(TO MY FIFTH GRADERS)
Keep your eyes always towards the sky.
You don't want your dreams to pass you by.
Even though you may not have wings,
you can always learn to fly.
Learn to love, learn to dream,
learn to appreciate the little things.
Learn that everything is not always what it seems:
The world is full of pain, and you can correct it all,
but be there for the ones you love,
and catch them when they fall.
Give them wings, teach them to fly
being them to the clouds where your dreams reside.
Show them the beauty of this world
with every star in the sky.
Each one as different as every one of you,
Your own unique light, your own unique truth.
When you come together like the stars out in space,
Your light comes together to shine on this place
we call the world. In the darkest night
You are the shining light.
The stars in the sky match the light in your eyes.
You got it from somewhere, so I know you can fly.
You even have wings, though you might not see them
They're on your heart, should you ever need them.
They fuel your dreams, give you something to believe in
The world needs your to take your dreams, and be them.
You are the rose that will grow through the concrete.
You may not know exactly what I mean
but in time you will, as long as your dreams you fulfill.
And in fulfilling your dreams, Do the right thing.
It won't always be easy, but at least you'll have your wings.
So dream, learn, love and live,
Because you have everything and more to give.

Dear Beyonce, I love you, but I loved your thighs more. They gave me a reason to believe my thighs were just fine. I believed that they were worth the time it took to get my jeans on or trouble when I found a dress that fit the rest of me perfectly, but finding another because my thighs were making it too short. I was under the impression that the pressure on his lap from my thighs was just fine and that if he couldn't handle them, he couldn't handle me.
My thighs were supported by calves that were the pillars that support my *** that is almost too much for the eyes to handle.  It was okay that my thighs jigged cause my muscles were chiseled from my *** to my heels when I walked in a pair of heels, revealing marble stone that Greek statues envied.
Where did they go?
Now I'm told that I have to cover them from the summer sun and they can't wade in waves the crash on them when I stand in water that's just below my waist. They can't be mimicked by a pair of jeans or matched exactly by a pair of leggings. They have to be lonely and never be reminded of one another's presence because they can get lost with increased degrees of separation.
But I will not eat the lies that media, airbrush, needles, and people feed me. My legs have walked a thousand miles and have carried others along the way. I will not doubt them because they have never failed me.
I think I've made my decision. Thank you.

i don't know what to say to you. from the first time i read your words i was intrigued, but i was in an unknown land, never before have i experienced something like that. that... as time went by and i continued to crawl through the loopholes of your metaphors that are to me so real and upfront they couldn't get much closer to the truth, and the fact that they capture every bit of emotion and air from me and leave me breathless, i began to dig deeper and deeper into the jungle of your mind and somewhere in the darkest most desolate place sat the epitome of what was wrapped up in your words all along, the part of me that took what seemed like centuries to show you, was in front of me all along. as i sit and think about how your words speak volumes, they need not be told with volume in your voice, just a simple whisper in my ear will do and a gentle hand on my neck but i haven't even gotten to the lips yet... let your index finger reference the indents of my smile and your fingertips run across my lips so that part of you will stay for me to taste while my leg goes from crossed over me to encompassing you, wrapped with judgment and insecurities, it finds the safest place possible, on your lap to rest with your bones while the rest of me still filled with judgment and insecurities runs free cause that's what your words do to me and for me all while at the same time embracing my mind with the thought of you embracing me i somehow get lost in the space between our two bodies so make it disappear, hold me tight no longer with just your words but with your arms around my waist and my arms around your shoulders we'll find a way through this night of our lives that is set so gently on the city skyline by the setting sun.. the sight that i find myself gazing upon like i was gazing into your eyes feeling every emotion and transmitting them when my lips find refuge from the darkness of the sun dipped in horizon, in a reflection of my life and what my eyes cannot see, ears cannot hear, nose cannot smell nor can the voice speak.. only the touch of skin can comprehend.. but at the same time let me breathe you in, see how perfect it can look, hear your whispers or our echoed scream, those of pain and pleasure, in the moments of tribulation and ecstasy... wrap your mind in my words and my thoughts.. then you will see me in my barest form...

