Have you ever met someone
Made up of everyone
Everything she's ever encountered
So consumed with that make up
She doesn't know her true self
She can search far and deep
But the memories seem to be in a keep
Close enough to see but too far to reach
Else, they never existed beneath
Peel back her layers of skin
You'll find nothing within
For everything lives in her head
The dread,
The dreams,
The seams
That burst
She must be cursed
She won't give in
That is all I know.

Pause,
Along the lines of,
Universal time.
Suppress the hands of the minute and hour
Entrap my thoughts in a cage
PAUSE
Make sure to double lock them
And throw them away.
Don't forget to burn the key,
I really need a second to breathe
PAUSE
Perhaps, *a couple seconds more
Understanding me, the forever misunderstood
Stamped on my forehead,
Engraved on my skin.
PAUSE
Can you read me now?
Now that I'm,
drowning in seconds,
engulfed in minutes,
gone for hours.
Yet, time never paused*....

I could tell you of a person she was,
Or how she made me smile,
I could tell you anything there is to be told,
But that may take a while,

But I'll tell you she was sweet,
And that she was one of a kind,
I'll tell you what she was to me,
And how she filled my mind,

I could tell you how much she'd sing,
Whenever happiness burnt her heart,
I could tell everything,
And know not when to stop,

But in her world there was another,
A world I could never understand,
May be I could have tried better,
But I could hold a grip of it by hand,

I will tell you she was a friend,
One I'll forever mourn her loss,
I'll tell you of her end,
And me before her was her choice,

She was a mother,
That's about all there is to say,
And I'll forever love her,
Just wish she'd spent one more day,

Having these thoughts
Of why?
Why do I have to publicize myself as ****?
So a boy can sweep me off my feet?
So I can have thousands of followers,
Who tell me all the time I look beautiful
With all these
false lashes, fake weaves, cake on my face
Why is this beautiful to you?
And why am I shamed if I don't do it?
I'm sorry if I'm "old school",
But I'll happily prance around in your long t-shirts.
Make up free,
Wind kissing my scalp as my natural hair blows free,
Sun radiating off my skin,
Melanin issued by the Gods.
Thank the Gods I'm just me.
Carefree, eventually.
Until then I'm part one versus part two.

the house next door makes me
sad.
both man and wife rise early and
go to work.
they arrive home in early evening.
they have a young boy and a girl.
by 9 p.m. all the lights in the house
are out.
the next morning both man and
wife rise early again and go to
work.
they return in early evening.
By 9 p.m. all the lights are
out.

the house next door makes me
sad.
the people are nice people, I
like them.

but I feel them drowning.
and I can't save them.

they are surviving.
they are not
homeless.

but the price is
terrible.

sometimes during the day
I will look at the house
and the house will look at
me
and the house will
weep, yes, it does, I
feel it.