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Feb 2017 · 1.1k
t-shirts and truth
Tanisha Jackland Feb 2017
I don't ask for much
a kiss now and then
To be spoken to
with reverence and kindness

My throat is somehow
not speaking its truth
these days
just a succumbing to every
whim but mine

and nothing to show for it
but this lousy t-shirt
that says "life is good"
It can't be that easy
where are the t-shirts
that proclaim the truth

*"Life is good as long as you
don't have a clue about anything.
Life is a conglomerate of
contradictions at which we all should
strive to embody the center of nonduality
for true inner peace."
Feb 2017 · 396
Deeper than Dirt
Tanisha Jackland Feb 2017
Just imagine
a world without us

There'd be no
dance like our dance
urgent and rhythmic
the kind that rages
in your blood
No we can't do
nothing about that

But the talent of us
be boundless
be most avenues
in every fashion

We are bared down to a
bitter naked song
and still dazzling
more brilliant than any light

We fought and we won
and there ain't nothing
like a ravenous being with
an aged-old soul
Black people
Feb 2017 · 522
What's Yours
Tanisha Jackland Feb 2017
Sleep is the last thing
you want to do
You could miss the apocalypse
Miss Florida on fire

You've wasted so much time
trying to belong
to fit in that tiny
pegged square hole

But you are the circumference
Conforming your
way to happiness
indulging in mediocrity

Time is now
for something authentic
something more burning
than the flesh of hades

Seize god by holding her
in silence and hearing
her deep
Feb 2017 · 469
Can't Catch Me
Tanisha Jackland Feb 2017
They said my love
would unravel you
then like cat's nip
would make you
chase me forever
Feb 2017 · 534
Here Come The Judge
Tanisha Jackland Feb 2017
The earthly judge
say you not guilty
of this your white deceit
but woe onto you
when the real judge come

She come down heavy like
a freight train full
of thunder rolling up
her righteous sleeves...
Burning down black churches, gunning down black people at bible study, killing unarmed black folks and getting away with it. Here on Earth, anyway. Take heed.
Jan 2017 · 459
Once You Realize
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
When You Realize
it does no good
to be good
here on the grand stage
of human felicity
trying to do what's right
despite that inner
inferno burning
hot like coals

When you realize
it does no good
to do good
Here it just gathers dust
and is lost amongst us
to a mad mad
fallacious world

Once you realize
the good won't amount
to much
except for the soul
you could stain that
and spend an eternity
washing out the mold

So its best to come clean
and be good for the
sake of it
for you never know
what's within the unseen
Jan 2017 · 270
Say Something Deep
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
Think of how modest I am
Then multiply it by my halo.
I wilt in the presence of me.

David and Goliath
all rolled up into a girl
with big ***** and a head
to match.

I am neither here nor there
but right now I am at
the center of your universe.

And you cannot deny
the humility
I have under this flesh
sizzling red hot as Jezebel.

My bite is sharp unlike the heart
That runs underneath.
I could cut you like a nun
Or pray for you like a ninja.

I am a straight line into
an ingenious plot.
And if you try to save me
I will chop you down.
Jan 2017 · 627
Reflections
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
Some times I see
images in the river
of complicated days
like snapshots from God

Could I be Her
unwilling messenger
with a bolt of
mercurial madness
shot thru my veins

Or is it just the lie
from a bitter little pill...
Jan 2017 · 320
Back into the Bottle
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
You are captive to it.

This numbing redeemer.

Who ever said

putting the genie

back into the bottle

was an impossible task.

It only takes a pill

these days

but it don't last.

And if you're not

all together careful

cradling its contents

so precious like breath

You could end up

smothering your genie

and leaving him for dead.
Mental illness is a real thing that needs real solutions. Pills help get patients stable again but they should not be used to over-medicate into a zombie-like state.  Instead, we need to see mental illness as a spiritual awakening for the people who experience this and work with them on an organic and soulful level integrating the mind, body and spirit.
Jan 2017 · 454
What's It All For?
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
We have seen
those who have stolen
and like cycles do
pass down their lowly ways

Is there a price
for every gesture?

