Home was
the sound of the djembe
As the beat of the cowbells
Joins the grooving melody
Filling the world
Black girl braids
Flying
And jiving
Feet bouncing and flouncing
Create a music of their own

Home was
the timbre of the chop saw
As the purr of the transformers
Joined by the flare of the drill
Screamo blares
Loving
And teasing
Voices filling up the room
The family dinner song

Home was
The Bumble bee tuna
As sung by tone deaf voices
And endless refrains
Fill in the void
That was never open
A harmony
And chorus
Of Wandering pitches

Home was
The aroma of a chai latte
As fresh air hit our faces
Joining the snickerdoodle scent
a lunchtime escapade
music blaring
heat blasting
laughs trilling


(Stanza Break)
Home was
The feeling of love
As you walk into your family
Join those you
love
those you
cherish
and feel
safe

There is this expectation
that when a black women feels
injusticed
she should do something radical
sit on the wrong part of the bus
hide justice in her basement
write a song
author a war inducing book

The truth is though
when a black woman
when any woman
feels the world against her
she wants to cry
she wants to scream
she wants to act impulsive

It is unfair to ask me to stay calm
as my gender is belittled
to sit still
as our mental states are questioned
to not want to scratch out some eyes
or start our own ****** war
when our skin color starts to offend

I want to cry
I want to scream
I want to start my own personal war
you don't know me
you don't know who I am
you don't know my pain
so don't you dare tell me how to manage it

These pop song nowadays
They talk about wanting to *******
To twerk with you
Wanting to take you home
And do violent thing with you

But that's not what I want

What I want is to have you next to me
To know I can rely on you
I want to know that I can call you
At god awful hours at night
Just to talk
(And you'll only be minimally upset)
I want to snuggle to you
While rent plays on the tv
I want to rest my head on your shoulder
When it's too heavy for me to carry

But above all
More than anything

I want
to hold your hand

You don't know me
You know my name
You say oh to me once a day
You know I live down the hall
You know I get cold easily
I told you myself
You know I love tea
You always see me with a teacup
You know I love music
You hear the wide variety I listen to
You know I love loud music
You can hear it from my room
But you don't know me
You don't really know me


I don't know you
I know your name
First and last
I know you love that red sweatshirt
You were it almost every day
I know you like cider
I see you pass by making it
I know you smoke late at night
I pass you on my midnight walks
I know your best friends
I hear them pounding on you door
I know you get cold
You told me yourself
But I don't know you
I don't really know you
But I would like to

I get angry at you
for no good reason
I push you away
when all you want to do is help
I hate you for loving me
and for wanting to be there
I hate that you care
when I just can't
I hate that you give me space
when I ask you for it
I hat that you check on me
when you feel I am a danger to myself
I hate how jealous I am of you
at all you have
all that you are
all that I will never be
and for all that you do for me
and that I will never be able to pay them back

My dream
Not only capture who I am
And what I love
But who made me

I dream of Langston Hughes
And the rivers and dreams
That have helped so many
And progressed a generation

I dream of Neruda
And his ode
That say so many artful things
Of love
That I wish I could create

I dream of the Old Bard
And his oh so any plays
That confuse and awaken something in me
And the words, words, words

I dream of Robert Frost
And the miles he had to go
That I have also had to travel
And hope to not end up in any of those
Desert places

The curtains are closing
And it’s time to take
our final bow

A six year show
A six year partnership
A six year commitment
Finished in seconds

All we gave
to this old theatre
to these old arts
and this is it

We’ve given our love
We’ve given our blood
We’ve given our sweat
We’ve given our tears
We’ve given ourselves
We've given everything

And this is it
The curtains are closing
and this is it
it’s over
it’s our final show
our final bow