Puddles in black asphalt make for perfect lagoons
murky waters stirring, kissed with light bent from the sun
air conditioners brace the ledge, ready to jump
marlboro in the air, sunday morning is a holy sight
unanswered questions on bus stop benches,
basketball court with boys who have sprouted like weeds,
too fly for high, or too high for fly,
all background music to the thumping of ball on concrete,
Elders on rocking chair thrones atop of stoops,
witness to all that plays out,
from corner store ballets and 3 a.m. shootouts,
The beauty of it all, an orchestra of bodies,
awakening from slumber for yet another day

The linens are still waiting for
you on the bedside table,
I left the window open,
letting the breeze and sunlight
saunter on in just how you used to like it,

Picture frames on the walls are just memories behind glass,
trapped like history in a museum,
no magnifying glass will show me where it all went wrong,

I am not the best at math,
tell me what to do to this equation
so both sides come out alright,
divide me by 2, I am only half of myself without you

There are still parts of us concrete
a sidewalk between our waists,
not yet overgrown with dandelions in the crevices,

Note books are drowning in alphabets,
all the right words, in all the wrong sentences,
rivers beneath my skin, help me to stop the flooding

I never considered myself one for the books,
A pen felt clumsy in my hands,
Something too delicate to touch,

You introduced me to my first romance,
Tales of rivers and sweet words of Hughes,
Pages were my optics, my eyes danced in the light,

Nights turned into highways of jazz and beat poet longings,
Kerouac and Ginsberg whispering into my ear
of corrupted ivy manifestos,

Maya told me to sing, I did.
My love for her still echoes in her passing,
Set sail to the open waters where Neruda lies,
sonnet 17 afloat upon the tides,

You knew my addiction before I ever got high on the ink,
Drifting across the sentences in the midnight hours,
A prayer in thanks of what you gave to me

bones that shiver in the wind
palms that cracked years ago
arms that are heavy to hold
legs that will carry this weight
all that we are,

sunlight in your teeth
the raindrops nestled in your hair
sidewalk chalk memories
I have seen the sky,

December night moons and
stars that danced together,

You are all the seasons
my body has merely observed
whatever the weather brings
I shall embrace with open arms

Loosing myself in the storm clouds
gray water, baptize me well
pour out your innards and drench my skin
liquid bombings from heavens above
cleanse me of my sorrows
I left my umbrella at home
It rests there along with the thought of her
gray water, baptize me well
I am sorry,
for everything

Liquid night, bottled and priced
3 shots of love and a dime bag
kerosene nostrils and white collared lies
this demon is a shadow
follows close when the sun is up
surrounds me under the moonlight
too much gunplay and valentines
I am no rose cheeked cherub
but still gripping at the sunset
waiting for its return
amongst other one way plane tickets

Scars on my knuckles,
too many fist fights,
both eyes blackened
from all of the beatings,
stuck on the rope
looking for an escape,
blue from the bruises,
I can not last another round

Stop before crossing the street,
look both ways for landmines,
my father on the battlefield
where this killing is justified,
from resident streets in ferguson
to gaza strip homicides,
My palms clasped tight in prayer,
from humanity's suicide

White boy afraid of the mirror
White boy hates history class
White boy wears hood up, always
White boy afraid to go outside
White boy is all apologies
White boy prays for baltimore
White boy doesn't talk much
White boy thinks he has no right
White boy ashamed of who he is
White boy sorry for his skin
White boy can't explain what he is feeling
White boy can't sleep no more

17 years now and
the sidewalk hasn’t
changed much,
But that is the opposite
with you

Whiskey lips and a
cloudy sky in your lungs,
the high is still a wild
and untamed beast

Hours of dreaming
are of few most nights,
to much work to be
done,
The sentences in your
head, over and over they
will sing

The chase now is not
merely just a game
but a way in which you live,
Find her in the night
sing to her the sonnets
written on the pavement

The buildings will tower
over you as they have
in the past years,
look up at them in awe
and bask in the glory
of human intuition

A pen will always be your
solace,
never forget that about
yourself

My voice echoes with longing
Lost, searching for protection
I wear my raincoat most days
just incase the sky decides to open
and I am left below, out in the rain
searching for shelter in all the
wrong doorways

Let me throw my fists to break them
shatter my bones, leave me in pieces/
rip out my heart strings/
use them for your own instruments/
All my thoughts are sentences
and i am tired of the poetry/
I cannot think with it playing in my head,
over and over like a scratched record/
My veins are dry,
and I have nothing left to fill them with/

This love ain’t easy
This love has scrapes on it’s knees
This love forgets the words sometimes
This love ain’t easy
This love trips on it’s shoe laces
This love has sweaty palms
This love ain’t easy
But it’s all the love I got

Lying through my teeth
slick silver tongued
weaving the words
into intricate lies
I am cardboard insides
Paper thin skin
feel the dust in my palms
anything to be who I am not

I gave my voice to a pen
It wrote for me everything that I couldn’t speak of
The questions I was looking for
and the answers I already knew
The paper was my only surrender
Something I am still learning to do

We lost each other in December,
The snow covered the tracks we left,
In the spring our ribcages bloomed,
The flowers grew wild and plenty,
It's summer now and I miss your heat,
I hope you come when the leaves fall

The gunshots ring out from Baltimore,
I pray you are not tonight's target practice,
Young kings with concrete kingdoms,
Raging war against the parts of the sidewalk they cannot see,
Please stay safe another night

Do you remember when we sat on your roof and listened to Wu-Tang?
The kush smoke filled my lungs but burned in the most wonderful way.
Put our conversations into the rolling paper so I can inhale that night over and over again, and get high on the memories.

I have been walking

On the path that was our story

With a fistful of matches

So when I cross bridges 

I burn them with my passing

Never going back

To the places I once loved

My hands have folded into shadows of themselves,
My knees cracked under the weight,
I have dreamt of your face ,
Hidden behind the words that filled the pages,
Come to me in the night as I have dreamt of you,
For I am ready to be whole again.

The ocean will always whisper to
me it's sea salt kisses,
The moon hung high above it,
Seeing all my ***** and forgottens,
We looked for trouble all night,
Slept when the sun came up,
I felt like a child again.

You can still smell
the summer nights
Warm and wet,
The hushed conversations
through paper thin walls,
It's around midnight and the instruments are singing,
My lips never felt better than
when they were pressed
against yours

My father is over seas
In the effort to make mountains of men
I am within the picket fence
In the effort to make my voice heard
My mother is in the hospital
In the effort to calm her thoughts
My sister is in the backseat of a car
In the effort to experience love
My brother is still a child
In the effort to remain that way

Airplanes felt like church to me
The height made me feel closer to god
The clouds could hear my silent sins
Reflecting upon the ground below
Rows of fellow travelers all with the same hopes for final destination

I never even knew your name
never had enough courage to say hello
Just eyed you from across the room when nobody was watching
They way you wrote your poems with your head down
How you always made sure to cover your mouth when you laughed
You are the only girl that has ever made me buckle at the knees
loose focus, can’t focus, no ability to make sense of anything
You made me want replace all the parts of me you wouldn't like
I never even knew your name
I never had enough courage to say hello