Beautiful women and beautiful girls,
Your hips were made to rule the world
To knock it off center with one switch in your step
The power you possess many people forget
Including yourself, other women and too many times men
We build ourselves up, they try to break us down again
I just got one question for them:
What happened to chivalry?
To women of the 21st century
You were their heart always worn on their sleeve
And a man that cheated but he didn't leave
To many young girls you were nothing more
Than a broken frame on a kitchen floor
Mixed with their mothers tears
Because that's the only form that their fathers appeared...

Tear down the walls that make your word night
And look to the sun and make darkness into light
All you need in your life is a beautiful smile
Only to know that you're worthwhile
You're so much more than your *** and your *******
You are defined by your intellect
You are not the measurements that lyricists impose
You are not correlated with the amount of skin you show.
But rather when you show what you know.

Beautiful Women and Beautiful Girls
Your hips are made to rule the world.
Challenge the world with your beautiful mind
Words of wisdom as numerous as stars that shine.

Words and actions, actions and words
What came first the egg or the bird?
We’re confined to believing that change only comes from a dollar bill
For a bill of 6.75 but what is the price of freedom?
Freedom ain’t free and I may not agree with what you say
But I will defend with my life your right to say it
But before I can save you, I need to save myself from self destruction
So its up to me to break the chains but
I feel like I’m trapped by a straight jacket with my arms around my waist
Shackles on my ankles and a muzzle on my face.
I’m bound to the ground by belts fastened tight
And I have a blindfold on so I have no sight
I try to yell to scream, but my voice has been silenced
We’re all a victim of organized crime it’s called: the government
The heat waves gave way to my ribcage because
I’m starving but it might as well be my temples carving spaces
of malnourishment of the mind, body and soul
when the body hurts as a whole,
there’s a space void in the mind
and I’m being confined as my spirit is ripped limb from limb.
I’m bound by the standards of society
What they tell me is what I need to be, but
Who is they, anyway? I’m trapped by a system that has me running in circles.
My intellect is tested by standardized tests the determine my fate like a crystal ball
They are not a caricature of my character by any means
Education is the key to achieving your dreams but
Not before you  pay the state government that tells us we can’t get a job
To pay for our schooling so we can’t do the school thing that supposedly is a birthright.
Can we start to get it right?

I think the celestial beings that created bonds between Mayan kings and the Sun god tranplated their practices in the 21st century when they encountered you and I. They searched the constalations to give us the perfect relation so that even Satan himself couldn't break through the bonds that bind us. Even when the sun rose and wiped every star from the sky, Alpha and Omega remained in perfect sight. I was born of you, like Bastet born of Ra. You protect me during the day, and I will be by your side when the moon's in the sky.

If it was up to you, there would be no harm that came to me, but you can only sit by and observe as the world tries to break me down. But I have your bones, and I will only be broken down to resurrect stronger. As many times as you see my hear thrown on the floor, because I have your heart, I will never love less. You give me peace and ease of mind.

You give me the courage I need to be a pioneer in a world of followers. To make my own path in this life, so that I know everything I have done was for myself and in my best interest. Your smile lights up my life and I can help but smile myself. I find you spirit within my soul, and I know that you are always with me. I will always be your little girl.

