Men smell like sweat and tears,
***** and steam.
And it never seems to bother them.
So used to a world
who lets them have their own way
Lets them take and grab
And claim as their own
Whatever’s on offer
Regardless of the offer.

Men smell like disregard,
Like empowerment above their station,
Like ignorance of the fact
That we die by your hand,
Like trees burnt down to roots,
Like dirt and soil and mud
Turned to sludge
In the aftermath of your being
And in the fact of the rain coming.

Men smell like dust and rats,
Like hard boots and tarseal,
Like misfortune
And coming mal-ease
Like hard drugs,
Like ******.
Like injecting any hope for change
Directly in the vein.
That’s what men smell like.

Never trust what is taught.
There was a time it was taught
All black men were *******.
Today it is taught
That *** makes you free.
I don’t believe what’s been taught.
I don’t believe my society.

We ride down streets I don't know
With Spanish rock on the stereo

The street lamps are strange shades
I close my eyes as everything fades

I think of all the things I want to be
All the women I could see

You can call me before I go to sleep
And I'll listen to your voice through my dreams

when my hurt became audible
you protested with your history
I know only what I've known
and you begged me to be the bigger person
and so I was.

And so you grabbed one end of me
and I grabbed the other
and we pulled until taut, until
I was enormous, stretched
and distorted
like a lost giant or
A firefighter's trampoline-

my highest purpose became
to break your fall

and so I did

and so I did

and so I did