I was a fiend ... before I became a teen
I melted microphone instead of cones of ice cream
Music-orientated so when hip-hop was originated
Fitted like pieces of puzzles, complicated
Cause I grabbed the mic and try to say, "yes, y'all"
They tried to take it, and say that I'm too small
Cool, cause I don't get upset
I kick a hole in the speaker, pull the plug, then I jet
Back to the lab, without a mic to grab
So then I add all the rhymes I had
One after the other one, then I make another one
To diss the opposite then ask if the brother's done
I get a craving like I fiend for nicotine
But I don't need a cigarette, know what I mean?
I'm raging, ripping up the stage and
Don't it sound amazing cause every rhyme is made and
Thought of, cause it's sort of, an addiction
Magnetized by the mixing
Vocals, vocabulary, your verses, you're stuck in
The mic is a Drano, volcanoes erupting
Rhymes overflowing, gradually growing
Everything is written in a code, so it can coincide
My thought's a guide
48 tracks to slide
The invincible, microphone fiend Rakim
Spread the word, cause I'm in
E-F-F-E-C-T
A smooth operator operating correctly
But back to the problem, I gotta habit
You can't solve it, silly rabbit
The prescription is a hypertone that's thorough when
I fiend for a microphone like ******
Soon as the bass kicks, I need a fix
Gimme a stage and a mic and a mix
And I'll put you in a mood or is it a state of
Unawareness? Beware, it's the re-animator
A menace to a microphone, a lethal weapon
An assassinator, if the people ain't stepping
You see a part of me that you never seen
When I'm fiending for a microphone, I'm the microphone fiend

After 12, I'm worse than a Gremlin
Feed me hip-hop and I start trembling
The thrill of suspense is intense, you're horrified
But this ain't the cinemas or Tales From the Dark Side
By any means necessary, this is what has to be done
Make way cause here I come
My DJ cuts material
Grand imperial
It's a must that I bust any mic you hand to me
It's inherited, it runs in the family
I wrote the rhyme that broke the bull's back
If that don't slow 'em up, I carry a full pack
Now I don't want to have to let off, you should have kept off
You didn't keep the stage warm, step off
Ladies and gentleman, you're about to see
A pastime, hobby about to be
Taken to the maximum, I can't relax see, I'm
Hype as a hypochondriac cause the rap be one
Hell of a antidote, something you can't smoke
More than dope, you're trying to move away but you can't, you're broke
More than cracked up, you should have backed up
For those that act up need to be more than smacked up
Any entertainer, I got a torture chamber
One on one and I'm the remainder
So close your eyes and hold your breath
And I'mma hit ya with the blow of death
Before you go, you'll remember ya seen
The fiend of a microphone, I'm the microphone fiend
The microphone fiend

Longing
For one of the only things I cannot have
Locked away from me
At least I can be
Three months sober
On March 2nd
Just give me a second
To catch my breath
And stop myself

I see the cord and lock
Thinking maybe if I took a rock
And hit it
It could break open
Unlocking the liquor
Then an image likes to flicker
Reminding me what I said
I made a promise
Not to drink
So I think

For a long time, I think
"I won't take that drink."
But then again,
Something in me,
A fiend,
Wants me not to be cleaned
Wants me to be tainted
To be painted
Like a picture
And plastered

So I argue with said fiend,
"I have been cleaned,"
I say to it,
Trying to reason,
"and I made a promise."
Then the fiend, "But miss,"
"what if t'were but a sip?"
This makes me think
Before I have time to counter,
I look in the mirror and encounter
My reflection
And in it I imagine myself
Holding a bottle
I don't want to touch the throttle
That could lead to that road

I am drowning in my own pain
I have little to nothing to gain
So I respond,
"Fiend, you beseech me;"
"think this is the opportune moment,"
"But I shall make this a restated movement."
So I take the fiend
Hold it in my grasp and stare
Down at it, in this nightmare
I ask it,
"Why, why do you care?"
It is silent,
Takes its turn to stare
And to ask me,
"Why, why do you resist,"
"when something to sooth thy pain sits there?"

I drop said fiend
Taken aback by its counter
So I sit on the bathroom counter
Then think with my eyes closed
How one such as it
Could tempt me so
Busying myself with something to sew
But I cannot be distracted for long
Not with something so strong

Whenst I was tempted last
I revisited something from my past
Let it take control
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Five and no more
Then, when I walked out that door
The tides had turned
Casting be into the waters of guilt
Causing my soul to wilt

"Fiend..."
I called
It was not appalled,
"Yes, miss? What ever plagues thee so?"
A smile upon its face
I reply,
"Old habits I thought I had buried - I tell no lie."
Then,
That little fiend replies,
"But, not the one thou yearned for not long ago."
Thoughts tell me to drop it, let it go
"Nay, not a drop has touched these lips."
The fiend laughs!
"But of course not - but blood loves to seep."
So there I weep
Fiend laughing
Winning in its own, sick and twisted ways
Eventually going to let me choose
What more do I have to lose?