You left for too long. My memory of you dimmed with the feeling in my heart. It laid there- dormant for months. I erased your voice from my thoughts and the feeling of your arms around me was replaced by a spring breeze. Your habits became forgotten, your face- a picture tucked away. I tried to find equivocation of the joy I felt from being around you.
Something about you stayed locked in my mind, and was awoken the day that I needed to find you. The scent of your shirt when I wrapped you in my arms as I hid from the world in yours. Words only come slowly now. Like the words of a Gregorian chant, they are few in number and ring on long after the voice has stopped. Fatigue of my body has led to words to come in only small quantities, but there will be strength, something will give. The moon will stay out a little longer to provide for more sleep and for more words to be dreamt onto the paper of my mind.
My mind gropes at the darkness for a fleeting memory of you as the lights go down. My eyes search my subconscious as my body moves me in my sleep. I can almost feel your arm around my waist and your hand in my hair when I come to the realization that you're not there, it was just me tugging on the sheets. The moisture of your kiss was nothing but tears on my cheek. Your chest was just my pillow and your voice was just the rain at my window.

I don't know when you exist.
Maybe it was just to show me you were okay.
But why make it harder to let you go?...
You were almost real.
I heard your voice.
I watched your shoulders twist in the wind.
If I close my eyes, I can see you.
Did I touch you?
Did I gage the temperature of your body with my hand?
In fact I never did.
Stood as a bystander and just watched.
I was powerless to transmit this feeling that I had,
That was so deep my subconscious carried it.
I thought you were just a fleeting memory.
Believed you existed in a time and place
That was from over a years past.
Why do you still sit in the corner of my  mind?
I can still feel the breeze coming through my window,
And I wonder if it's touched your skin.
If you're not coming back,
Please don't stay here.

"Love's pure silver silver flame
gives each innermost spirit
invisible warmth."
-Artist Unknown
Your love reaches deep within me. It gropes at the darkness of where it last slept and finds that it no longer carries the scent of you but left abandoned like the first class in the Titanic. It's been centuries from lives past since love last resided there before it left for a few lifetimes to go fight for herself. She braved on as men invaded her land and stole her children to make them work as dogs. She was the leader of an army of Amazon woman warriors but they were more like goddesses, their love for their people kept them alive. Before the days of war, were the lives of leisure, when she ruled the pyramids and supported the world on the balance of her shoulder with her hips. Love hadn't been there since before Eve sprang from Adam's rib and the dirt from the earth as they fell into the hole of original sin.
Your love entered me without hesitance. A bright white light around the room when you walked in. The north star, star of David stood in second and third place while the flame your love carried with bare hands and risked second and third degree burns shined brightly. Your love burned hot silver and warmed every corner that was once frigid and lonely. Your love reached deep inside me past every molecule of me that stood in the way and charged to my innermost self. The place where only I resided, but barely knew. With its light, your love came in and revealed parts of me that were lost in those past lifetimes. A love for myself and for those around me. I will spread the love that you gave to me and reach deep inside others with my heart as your hand holds mine and touches my soul at the same time.


...In a haiku poem, only half the story is told... It is the other half you must pay close attention to.

These are just some quick haikus...


Live for days like this
When the moons hangs with the sun
Nights falls and stars shine.


Insecurities
Run down to and through my feet
When I'm around you.


Make my world complete
By letting me find myself
Please stay by my side.


I almost love you
Almost sing in the subway
Almost ain't enough.


My best friend's wedding
May very well be my own
I secretly wish.


To the man sleeping:
I want to give you the world
But I need this quarter.


Wrapped up in your arms
I only know the shallow
I want to dive deep.


Leaving you behind
Never felt so good to me
I'm finally DONE.


Watch lingering dreams
Come sharply into focus
GRADUATE STUDENT.

The air is heavy with summer sunshine
I've never slept with only a sheet on the bed before
Before these nights
Before I was wrapped in love and security
Before all of my problems were left at the door
I don't even pay bills in this room anymore.
The fan on 3
Under the cover
By morning it will be gone
Along with our clothes
Because heat overcame our bodies
But we still had to be that much closer
To each other
To fill the space that was left
By what ever thread count that disappeared.
Laying in bed for hours on end
Even though we're both starving
And have a craving for cafe con leche
Our addiction to this bed is more powerful.
My addiction to you is more powerful than that...
I've always been able to hear cars from the window
But now I listen.
For they have always been there.
But I have never been here.
In this place
That has so much love to give
As do I.
To you, to them, to everyone.

