By Arcassin Burnham


Men being afraid of other men is a joke,
Pretend to have a hard exterior from ****
that they spoke,
You seem to act tougher than the man
you brought with ya' but when he leaves
all those you said will just up and choke,
Men ain't men no more, they just come with a gloat,
For me its not easy to be a black man and
be broke,
Can say it two times , can say it three times,
If I don't get it the first time, its not gon'
work,
Leave my emotions and my feelings and my anguish and my insecurities to put a
troubled man under the dirt,
Manhood comes first,
This is a curse,
Wicked worlds worth,
How many men does it take to lift the earth,

Not intimidated by no man.


/


Sparkles don't last as long than an life expectancy,
Lashing my threats to my enemies,
I am nothing but holy,
I know I could peel the corruption from my skin, my soul,
A morning like this could take me out
of feeling old,
A good solid feeling from the this I've told,
Some days I feel my words are not enough and so,
Reap what you sow,

And so will they also be sold.

Our new car smell wore off
So you put my love up for sale
And sold me
To the lowest bidder.

feverish scrawling writing in tongues
speaking in fingers
eyes blind to the outside world
mind's sight fixed on a familiar girl

who are you
you already know my name
I'm confused
you only have yourself to blame
leave me alone
I know you'll be easily tamed
please stop this
I'll teach you to love this game

I wake to the pain of pencil splinters
and a poem ended with bloodied fingers.
washing my handsin the sink
I need a moment to think
I need a breather
drown myself in water
muddled, all my thoughts are.



eyes open to the outside world
I check my reflection
eyesight catches a familiar girl
are you ready your lesson

"Normality?" She cried, " 'Tis a rarity!"
"First you powder your visage white
And then dust eyes with 'Black as Night'
Slather crimson on your lips and cheeks and the reincarnation is complete!"

"Left one, two, three, right one, two, three
And spin around in your ill-stared gown!
Blow kisses to the monsieurs and be free for the night is young and you are the clown!"

"Then what, oh, chaste priestess?"
"Why, lead him to the velvet underground
Perhaps lock those rouged lips of yours on his and unlock his garments with that wretched kiss!"

"Oh, my mistress, do not weep!
For it is only right that you are his this week!
Look, your masque is fading like a watercolour and speak to me, pitiful girl, a little slower!"

"I hear nothing, yet your mouth is moving.
We may be weak but we are conjuring
Love's handsome embrace,
So let there be briars of joy on that face!"

"Rulers make good lovers!
And will bring peace to the war-struck lands.
Oh, excitement has filled my body
Knowing that he will wed those delicate hands."

"Thanks be bestowed on you- Priestess of Utopia! You are right, I am the Clown and I shall conceive if needs be and for that, my soul shall drown!"