A karmic bank
of rain checks
for the next debter

Men trying to buy
their way into the
eye of the needle
But we see you

While we make
a pittance
for our graces

But we'll continue to knead
the love in our
bread

And bleed
compassion for
the masses that need it

Don't give in to what
hate brought in

Don't let them breed
you into a vicious sin

know that we are not
tainted from within

We are born
from the Sun
Now let's be one
Jan 2017 · 3.1k
Mansion by A.R. Ammons
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
Mansion
by A.R. Ammons

So it came time
for me to cede myself
and I chose
the wind
to be delivered to

The wind was glad
and said it needed all
the body
it could get
to show its motions with

and wanted to know
willingly as I hoped it would
if it could do
something in return
to show its gratitude

When the tree of my bones
rises from the skin I said
come and whirlwinding
stroll my dust
around the plain

so I can see
how the ocotillo does
and how saguaro-wren is
and when you fall
with evening

fall with me here
where we can watch
the closing up of day
and think how morning breaks
Listen to me here:
https://soundcloud.com/ladyofire/mansion-remix-read-by-lady-of-fire
Jan 2017 · 344
Let Them Rhythm
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
There is music
in your hips, woman
be careful
those feet
breed men
to take a peek
and she be
yours unduly

some day they
will hear you
with eager ears

the movement of
your curves
makes them tickle

and they be
spellbound
by the notes
you bring
to the rhythm of what
God has made
Jan 2017 · 270
Song for the Dead
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
You are glory
dressed in
profane skin
One day
you will
know that beauty
hides in shallow places
like the lie that is your face

But in time we beget
to mull over this
The shallow land
how it displaces us
and makes us
lame

There is no palate left
for the muted
with their whimsy hearts
and lofty wings...
Those unseen things
That dream in flesh
and stalk your breath
for bated air
Jan 2017 · 413
Merman
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
I am lost
in the tide
of you.
The ebb and flow
of you,
will be
the death
of me, yet.
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
“You wander from room to room
Hunting for the diamond necklace
That is already around your neck!”* -Rumi

You didn't ask to
be the center of
the Universe
and yet you are here
a radar at the center
of the cosmos
revealing itself over
and over again.

You think you are sane
but you dream in songs
the colors come dancing from
a myriad of crazy

You think you are no one
yet you have the
voice of antquity like
a thousand sybils
bearing prophecy

You are not the drop of tear
from sullen eyes that
has forgotten

You are celestial and
raging with divinity

May you remember
that you are holy
and immaculate

Come, and take your place
Jan 2017 · 1.0k
I Exist Unseen
Tanisha Jackland Jan 2017
You have not defined me
I do not dwell within the obvious
where you disregard the
potential of these transparent wings
i exist in wandering dimensions
that spiral unseen like
time in dark matter
dark does matter and i wear
this body like it was exposed
but born free
https://soundcloud.com/ladyofire/i-exist-unseen
Dec 2016 · 208
For You Only
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2016
Once you know
there is no opting out
like a quaint thing
yet there are spaces for
the timid too, but not this space
This space is exclusive
For you only

And for the ones
ready for the baton
who will
run wanton with all
of the bones and audacity
they could wildly gather

Once you know the soul
of your being
there is no opting out
just the sheer breadth of
possibility
to let the shower of truth
grace over you with its atoms

Once you find your own
here and now
you will forever
know and be known
by more than
a billion
molecules of
dust and matter...

And all of this is for you
and you only
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2016
D o y o u b e l i e v e i n t h e u n s e e n  ?

I t w i l l c o s t y o u

T h a t t h i n g y o u s o w i l d l y p r o t e c t

L i k e i t s y o u r f u t u r e

L i k e i t ' s y o u r e n d

I t ' s t h e s o u l t h a t y o u

l e f t b e h i n d

t o b e c o m e s o m e t h i n g

y o u a r e n o t
Dec 2016 · 314
The Real Ones
Tanisha Jackland Dec 2016
Times are hard
as we bring ourselves
to the table

we get eaten
by the
the denials
the fakes

But it is not their job
to hand you on their platter
to desire you with open mouths
for them to acknowledge
you like they want a good whiff

The real ones know
where your heart is
they tell you who you are
without telling the others
The real ones discern each other
like
one
searching
for
their
own
true
self
Nov 2016 · 220
No More
Tanisha Jackland Nov 2016
Our species is dying
We are becoming extinct
with every breath of contempt
You are hating us into oblivion