More than a year's gone by.
Would you even recognize me if you saw me on the street?
The question is would I recognize you
If you walked past me...
Besides I don't think I've changed all that much.
You might beg to differ.
Because I can still see you...
Just like I saw you yesterday.
I heard your voice
Watched your cheeks raise when you smiled,
Watched your eyes watch mine intently.
Maybe it was just a dream,
When I watched you turn into the sunset
And walked away.
To forever leave me in the wake of my own memory.

Only words will keep my head above water as I drown in my thoughts and feelings. When does the vicious cycle of words turning into wounds turning into spears that stab your heart and your voice then retaliates with words that turn into wounds... when does it end? I keep these feelings of defeat to myself because they need not be spoken in order to be heard. Just look into my eyes and you will see behind the tears that my heart has been robbed of the love that it has given so selflessly, never to have gotten it back in return... For love I would not give my life but for the one I love would my life be turned in for.
I would lay down my life if only my words would be heard because they are what give me my life and had I not have words with which to articulate my heart, so I would not have any life worth living. If my words were as lost as I was, I would be nothing, but it is because I am lost that my words have merit. Should I be found and in my words find myself, then my words and therefore my life will be of worth.
But if nothing comes of it, then I know that I still did my best to convey the messages that pass my mind on a daily basis and the fact that I even transposed my thoughts onto a piece of paper will be worth something. So if something that was lost is now found to never have been lost before, it only simply needed to be discovered, then these words will find purpose and break that cycle of the ones that constantly get caught in the whirlpool of water and broken glass and be arranged in a stained window that the sun will shine through and give just a little bit of clarity among the chaos.

"Just once before I die
I want to climb up on a tenement sky
Dream my lungs out till I cry
Then scatter my ashes through the Lower East Side."

Where babies cry and hands collide
Whether givin dap or throwin die.
We are the first in a line of many
Who made something out of nothing: a dream and a penny.
Like a phoenix, they rose from the dust of defeat
And brought the rhythm of their home back to the streets.
The scraps of culture that America ignored
Became the boat of what got us ashore.
Jazz from Harlem mixed with Rhythm and Blues
Became acquainted with the drums that Tito Puente used
To create a music that refused to die
Salsa: established on the Lower East Side.
So many legends and have come and gone until today
But we will always remember “Aguanile.”
The music that played through the day and night
Can still be heard on the Lower East Side.
Lavoe and Puente, Palmeri and Colón
Celia Crúz made her voyage alone.
As a platinum selling Latina in a white man’s world
She kept singing with her head up and her tongue curled.

The same blocks that gave us beats to abide
Also have a darker side.
With gunshots and sirens- like Piñero said:
“The streets are hot and feed off those who bleed to death.”
We took our own lives when violence was brought upon us
Too many children grew up fatherless.
If walls could talk they would tell you
Of all the pain that they’ve been though.
Boys and men who were smashed against the pavement
Ones that screamed and others that will never breathe again.
Hot like ice and cold like fire
Signs that read “gunman for hire.”
Read between the lines of a “Help Wanted” sign
Outside a legit business with a ringleader inside.
Kids stopping by on a daily basis
Lookin for work as a foot soldier in case this
Thing that they call school don’t get them nowhere
Cause remember- they’re not from around here.
But they makin their way on the Lower East Side
Where all eyes on you- can’t even the rats hide.
Cause its survival of the fittest just see another day
And in order to get in good you gotta play the game.
Your mothers and aunts are worried to death
But you gotta eat- so forget about the stress.
You gotta play the game whether you like it or not,
But there’s gotta be a breaking point where this all needs to STOP.

