I
There is a 3% chance I'll find you here. But if in each pair of eyes I dip, I find 1/8 of you; I'll be there soon.

II
I didn't crawl here; I took a plane. I spent six hours tracing the Atlantic from my window and you rose from the sea, dry and unsalted, twice each nautical mile. I would say it was my imagination, or the California wine, but I wear glasses now and never lie about what I see. It was you. And you and you and you.


III
Stealing is easier here. Maybe it's the crowds or the way the men smile at me like I'm harmless, but my hands move without question. They don't fumble or miss pockets, my heartbeat doesn't even protest. In prayer beads, silkworm cocoons, oils and sea rings, I am in debt to a city who doesn't know it.


IV
I have no ethnicity. Deep in bone coils the apathy and flight of someone's non-heritage. But I am forgiven; in a world of paranoia, brown eyes are always trusted and the way my hair falls reminds them that I'm on their side. Even my name curls within itself, folded flat and dead before it's over. It's better this way; no allegiance, no responsibility.

V
From a curb in district nine, I see your star. It's hanging where you said it would be but I can't see god in it the way you promised.

VI
On the other side of the world you told me about patch of green. You waxed flowers of every color, the sky I've only ever painted and the people, beautiful and dark, who will save me. I found it. In broken French and broken sandals I found it and the sun was setting and you had just left. So now we both know you won't be the one to save me.

VII
With one foot in the slanting gutter I walk until the city circles and I'm back where I started. In a daydream I found you. I smiled and quoted your book, the part that said 'When we heard the guidance, we believed in it' and you looked at me in a way that scared me. A way that translated your face into thousands of alphabets, ancient and invented. And I knew none of them. Suddenly I'm illiterate to you. Suddenly I'm gone.

VIII
I'm with a man who's made of smoke and each strawberry ring that escapes my lips is dedicated to someone that I’ve laughed with.

IX
With the intensity of archives on fire, I withdraw. You are still a body; a few hundred bones calcified and aging, a mind of words streaming like spider webs, blood you never shed, and  muscles that cross in blinding precision, but you are not who you used to be. You bound to me in a way that's irreversible and now we're both stitching. Awkward and broken we pull at flesh to remove each other. We have scars now, like stickers ripped from wallpaper. The outline of a palm stains my shoulder, a thumb the size of yours in the crook of my elbow. Small, white fingerprints tattoo your neck.


X**
I might be free. Over cobble stones with broken sandals I don't trip until I realize that a city where I loved is now part of me. I can get as far away from her as the modern map allows but the red and gold bangles that crowd my wrists are not to be taken off. They're a part of me too. Like blood spilled on a cobble stone, you will walk over us every day of your life.

I know that when
it comes down to it

I'll find you in every town

in every bar
in every museum

you'll order a drink
I don't come by too often

and I will compare you to
those you can't compare to

and you will win

I'll hear ocean waves when you breathe

I'll smell lust
freedom
adventure

I'll see the sun set in your hair

and you is a number
the number of those that make
me feel like you do

the limitless number of
uniquely lovable individuals

the creatures of dreams

the things that make hearts flutter
minds crumble and scream

but keep the mouth smiling

and the mind will think
only of those you(s)

because every one of them is lovable

every single one is everything

every one is YOU, specifically

everything after this will all be
you

and there's never been anything more beautiful than YOU

Sometimes its a shame to be black
We claim we're in it together
But the unity we lack

We belittle each other
Even though we all came
From the same father

Our ancestors fought to bring us to where are now
But how we choose to separate each other is foul

Light skins and dark skins
Doesn't matter we still have black skin
We need to begin
To listen

Build our race
So that every black person is safe
Racism is still real
And I cannot begin to explain how I feel

The black race is still frowned upon
Because our values are lost and gone

Let us begin to better each other
Build each other
Help one another
To get farther

Teamwork is essential
We have to realise our potential

It is a shame
How we let each other suffer
It breaks my heart
To see hungry child lost by a mother
When we have rich people
Who are greedy
In their fast cars speeding
Having no conscience or feelings
Because they won't even give to the needy
Lord Jesus I'm screaming
Please change the world
Make everyone start believing
That africa can rise
If we stop ignoring the cries
Of the poor
Revitalise the land
Before it dies
I know we can
If we keep our eyes on the prize

We can build africa
Make africa a staple
If only we work together
Bring something bigger to the table

We were blessed to be born on this beautiful land
So let us join hands
And make africa
As big as we can

Let me not be the warhorse to this myth called love
That the wisest of men shall bow before me
Erewhile, that warm light, hid in the clouds above;
Its grim shadows casting my uncertainty

From the chambers of scorn, locked on my own;
Thou drewest near like a wildflower, setting me free
O my torn heart restored, thou hast carefully sewn
Thou art my rescue; and thy smile, the key

Unto every one that hath felt this enchantment,
Whose power turns timid souls into beasts
If this be fate’s scheme, or divine entrapment
In the court of doubts, I testify to its fulfillment

Cometh my love, and delve into thine own heart
I am but a humble man, if I may ask of thee
My beloved, canst thou be with me forever?
Yonder, not far from here, lies our happily ever after

If you are in a hurry,
go ahead and don't
bother to wait for me.
My life still needs me.

Some untold stories,
an unsung song,
an incomplete conversation,
an unread book.
Some bridges to build
some to burn,
wounds to heal
fences to mend
relations to tend...

In my hurry
to catch up with you,
I breathlessly ran and
I left behind
so many moments,
breathtaking moments.
Let me catch up  
with them now,

I'll catch up
wtth you later...

i want to know what you know
we've known each other for years
but have we known each other

i know you
i know what you have gone through
what your likes and dislikes are

but do you know me
or am i a collection of memories
faint whispers slipping through your mind

so i wonder
when i think about you
are you ever thinking of me too

why must everyone tell each other what to do all the time
can we not coexist in love and peace
like we were meant to? can we not simply
work toward a goal, without mindless power play
or unnecessary roughness? we are human,
we are human, we are human, is all I hear, reasons
and excuses given for our misbehavior, our lies and harms;
it's only human nature! they cry as they steal and cheat
it must be human nature, says the violent criminal,
sadly, it is human nature, sighs the priest:
these are not good enough- this cannot be good enough
for if your heart calls you to love and you feel it then why haven't you?
every human's heart is made for and of
love, community, friendship, socialization-
that is what we are and that is what we need
we are clearly striving for good, we are clearly beautiful,
we are clearly searching for the truth
human nature cannot be evil if its most earnest desire is good.
yes, we are human- but we were made for better things.