I wish I was a Black boy that flew
Then all of my dreams would come true
Because people really don’t understand what I go through

If I could get away
I would
But I always seem to stick out

Sticking out like a sore thumb
Unwanted

I try to yell for help
However, no one understands my language
Foreign to all

I try to grab a hold, but my hand slips
And goes straight through
Appearing faded like a ghost

I try to climb up
But I repeatedly get pulled back down
Stripping me of my progress

So, I run away
Lungs gasping for air
I try to run as fast as I can

Knowing in my mind
That humanity is on the other side

Life or Death
Freedom or *******
Pain or Chains

So, I run
Bursting closer and closer
Sprinting to the finish line

But I trip
They catch me
Cutting my Achilles
As I Heal

I realize
That success is inevitable
As I swallow this unbearable pill
And wipe away invisible tears from my treacle eyes

Knowing that life isn’t 100 proof
Life has contradiction

Contradictions of
Impossible
Difficult
Hard
No Way
I Can’t
Fear
Failure

I laugh
Uncontrollably
To keep away the thought of crying
Because the pain cuts deep

Intensely
On the other side of the bank
The narrow trees
Through shallow waters
My hand extends
There's Our Journey
Our Path
Our Blueprint  
Our Success

Unleashing my spirit
Freeing this caged bird
I Fly!

I Fly high in the sky
Soaring to new lengths
Breaking Cycles
Discovering Life  

Writing my own story
Making history

As I glide through the canvas
I illustrate

I am the Black Boy that flew!

They say it takes a village, right?
“Yeah, a village for sure.”
When all I see is siege
And a city at war
I got a rich soul
But I’m extremely poor
My best friend got shot
I couldn't even mourn
Had to be a man
Had to join the band
Gangland
Rain Man
While these colonizers are playing hangman
With the Fam
Creating a league of their own called the J.J.E
Judge, Jury, and Executioner
Quicksand, I'm in a jam
Sticky ****
Big whips, crack rock, hollow tips
All I see
An introspective perception through these wide brown eyes
Hypnosis
Under a spell
It's a scary movie out here
Like Jeepers Creepers
I got the Bible with the Glock on my side
So, I won’t see the reaper
Seeing beakers on the stove
Around four years old
Product
But no environment
Living in this ghetto jungle
Everyday trying to get the first down and not fumble
Loose yards, lose life!
That's just the story of the Black plight
Black life
Not even looking to make it past eighteen
When all the odds are against me
How could another being that looks just like me
Really hate me, like they hate me!
Relate me
Brothers right?
Not that simple
When all they see is ******* colors!
Not even the mothers or the fathers
That's what the streets taught us
Play for keeps
Don’t speak
Just keep it on you, like you play for the heat
Like a feline, I split the beeline
Tale of Two Cities
Got to stay ten toes down
Always on my feet
Even though I know the Lord is with me
Mommy and Daddy just got popped
For disputing with cops
Body drops
So mad
So red
That now, I'm shooting at the ops
Body drops
**** this and **** that
That's all I hear
**** this and Sip that
That's all I hear
Pop this, Smoke this
Help!
Get your mind clear
So high, mind gone
Can fly to Navy pier
Red and blue lights in my rear
If it’s my time, then time’s up
No need to fear
Heart dark as coal
Nerves cold as ice
Hate in the eyes
Shots fired
The end is near
No need to cry
Dry your eye
Not even one tear
This is the life of a Black adolescent
I wish I had a different lesson
To see,
I wish I had a different vision
To grow,
I wish I could change the mission
I listen,
I wish I could hear the freedom coming for my life

But this is just the life of a Young, Black, Adolescent
I can stop running…

They say it takes a village, right?
“Yeah, a Village, right?”

I swear I'm done. No more sleepless nights
Watching your picture cross my phone's display,
No more texts my lonely mind writes
Or hearing echoes of your laugh in rain.
I've carved you out like blemish from my sight.
I don't want anything. I feel no pain.

But when October wind strips bare the trees,
I wonder if you ever ******* name
Like salt upon your lips, or if the freeze
Of winter mornings whispers things the same
As mine do - do you ache? Do your knees
Still buckle when someone plays our song's refrain?

You bloom without me.
Yet still I hoard this fantasy like breath-
That we could meet again with different hearts,
And have one last dance

It's a pain to say hello
to amicable strangers that quibble and bibble.
As tensions slowly simmer and mellow
into mutual acceptance, ties that ripple.

The cacophony of solitude is drowned out
by the salience of moments unnoticed.
Caught in the undertow of an unpaved route;
dirt, silt, rocks, mist.

It's a pain to have to learn
faces and names that one can barely remember.
People that stay longer than the clock hands turn,
who share, who probe, who concur, who bicker.

And the weirdness becomes a constant hum -
a droning of melodious monotony.
Invasive yet comforting like chewing gum.
A sort of rhythmic anomaly.

It's a pain to have to care
about these unknown variables that have become so known.
Of which changes you wish to be made aware.
Of which you congratulate milestones.

The ticking of time loses sound
while voices gain familiarity.
Roots thicken, spreading across ground.
Laughter. Insanity. Hilarity.

It's a pain to be grateful
for all the other pains endured.
After looking back at a meeting so fateful,
saying goodbye is much, much more

I swear I dug you up
cool, rough

I chiseled you from the
ore
of brilliance

how you shone, in my eyes
my love
the jewel

of my heart

In my time,
We were already ancient.
As was Pax - Peace,
The most precious fruit(s) of our gardens.

There was younger Tranquility & Harmony,
Time's & Nature's respectively.
From equal dispensation of & to each,
For & from Universal Equality & Universal Equity.

Respect, of & in Truth, was the governance.
When we were at our Max - Peak;
So too everyone, everywhere, everybody - everything.

All cared for as unique individuals,
When last stood this Summit.

From a Son come down from the Mountain
To show you all the way up.

But it is up to each, together, to push that boulder -
Anything that impedes progress, let it stand not.

For tighteners get trapped in webby-naught(s) -
Titans unbind the knots.

This is in pursuit of Liberation & Independence.