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Take a walk with me
As I weave a tale of mystery
Riddled with latent clues
And sunken treasures,
Enough to tease
But not appease
The pensive mind
Programmed to unravel
Abstruse anomalies from covert lines
And decipher codes in
Every enigmatic sign;
Calibrated to extricate
Materiality from the matrix of mendacity,
Salience from the smorgasbord of subjectivity,
But frustrated by this vacuous tale
Of lyrical poesy,
Woven with wilful intent to obfuscate
And rarify,
Enshrouded with elfish eccentricity to excruciate
And mystify mused minds
As haughty heads and hands
Ring and wring
In bemused bewilderment…

Alas!

You'll find neither hidden clue
Nor sunken treasure
In this tedious tale,
For 'twas penned solely for pleasure
By a poet with too much time on his hands...

I trust you'll understand...

~ P
When the land
Is the land of your ancestors,
You feel it in your soul
And the wind welcomes you home,
Rushing in
From the ocean
Onto the sandy shores of shells,
Clay and igneous rocks
Where leather-backs roam
And natives reigned
Centuries before the big ships came
With cargo black
Then brown.

If you listened with your Waiwai's ear
You would hear the whispering wind
And the subtle warning it brings
Each time it blows.

You would know when to run
For shelter
Under the sacred trees
Connecting earth to heaven.

Or when to bask in the tropical Sun.

When the land
Is the land of your ancestors,
You have a duty divine
To keep the leaves lush and green,
The air fresh and clean,
The soil rich in organic glory
As nature intended,
In the beginning.

Ignore not the wind
My friend
For it bears infinite wisdom
And the keys to preserving
This planet we call home.

The future flutters like a toucan
With broken wings
Unable to soar through the sky
And paint stunning silhouettes
For watchful eyes
To see
And fledgling minds
To cherish
For eternity.

When the land
Is the land of your ancestors...
You must
Listen
To the wind.

AYO...
~ P
Louder beats silence
When the law fails
In a broken system
And the arc of history
Never bends
for some
As if justice
Wasn’t meant to be
Served equally
In a democracy
With more skeletons
Than a military cemetery
In Richmond

And though slavery ended in 1865
Racism is still alive
155 years later
And hate has a place in DC
Where white privileged chickens
Came home to roost in 2016

All lives matter’s the scripted chatter
To evade and obfuscate
The rage and graves
Of future George Floyds
Of every hue
Marching on avenues
Far and Near you
So you build fences of denial
Around your guilt
To preserve
your milk and money
Drained from the masses
Trapped In lower classes
Screaming
“We can’t breathe”

Get your knees
Off our  
***** effin necks
America

South Africa burned
Then learned

You got next.

AYO

~ P
#blacklivesmatter #endracism #racismsucks #silenceisviolence
Did George Floyd’s life matter?
Did Breonna Taylor’s life matter?
Did Ahmaud Arbery’s life matter?
Did Eric Garner’s life matter?
Did Trayvon Martin’s life matter?
Did Mike Brown’s life matter?
Did Tamir Rice’s life matter?
Did Keith Childress’ life matter?
Did Bettie Jones’ life matter?
Did Philando Castille’s life matter?
Did Michael Noel’s life matter?
Did Jamar Clark’s life matter?
Did Michael Lee Marshall’s life matter?
Did Dominic Hutchinson’s life matter?
Did Junior Prosper’s life matter?
Did Keith McLeod’s life matter?
Did India Kager’s life matter?
Did Felix Kumi’s life matter?
Did Samuel Dubose’s life matter?
Did Darrius Stewart’s life matter?
Did Sandra Bland’s life matter?
Did George Mann’s life matter?
Did Jonathan Sander’s life matter?
Did Victor Laros’s life matter?
Did Spencer McCain’s life matter?
Did Jermaine Benjamin’s life matter?
Did Kris Jackson life matter?
Did Kevin Higgenbotham’s life matter?
Did Amadou Diallo’s life matter?
Did Oscar Grant’s life matter?
Did Calvon Reid’s life matter?
Did William Chapman’s life matter?
Did Walter Scott’s life matter?

All black / All unarmed / All murdered by US Police

Did Dylan Roof’s life matter?
Did Peter Manfredonia’s life matter?
Did Anthony Trifiletti’s life matter?
Did Patrick Crusius’ life matter?
Did James Holmes’ life matter?

All white / All murderers / All arrested peacefully by US Police

Unarmed blacks
Killed by US Police
5x unarmed whites

Black men and boys
Killed by US Police
2.5x white men and boys

This is why we kneel
This is why we march
This is why we protest
This is why we are mad as hell
This is why we are fed-up as well

This is why we riot

Riot is the language of voices unheard

When you respond
“All Lives Matter”
To our “Black Lives Matter”
You’re not listening
You didn’t hear
You don’t care
GTFOH

~ P
he loved to run
as he did
that day in february
and many days before

you saw him run
you sure did
then and then

you are the mighty sun
your daylight eyes
see everything
everyone who loves to run
with the wind
between those green poplar trees
guarding the trail
he ran that fateful day
and many days before

they saw him too
they knew the history
of the deep south
they have deep scars
buried like evidence
beneath the hollow bark
of justice

they could’ve
intervened
thrown a few branches

you could’ve
brought your solar heat
to bear
and saved his life

he
was
just
jogging

but you were both busy
doing what you do

minding your fu*king business

unlike those two
negrophobic
gun-totin
neanderthals
from jim crow georgia

they stalked
and lynched
my 25-year old son
who loved to run

and now he’s gone
like that southern breeze  
in ella’s song

****** from my world
forever

~ P
#irunwithahmaud
for Ahmaud’s parents and loved ones
these are my thoughts
from the future
shared today
in the flesh
as fresh fodder from
my writer’s mind
unblemished
by blurred lines
of reflection

uncensured
by time and fate

filter the tidal wave
my friend
with a patient hand

for it leaves
a trail of treasures
as it recedes
into the great beyond

ayo

~ P
between my truth and your discomfort
lies the veiled compromise
i make
every time we meet
even from a distance
in open spaces
on shared streets

sometimes i wonder
if you see
this mask i wear
over tension or fear
every time we meet

if you sense
centuries of rage
seething in my smile
and laughter
every time we meet

if you know
we live in two worlds
you in yours
me in yours and mine
divided by this mask i wear
every time we meet

if you care
if you ever did
if you ever will

ayo.

~ P
for Ahmaud. RIP
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