If you go down to Third street, between avenues B and C
People walk to a different beat.
A place that’s an escape from the world outside
Where fingers snap and words collide.
It was in the year 1975
Where you could see a generation strive
To find their souls on the city skyline
Amidst the smallest of confines.
Tongues spit metaphors and air filled the lungs
Of the poets that paved the way for many more to come.
The stage that was built by (Miguel) Piñero and (*****) Rivas
Was blessed decades later by Lemon Andersen and Beau Sia.
The place filled to capacity, bodies filling every space
Not an empty seat in the house, yet even more people found their place
Posted up against the wall all eyes fixed forward
Because when a poet raised their hands, no eyes were lowered.
They were free to clap, snap fingers and call out
In accordance with what a poet spoke about.
The Utopia that I speak of exists until this day
We call it the NuyoRican Poets Cafe.
Where all are welcome bring yourself and your freedom
A dream and a wish and the desire to achieve them.

Let us be the first in a line of many
To remember out culture and give it to our babies.
The English and the Spanish
As much as their tongues can manage.
Let's not be so quick to go against one another
Because in order to survive, we all need each other.
I want to live in a world where we all from the block
And we gotta support each other whether we like it or not.

"So please when I die
Don't take me far away
Keep me nearby
take my ashes and scatter them thru out
the Lower East Side."


In memory of Piñero, and all the pioneers of the time...

I think you are less than adequate to handle it-
my womaness, I mean.
Like a lioness, my womaness will bring home
dinner to the family and run ****, trust me.
I am the queen of my concrete jungle
& as I pass by passerby's will bow.
I may be a queen, but there's no need for 'your Highness',
just call me 'your Flyness'.
Because I am fly,
even when you try to deny me and my fellow woman.
We are all meant to be queens by our own means.

But we can't be queens without our kings.
We'll take you to be the co-pilot of our kingdom
if we think that you can handle it.
"What does that mean?" you ask.
Gentlemen, it means that
you can keep your pride in check with checks and balances,
let me do my job while you do yours
& handle me, with love and care.
Respect the boundaries that I have set
for our pride and ride the tide with me.
There will always be trials and triumphs.
But That's just life, baby.

But you can be my king so long as
you can let me be the queen that I am.
My womaness is my greatness in my step
from my thighs to my lips
from my hair to my fingertips,
the wisdom of my intuition and the depth of my soul.
This is the finesse of my womaness.
We are just too fabulous to describe.
Do you think I'm crazy?
Maybe so, but like I said:
something told me you're less than adequate to handle it-

my womaness, that is.

A familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach
If I would have stayed I would have become it.
Like Alicia Keys said you give me that Heartburn
But like she also said, you just another Lesson Learned.

Because if I'd considered you a waste of time
It'd be worse- you'd have wasted mine.
And that might give you some twisted satisfaction
But I'm just gonna hit you with the opposite reaction.

Those late night fights had me feelin kinda tight
But it's a new morning and I'm feeling alright.
My mind is clear, my spirits are high.
And unlike time, I'll let you pass me by.

I won't apologize for being a mess
I'm only sorry to myself for letting you cause me stress.
But I wouldn't trade it a thousand times.
Otherwise I wouldn't be writing these lines.

I let my mind sink into itself with the thought of you. I felt the water slide over my body and how I love to drown in your arms just as the sun comes up... but before I even got there I had to approach the shoreline.. the first meeting of you and I. My toes in the sand as I got my feet wet for the first time in something that was worth my time... I waded up to my knees in the love that you had to offer me, felt my feet fall deeper in the sand and fall deeper into love with what's just inside the outside... the shallow of your eyes, the inside of your hand.. I lifted my foot out of the sand and took another step forward.. the water reached my fingertips. I could almost feel your lips as I traced lines on your face that I can still draw into the back of my hand like a memory. As time passed lines that made your eyes lingered and and then drew our fingers intertwined as I took your hand in mine. I'm not afraid of the ocean, only afraid that I won't be everything that you are... vast, deep, and everything more. . My time came to leave the shore and dive in.. sink or swim. I took one last breath and never looked back. I don't regret that. I spend my days swimming beneath the surface... knowing you're worth it. I spend my nights safe in your embrace until the sun comes up again. I no longer long for the shore, only that every one knows what its like to drown in the best way... to lose yourself in love

