap

Tears well in his eyes
Because he did think the same
Now on the corner
Wondering who is to blame

It will be simple
If the sign says I will work
The pain is the same
Makes him want to go berserk

All day he holds it
He tries to think how to change
Things for his children
Get things back to being plain

Time to get the kids
Tonight they have a burger
Reaching the shelter
He looks after their hunger

Tomorrow looks bright
He has money to start with
Looking for a job
Gone is his faith in the myth

The myth that is told
If you keep on working hard
Life will be better
Living without being marred

No matter stature
Could happen to anyone
Have it all today
Tomorrow it could be gone