- Jay M
February 26th, 2020

“There’s no hope left for us,” I’m told as I splash water in my blood shot eyes.
“If we don’t leave this house we are sure to die!
You may think we are crazy and possibly a little high,
but I assure you we are very wise.”

I’ve been summoned to this strange old house to help out a family in need.
After hearing the panic and concern in their voices over the phone, I immediately agreed,
something evil is living in this house.
Something evil is lurking here and causing a rouse.
I know evil well and it knows me by name.
It’s a fact I’m proud to admit and won’t hide away in shame.

The fiend that haunts this place is waiting to confront me, I can feel its presence.
It thinks it’s going to intimidate me and control me but I’m here to teach it a lesson.
I’m here to provide this poor family with peace and solitude.
I assure the family all will be alright but they don’t appear to be in a believing mood.

The family leads me to a bedroom and stops at the door.
They look at me, their eyes filled with fear, I wonder what I have in store.
They show me a camera with pictures of orbs they tell me is evidence of paranormal activity.
They tell me they refuse to enter this room anymore since the air is always filled with negativity.
I tell them I believe them because I sensed the fiend’s presence when I walked into the house,
and tell them I will have a look around the room myself and will get to the bottom of their problems once and for all.

I enter the bedroom alone.
The door closes behind me, I’m now in the fiend’s home.
Chills and a sense of hopelessness immediately overcome me.
To my right is a closet; I sense something inside urging me to flee.
The fiend haunting this room is in that closet.
I wonder if it’s too late for this family to get back their security deposit
because this fiend has come straight from hell and is pure evil.
It’s going to try to intimidate me but it’s about to find out I’m not so feeble.

I turn my attention to the room and begin to look around.
The room is for the most part empty except for a bed and a poster of…a creepy clown?
Just why is that poster even here?
It’s a very creepy sight to endear.

There is a clock hanging on the wall that tilts on its side the second I look at it.
A mild scare tactic I must admit.
I walk over to the clock and move it back in place
only to have it move back over on its side again.
Once again I move the clock back in place.
I stare at it waiting for it to once again become displaced.
Instead, the hands stop moving and begin to reverse.
No wonder this poor family thinks this room is cursed.

With time now moving backwards on the clock, the bedroom windows behind me fly open loudly.
I turn around and notice the clown on the poster smiling at me all proudly.
I flip off the clown and ask the fiend if this is the best he has got.
He believes he can scare me, but in fact he cannot.
I’ve been battling this fiend for over a decade so I’m use to his games by now.
Intimidation tactics is something I just don’t allow.
Time to show yourself fiend and bring the games to an end.
Come face me like a man, after all I am your long time best friend.
This family is innocent and has nothing to offer you that you don’t already get from me,
so give me your worst and let’s get back to how things are meant to be.
Fight after fight, battle after battle, war after war until I reach my final day,
then you can watch as my cremated ashes are caste away out in the bay.

The closet door creeks open as my friend is finally ready to come out and play.
I fold my hands together and pray.
This dark beast is not match for the light of my father.
It’s time to face off again and establish order in this house.

The fiend appears from inside the closet.
He slowly steps out; I think he’s trying to be modest.
He is a dark shadowy figure, as dark as a moonless night time sky.
His eyes burn in red as he snarls at me wishing I would just die.
He wants nothing more than for me to bite the bullet and join him on the other side.
However, that won’t ever happen, I contain just too much pride.

I smile and wave at my friend and ask him how he’s been.
He stares angrily at me without as much as a grin.
I point my finger at him and motion to him to follow me.
It’s time for him to come home with me and allow these people to get back to the lives they are meant to have.
I exit and bedroom and tell the family there is no need to contact a priest to perform an exorcism.
I tell them to continue readying the bible and to believe what they were taught in catechism.
The fiend will no longer be a problem for them and the room will once again be safe to enter and use.
I hand them my book and tell them it will answer all of their questions as long as they approach it with an open mind and don’t get offended by it and decide to come after me with a noose.
I write the truth and the book is meant to help.
I give them permission to contact me at any time if they have any future questions.

My eyes open as I lie in my bed surrounded by the darkness of the night.
I look at my alarm clock and see that it’s 3 am, that explains the lack of light.
I sense evil all around me, my friend is back home where he belongs.
I swear I can hear him humming a song.
I look over to my bedroom door that is cracked open and see him standing outside the room.
He smiles at me ready for our endless war to resume.