My eyes map out the lines of life on your face as my fingers forge paths in the valleys that span your chest and back. My tongue explores the rapids of your kiss.. I only know your shallow. The white capped waves atop deep, deep rivers. I want to know the words and thoughts that lie on the banks. Secrets never spoken. I want to swim upstream to your earliest memories so I know where you have been, and race downstream, so I may find where you are headed. I want to dive deep into your eyes where your soul lies and your dreams fly. As I ascend my legs scale cliffs and hold onto you for dear life. I want to fill every space between your fingers with my own so that I know we're both whole. I want to be the one to make you the happiest and have the potential to make you hurt the most. I want to be the one to make you the most vulnerable, and provide you the greatest refuge from the storm. I want my insecurites to embrace your vulerabilities so that we may both be... Open.

I have only five minutes to express to you what it would take ten millenniums to verbalize, so look into my eyes and take my hand. Follow my lead and wrap your arms around me. Feel secure to rest your bones, and I promise you will never be left alone. And if you ever find yourself losing count of the stars in the sky, close your eyes and imagine me with you, that I may help you find where you left off. That I may help you find where you left. So that I may help you find... My mind travels miles to find you again.

I wish that you believed in love, so then maybe you could see the love I have to give. Like a trap star, I got so much I sell the ****. But nobody wants it, all having been scorned by the one before. So I'm sellin mine in bulk at a discounted rate- lacking conversation and maybe a second date. Always only half invested, I keep having to get myself tested to see if something's love or lust, and always saying "In God I trust" but trust less in the dollar bills that are leaving people unfulfilled like a bad trip on a half *** stash. Like a ****** out of rehab, you swore off love because her lies tied the belt around your arm as her breath fueled the fire of her kisses that cooked and were injected into you veins, that was the only pain you knew of love. Left strung out on the bathroom floor your hopes and dreams went down the drain along with your hope that you'd get another hit of her. Her love was your drug and it turned into addiction- a daily procedure, she'd tell you lies of pride and leave you alone to seizure. You checked yourself in to the nearest center for rehabilitation and you made gettin clean your obligation..
I'm sitting here wondering if there's any hope for a relapse cause you've seemed to have swept off my feet and I'm standing on my kneecaps. I'm not saying I want you to fall back to the track of what backtracked you, but the feeling that comes when something you're in is the truth. I want to be your natural high. Trippin off life and all the little things. Let me hold your hand so can feel the beat of my heart pulsing through your veins. I don't wanna make you blind, I just want to open your heart so you don't see the end before the **** ever starts. That was my problem too, but I had to live in the moment. I knew that they'd be gone, I just couldn't have shown it. I just want to make you breathless, remove your fear like articles of clothing and shed this...
They say if you want to stay alive, don't get high on your own supply... unless of course you sharin- that's better, then you can get high together. John Legend said we on cloud 9 together. Let my kiss send you to another place while my hair that falls around you is the only way to find your way back. Lay me on my back and rest your head on my chest and exhale your stress. I'll inhale the lies and believe me when I tell you "everything's going to be aright". Everything's going to be alright.

When you feelin like you got nowhere to turn, think of me.
I'll be right there when you call to fulfill your every need.
And I'll be there when you fall so I'm able to stop the bleeding
I'd give my last breath so that you can you can keep on breathing.

Deep inside, to survive I know that I'd need you
So if you were gone from this earth in spirit I'd be gone too.
When you're in need of a soldier, I'll be right there to hold you
No need for startin over, I'll hold your place for you.

Never doubt that I would take a bullet to the chest
Never doubt that in my life you're above the rest.
You have the power to bring out the better part of me
And when it's down to the wire, I want you on my team.