And I think it *****.
Nov 2016 · 175
Untitled
Tanisha Jackland Nov 2016
I f I c o u l d h a n d y o u t h e m o o n w o u l d y o u s t i l l j u d g e m e b y t h e c o l o r o f m y s k i n ?
Nov 2016 · 344
Deplore
Tanisha Jackland Nov 2016
Is such a strong word
but I'm left with perplexed, really.
Seems like it's more like puzzling.
No. More like an animosity.
That's it. It's stewing animosity.
Um. It's definitely a loathing.
I don't understand these feelings.
Like you I don't understand
the contempt. Only that you placed
it there. Made a monster soldier.
Created this hunk of burning disdain
for you and your entire crew of
miscreant trolls.
Oct 2016 · 737
Death Consciousness
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
Ghosts of mortal consciousness
plague those of us
who presume dying is for the dead
While the lack of depth
dominant in breath
ensures the weary bones
of our deception
Oct 2016 · 523
Mrs. Obvious
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
You scream like a banshee, woman
and you would be one
You think white as bright as the sun
You are killing us
This drought
The impeccable thirst
with your burning word
tone it down, mama
be like the moon
and reflect on it
Be cool and have the courage
to whisper it in our ears
be fluent in the sheer joy
of silence
Let us figure it out
for ourselves
Oct 2016 · 582
Feed Me
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
Don't say a word

Just fill me with the void

Feed me your untamed madness

Your unstable ways

For I am the center

I am the middle of the storm

And we meet like two black holes

colliding into one another

Eating each other up
Oct 2016 · 392
I Wear My Skin
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
I wear my skin as a test,
that god is my witness to
how you treat me.

I wear it like a cross.
my crucifixion though
I could save the world.

I am the secret
of the night come
risen from its womb.

Ordained by the Sun,
My skin is a test and
I am warm inside like you.
Oct 2016 · 258
You, too?
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
She is tired

Hearing footsteps

The knocks at her door

But he has eaten her again

Devoured her from the inside out

The skein of muscle the drool of blood

Left pieces of her between his teeth

And now he is going for the jugular

She has been done a million times before

To forsake her would have been easier

To lead her to her own betrayal

Into this scandal would have been good enough
Oct 2016 · 413
What the Dead Know
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
You follow me
faded dream after
faded dream

Your face was
not your own
perhaps you keep your
secrets away from me

Perhaps you want some
part of me
the freedom of being alive
hand in hand
lips to lips

Like lovers do
how they feign
the loyalty of dogs

they betray each other
they always do

But in the after life
there is no pretending
just the abyss, god and
the cold living nothing
Oct 2016 · 369
I am
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
I've bled
not because
I am a
broken sinner

I've bled
because I
am woman
harbinger of
new moons
and unspoken
mysteries

I've bled
life into the impermanent
landscape of the mind
like gravity
holding you down
in spite of the spinning

I am the fierce
darkness
traversing the
universe
barefoot

In this
black moment
I am forever
I carry
this womb
with the honor of
mothers before me

Now I am woman as a crone
ushering in the new world
of infinite love and magic
Oct 2016 · 272
Rain Song
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
Days like these
I am the fool
who remembers you

Like a phantom wind
you come from nowhere
to haunt me

This futile struggle
I get caught in

This mess of me
gets stuck

I am nothing
but the rain singing its
sad and heavy song
Oct 2016 · 2.0k
Rose Quartz
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
I wrote you a love letter

It was all dolled up

Pretty words to
make you fall in love

Some parts dangled
With the charm of
golden bling

Then another part
you could smell
the lather of my skin

But I didn't stop there

I conjured up cupid

Then wrote your name
in blood and burnt it

Placed the ashes in a honey jar
with lavender and rose

Whispered your name 69 times
under a blue red moon

Now
I watch you in my crystal ball
and wait for you to come to me
https://soundcloud.com/ladyofire/rose-quartz
Oct 2016 · 290
The Undoing
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
You fell at my feet
before I picked you

Done and ripe already
as sweet as pretty
painted lips

You swore to have
me upon you
My undoing

The feast of me
come salivating
down your chin
Oct 2016 · 281
Just Ask
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
The collision of two
gravity and star
bend in her presence

Open sesame
and peer beyond
the void seeming nothingness

Woman behind
the curtain, after all
She laughs a Goliath
belly laugh
and wonders what took
you so long
Oct 2016 · 258
Little Death
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
I left this flesh
for the bounty of
the gold soul

Paper womb
bends like reeds
the pressure kneads
me into this fetal thing

I have gorged myself
into a block of
mucous and spit

I stew
in immortality soup
open my everlasting eyes
and rise out of
the black of nothing
with wings of fire
glorious
in transparent skin
Oct 2016 · 252
Shhhh...
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
You cannot disturb
what is already
making quite a raucous

In between the
gun shots and chatter
is this inaudible void
that feeds itself
when no one is looking

To hear it is like
hearing God
A frequency at which
we are frantically
trying to get away from

To be entertained
and extracted
from the sacredness of
what is subtle

We are a bad
loud bunch
just learning how
to be silent
learning how to
be God.
Oct 2016 · 284
One
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
One
My mind drifts
away from me
like a song
I cannot catch
and I am open to the
blessing of your kisses
on my feet
Sacred lover
come dance with me
on silk
enter me until
we are one
Oct 2016 · 547
Girl In The Mirror
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
Your truth is
what makes
beauty

It navigates your heart

Hear your pretty beating
past the mirror
where
No one can see you
or have dominion over you

Close your eyes, girl
to meet the unseen
the true beauty
of your heart
Oct 2016 · 253
Softly
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
I will feed you warm
bowls of soft words
until your soul bones
have been nourished
so that you may walk
on moonbeams
and talk with God.

