Dat Rock of his dreams,
Peakin through distant clouds
Of struggle and doubt;
Calloused feet shoutin
From soles worn-out
At the bottom;
Climbin crowded stairs
To deaf ears
At the top.

Stories screamin to be told
Like sirens on the crime-side.
Memories of old resurrected
In mindsight.
Fingers typin rhymes through dark nights.
Moon shinin bright
On doors closed,
Never seen.
Ground floors  reekin stardust,
Clever memes.
Here only giants dare,
Starin at the ground
Through mirrors too small
To capture them all.

Gonna need a visionary,
A see-faring guide
To blast a path
Up these charts.

Gonna need a missionary
A God-fearin ride-or-die
To take the leap of faith;
To chase a dream
Through distant clouds
Of struggle and doubt;
To find a spot on Dat Rock

Where destiny awaits...

Capture the ride.
Watch him glide,
Free-stylin
From Chi-Town
To Platinums.

Don't blink.

You've got to see this.

AYO
~ P

I spend my days
Quietly polishing the routine
Of retirement
Until it gleams
To digital perfection

A virtual virtuoso
With more cause
Than ability
Chasing virality
Over the Moon

I won't have a star
Tattooed on the sidewalk in LA
Like Prince and Eddie
Or an Emmy
Hanging on the wall
Next to my two prized degrees

But the pure joy
Of foraging the universe
Of words;
The euphoria of finding
the only noun that matters
Among an infinite many

Is the savage thrill
That keeps me typing
And clicking
And sharing
And chasing
The elusive star
Of my Wilde thespian dreams

AYO

~P

They -
The Wolves of Wall Street
Wanted me to shine
Their shoes;
Wingtips, loafers and pumps
Dumped in a clear plastic bag
During lunch-break

Me,
The temp from Ghana;
Me,
The HBCU fast-tracker
With a college visa
And a massive crush
On Vanessa;

Before the scandal

Me,
The coffee-hued
Marketing Mgmt major
Schlepping
In the mail-room
At Sachs;

Goldman Sachs

Where future CFO's,
Hedge-fund Gurus
And Climate-Change Deniers
Are spawned

Where Guardians of the status quo
And the chasm
Between coffee and cream
Gather, stir and scheme;

The Clansman's dream
Of a perfect latte

Just grow them beans,
Jimbo

Just be the black sheep
Of your destiny,
Jimbo

And shine these fother muckin shoes...

AYO

~P

.......
Jamesgpaulsr.com (bio/portfolio)
Facebook.com/poetrybyPablo (poetry/digital art)

I Need
Someone who will be there
Forever;
Who's  more than a million followers
Or 10 million views

I need
To be more than
Some Fat Jew
Stuck at 21
When I'm sixty-two

Or Brittany
Chasing Paris
And Kim
Up Hilton Avenue

I need

To be someone more
Than this animal
On top of the food chain
Cloning content and hashtags
In my virtual house of wax
Built on impulse and tweets

Someone more
Than a rich troll
Shooting selfies with strangers
On Meme Streets

I need

Someone
Who will be there
When I fall off this virtual high
And crash

Tik
Through time

Tok
Through fame

Down
That food chain

To the banal roots
Of my existence

To catch and hold me
Forever

When I'm
Sixty-two

AYO

~P

The Sun burns deep
In their wounds,
Then and now...

Miles past Emancipation
And Independence,
That contemptuous stench
Lingers on these mean streets
Where bare feet once brushed rocks
Burnt, crushed and red

And though our heels
Are covered
In leather and style

And we quote Hamlet
And Chaucer
And Wilde
Heads swollen with pride,
Brain-washed in dogma,
Tribal tongues tied
To the very stigma
That shackled our ancestors...

We become
what we once despised
When we hurl pejoratives
Like spears
With wanton refrain
Into the wounds of our
Brothers and sisters

Who share this space
And that history
We seem to have forgotten
On these mean streets
Where bare feet once brushed rocks
Burnt, crushed and red...

AYO

~ P

Let there be light.
A new ultra-virulent wave
Of clarity
To wash old myths
And memes
And compulsions away,

Like yesterday...

The meta-magician;
The cyberspace medicine-man
Coding seeds for all
that ails the world
Sat inside your head
Far too long;
Inverse-engineering your sense
Of right from wrong;
Want from need...

Greed is good!

Capitalist pawn you;
Click....Buy Now!

Capitalist pawn me;
Click ....Buy Now!

Greed is good!

Heed the Ad Man's call to action.
Fund the anchor's pension.
And the preacher's mansion.
And the politician's next campaign
Of empty promises.

Capitalist pawn you;
Spend! Spend! Spend!

Capitalist pawn me;
Spend! Spend! Spend!

ENOUGH!!!

Grab the rainbow.
Bend it towards clarity
And equity
And common sense...

Let there be light!

AYO

~P

...when her prized Zulu mask fell
Off the wall
Where it glared four decades
In stoic silence
From the house-warming
To the day before
Summer went home
For her long-anticipated reunion
With the man who stole her heart
Near Prospect Park
Back in '91....

It was an augury
The frigid winds of grief
Would cease
In the morrow.

And Summer's sorrow
Would cede
To Fall's eternal joy.

AYO

~P