They say you never know what you got until its gone,
But I already know what you're worth, I don't need to be alone.
Cause when I'm with you, I'm home, it doesn't matter where I am
As long as we got each other, then we got a master plan.

So take my hand, close your eyes, and through the sky we'll fly
I could be your everything as long as you'll be mine.
I would never tell your secrets, in me you can confide
Alicia Keys said we're unbreakable, cause I'm your ride or die.

I am aware when my hips ram into the corner of the desk when I walk down a row and I double over in pain.

I am aware when my **** knock over the glass of water that was in front of me when I lean over the table.

I am aware when my *** doesn't fit through a tight squeeze in a movie theater or party.

I am aware when my hair gets caught in the limbs that I walk underneath.

I am aware that my thighs have no choice but to take up the empty space that would otherwise be in my pants.

I am spatially aware.

I know that my shoulders are not the smallest, but **** are they strong.

I know that the space I take up when I dance makes the air feel full, and loves me for my caress.

Love me or love me not, I do not care.

I am spatially aware of air.

Each one of us has a story to tell. So pay attention because even if you think you know me well.. something like the back of my hand- my story is in my palm. Each line is a wrinkle in time from a life before...

I don't need to live the high life, I'd rather live the Fly Life. I don't need no shining lights, just the stars shining bright. I don't need the money, just the milk and the honey. I don't want the cars and the clothes, I just want 16 bars and notes. I have no need for AARP because seeing another sun rise is the best life insurance one could have...

Forget the rock on my finger to commit, just wrap your arms around me and find a beat to rock with. I don't mind that we missed the train so long as you were kissing me in the rain too long. Let's break up just to make up... or not break up, just make up for being away from each other too long. I don't care that my hair is a mess, run your fingers through it a little bit longer until my eyes have no choice but to let you out of their site. And when the moon is the only guide through the night, let my head rest on your chest so I know where I am when the morning comes...

I don't want the caviar and the wine, just hand me yellow rice and a bottle of ***. Let the gold and diamonds stay in the caves, I'd rather have a shell from where the sea kisses the shore. I would take a sunny day over a brightly lit stage cause I don't need the fame to know the true meaning of the name Fly Vida. Because life is fly whether it be from a bird's eye where the wings of words allow every voice to be heard or from the eye of the storm that throws you and forces you to transform your Vida. So don't hold on to anything tangible for too long because at the end of the day, a dollar is just some paper, a penny is just metal, but a smile is priceless.

Forgive me for falling asleep on you last night
I just want to fall asleep on you at night.
Rest my head on you chest
As your fingers run through my hair...
Or maybe we could just talk until the sun comes up
And our minds and hearts are bare.
I just know I wanna know you-
Inside and out.
I wanna know your body and mind
The way I do your heart.
I want to run my hands
Up the backbone of your intellect.
Wrap my arms around your shoulders
and show you what I really meant,
When I said its been forever
Since I actually felt this close
And when you tell me what's on your mind
That it will always mean the most.


Now that I've had my fix of you
I don't know where to go.
Words from more than a year ago
echo louder than before, so here you go:
The unbearably beautiful truth
Of what I think of you...
I'm scared of what you mean to me,
Terrified that maybe we're meant to be.
I don't want to feel you next to me
because it's so good it hurts.
But I get so lonely when you're not next to me
Cause my heart wants you as more than just a friend to me.
Because no matter what, my heart will love unconditionally.
But my mind has to protect me from reality
Of what I see that's happening around me.
Even when I want to say everything, I hesitate
I just want to let you know as much as I can
Before it's too late.

