Not just a memory
But a stored moment in time that you savor

Not just a sound
But a wave of harmonious lyrics that tickles your eardrum

Not just a taste
But the flavor of many seasonings that bounces across your taste buds like thousands of pinballs

Not just a sight
But visual ecstasy that dilates the pupils and allows light to send blinding rays of optical bliss

Not just a feeling
But the pulsation of electrodes across the skin as it makes the thousands of hair follicles stand at attention

Take a moment to reflect and see that every day we are blessed with the gift of life...it's NOT JUST life, but it's the opportunity to hear new things, see new sights, taste new flavors, feel new feelings, and make brand new memories.

It’s that split second decision that will haunt you for the rest of your days.
Was it justified? Was it based on some racist ways?
Will we ever truly know?
What goes into that split second decision?
Does the color of the person’s skin determine if they will ever get up again?
What goes into that split second decision?
When you are staring down the barrel of that gun, who do you see?
What do you say to yourself?
Does it matter if it’s a woman or a man?
Does it matter that some child will never see their parent again?
Does it matter that they have their whole life in front of them?
Would it matter if it were you and not them?
What goes into that split second decision?
How do you know when it is right to pull the trigger?
Does it matter if it was a policeman or a black male living that **** life?
What goes into that split second decision whenever you decide to take a life?  
How do you truly decide who goes home and who dies tonight?
Let’s reflect on the police brutality, the black on black crime, the deaths from domestic violence, and realize that the split second decision doesn’t really care who makes it…
It’s the life at the end of the gun that matters when the split second decision takes it!

Utopia

I would love to tell you it's a place that I would want to go
Unlike the world we live in today, I imagine it would be amazing in every way.

I see it...

Utopia!
Utopia!
Utopia!

Who wouldn't want to go to a place where there isn't any

Hurt
Pain
Rain

Where the sun shines ...all day
Where you can be who you are without

Judgement
Hate
Prejudice

It would not matter my color
It wouldn't matter if we were in love with one another
It's time for the nonsense to stop

Racism
Classism
Bigotry

In Utopia, we could live together in harmony.
In Utopia, we could live forever.

Free
No worries

Maybe...just maybe
...only if Utopia were real and not just a made up fantasy

You gave me a dozen roses
Thinking it would ease my pain
But instead it only reminded me of what I bear in shame.

I accepted these flowers and again you do the same.
The repetitious behavior that only a boy can bring.

Never learning from the mistakes and forever making more
Not a man, but still a boy that fails to understand the value of love.

These red, red roses...so beautiful and fragrant.
The intent behind which they were given already withering away.

I dare not place these roses in a vase, but instead return them today from whence they came
For, today I make this promise...you will never have to give me roses again.

Have you ever been on a seesaw?
It's kind of like life...you know?
It goes up and down
Depending on the weight on the other end you may be at your highest point...living and loving life.  
Screaming out in elation...oh, what joy you have.  High...in the sky...on the high end of that seesaw.

Then it happens....that heavy burden that weighs you down.
Bringing you down, down, down….down
Sometimes so close to the bottom that you are forced to get on your knees for support.

Causing you to lift your head and arms up to the sky and yell, “God help me.  Please release this weight that is bearing down on my soul.”

Then, after what may have seemed like an eternity,  the other person at the end of the seesaw jumps off...thrusting you up and forward.

Reminding you that the weight that bears you down is only temporary....like the motions of a seesaw.

I watched marriage as she gasped for air.
It was a pain that I could no longer bear.
Marriage had been so good to me.
To see her taking her last breath was slowly killing me.
I tried to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation
But my memories of what she had become made me fill will anger and devastation.
She tried to hold on and so did I
But there comes a time when you must let her die
I hated to see marriage go
Her heart beat began to go slow
Her chest no longer rose as she breathed her last breath
It was sad to see marriage go through this last test
But even in death new seeds can be sewn
New hope can be grown
But the true pain from the loss will never be known....
Until you watch the Death of a Marriage.

©Nikki the Pen

My Black Matters ©NikkiR

Politicians sit back while their pockets get fatter
Watching young people **** each other
As the violence we hear gets louder

My black matters
You say I speak incorrectly because my chatter "ain't" like your chatter
My dialect isn't what you expect, but these degrees I represent
Are displayed so you won't forget that my dialect had no influence and no matter what you say, the world can't undo it!

My black matters
I wear my hair natural
But if my natural is offensive to you
Be offended because my natural is oh so beautiful

My black matters
I will continue to climb higher
You will not hinder my elevation
Because my black will rise above all deprivation!