Then I will tuck you
into the sunset
so that you may rise again
with the sky
https://soundcloud.com/bitzone/softly-1?in=ladyofire/sets/bitzone-and-lof-collabs
Oct 2016 · 401
Black Moon
Tanisha Jackland Oct 2016
The black moon has risen
and it's in the parting
that keep the dead away

Say you won't hang
them from the bough of
your lips

The dead
seeking you
with your light
bearing body

Soon you will join the
leagues of ghosts
and we will put your
worries to slaughter
upon the black risen moon
Sep 2016 · 279
What Does It Spell?
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
Give me a B

I like to think in alphabet

Give me an R

I am not my chatter

Give me an A

Just waiting for something lucid

Give me a V

To come bubbling out from nothing

Give me an O

Like I am this reluctant superhero
Sep 2016 · 450
Hoard The Fire
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
Men drove the sun away
then they blamed it
on the moon

We have become
endangered

Will they take our fire
if we sit here exiled
consuming each other

Let's not brine our wounds
like we have nothing left
Hoard the fire...
Sep 2016 · 355
He Will Never
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
He   will never know me
Just  his arrogance
His   conceited brow
His   norm fitting hubris
He    lacks the color
of     blood
The  fathoms of gold
The   luster of soul
If     there are no feels
So     do you too
Sep 2016 · 280
Dead Lullaby
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
Here I am again
trying to keep from sinking
but I am the dead weight
recollection of heavy bones

I try to pull it
out of me the black rays
feeding inside me
caged and reeling

a wounded raven
I dream of somewhere
beyond my reach
then I let the core flutter
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp0S850fx-E
Sep 2016 · 254
Oh The Possibilities
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
One day I'll make
this huge breakthrough

then

You will know me by
the big head I'd carry
until I'm tired
of holding all
that sack of
proud nothingness on
my nimble funny
looking shoulders

A girl pretending
grandiose possibilities
who just grows
into this lame thing
Sep 2016 · 422
Your Heinous
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
You were wrong again
Daunted look in your eyes
Thunder seeking heat
studded beat of your heart

How many times the delusion?
Oh, Queen of the Universe
with your forgotten stars
left somewhere
on the train

They never knew
you loved like Venus and
lived for an eternity

Now here you are
playing mortal in Utah
rolling your eyes to the
mayo on white bread
and to a man
called Jesus...
Sep 2016 · 250
Song
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
It lasted forever

the moment when
you felt his
whisper  
the innuendo of
long ago moons

His eyes
seeking
to taste
you where the
dark lingers

He inhaled every
scented note of you
kept you open and
fingered you
like a song
Sep 2016 · 346
Come and Go
Tanisha Jackland Sep 2016
Gone
the sky is broken
I feel the years
of empty moments
in my blood

Stay
you are open
and I want to kiss
the rain when it hits
on your cheeks

Touch me

I am subdued
in your presence
eager to fulfill the
selfish prophecy of
licking you
then
serving you with
*perfect lips
Jul 2016 · 229
It Could Happen
Tanisha Jackland Jul 2016
feelings look like bones
hard and white skeletons
of your movement into boredom
onto the threshold of happiness
Then again
if you look hard
enough at a brick wall
it becomes a window
into another dimension...
Jul 2016 · 496
The Dance Away Girl
Tanisha Jackland Jul 2016
Problems never existed
around the dance away girl
She does the twirl
inside a swirl
a random thought or two
and never remembers the blues

She is the dance away girl
doing it in twirls
giving away her swirls
drifting off into space
with her rhythm
protecting her from the
downward spiral
of an unconscious life...
Jul 2016 · 343
Double-Edged Sword
Tanisha Jackland Jul 2016
"Dark skin is not a crime." -Anonymous*

I wear my skin as a test,
I wear it like a cross.
my crucifixion though
I could save the world.

I am the secret
of the night come
risen from its womb.

Ordained by the Sun,
My skin is a test and
I am warm inside like you.
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