I hate the way you do that thing you do that makes me look at you and realize how much I love you and how open I am and how vulnerable I am, that you made me that way, and then I hate you a little more. And then I think about how I've never been that way because I've never loved someone the way I love you in that very moment and I go back to hating you because you made me that way.. You know what they say, I love you more today than I did yesterday, and less than I will tomorrow, but my question is what is the unit of measure?
Because if love is measured in words, today I could write a book. Tomorrow I could fill a library and in a week I could educate nations for generations because my love for you is timeless.
If love is measured in the cohesive bond of two molecules of hydrogen and a molecule of oxygen, today you could collect all the tears that I cry in a night because my heart is almost breaking because I miss you. Tomorrow, you could collect all the tears that I cry in a lifetime, along with the raindrops that I danced in when I was a little girl because of the blissful joy I feel when I'm around you. In a week, you would need the ocean to hold all the rain that has fallen on this world and has flowed from the highest mountain tops like the way your hands hold me and run from my shoulders to my lower back.
If love is measured in money... It doesn't matter because my love for you is priceless. But let's just say poverty would be eradicated and prices would be deflated so that a mother could cook a Thanksgiving dinner every night for her family.
If my love for you was measured in kisses, that would be ridiculous. Because today I'd have enough love to kiss you for the rest of the night, and tomorrow with the sun rise, I'll have enough love to kiss you for the rest of your life. In a month, there would be enough for everyone to kiss a stranger, their brother, their daughter, their mother three times over.
I love you exponentially and eventually becomes immeasurable and I'll have no way to measure my love as perfectly as it takes to measure milk and eggs to make a cake and bake it for your birthday. But I can't bake, I can't even follow the directions on a box. So in the meantime, I'll just count the stars in the sky and name each one as a reason why I love you until I lose count or fall asleep. The next night I can start all over again, count each star out to the moon, make a right at Pluto and come back again.

And even after I count every single one, I still have galaxies and light years to measure how much I love you.

They didn't know what Diversity was...
The kids, that is.
Since the kids didn't know it,
the teacher coined it as "“black” visibility".
She wasn't sure if she could make that call
so she nodded her head, looking for approval.
The interviewer asked in what direction did the teacher see Diversity
As if Diversity was a one-way street.
Let me just refresh your memory...
"“black” visibility"
As if decades of progress in the schools were undone,
The kids voted on Performances and Projects for “black” History Month.
How shocking!... Kids of every shape, size, ability and race studying a time in history...
Sounds racist to me.
They wanted a Gospel Choir that is clearly only for “black” students
Because I'm the student Director for the Fordham University's Rhythm of Praise Gospel Chior for the fourth year running...
Maybe I'm missing something...
MAYBE I'm “black”... Maybe if I close my eyes really tight...
Nope, I'm still “white”.
Olive brown perhaps?
Only in the summer.
Anyway, I digress like Sophia Patrilo from the Goldren Girls
Who was Italian by the way.
Just advertising for Diversity.
Let's debate about "Music Debates" for a moment.
Maybe you call it Debates because Hip Hop is debatable, and by the way only for “black” students.
When I could argue for days upon days
About how Reggaeton didn't come from Salsa
but I know **** well that Salsa came first.
The kids wanted to Stomp the Yard and battle it out.
I do believe rap battles take place around the world
And one of the best rappers I know is an English teacher in Harlem
Whose hair is redder than a leprechaun.
Talent Shows that showcase every student's ability
Whether it be singing, dancing, performing their poetry,
But still apparently that's not Diversity.
Neither is an International Day
Where International ways are celebrated.
And finally, a Diversity Day,
That clearly means diversity is separated.
"They wanted a lot of things"
Yeah. They asked for a whole lot... of everything BUT diversity.
That's right, because they don't know what it means
The Kids, that is...
Then tell me please:
Define Diversity.
Is it seeing a “black” horse with “white” stripes
Or a “white” horse with “black” stripes?
Why is it between “black” and “white”?
Why not between “white”, “black” brown, yellow, orange, brick red...
Let's get it out of our head
That teachers can't learn anything from their students,
Because it sounds to me,
Like they had a pretty good start to the meaning of Diversity.
And if it turns out they didn't,
That's what teachers are there for:
Make a **** lesson about it.