At hand, we die to the white man.
Call it like it is.
See it from my eye.
“I don’t see color”
You don’t see color!!!
What madness do you speak?
The fact that you don’t see color
Means you don’t see me!
Because I am a person of color,
(I AM A BLACK MAN!)
You’ve gotta see my color to see me.

You would rather make sure your dog eats
While my dawg got's to hustle and tussle for bone and scrap.
You would rather help stray dog
Than help a dawg gone astray.
A black life is a human life.

At hand, we die to our own.
Call it like I see it.
A lot of my brothers and sisters
See me from a dove’s eye view,
Killed by my own hands.
Brothers and sisters
Yet we **** each other like
Slave and oppressor.

The oppressor has become,
Me, who undermines my brother because
He don’t got the qualifications like the Caucasian.
Me who undermines my sister so much so
She now finds love in selling her love.
Help a n** out!!!

Land of the free,
For the skin that’s never been slaved.
Bring back the land
That was rightfully mine.
Do manners only apply when I'm wrong?
Gimme my land, freedom, rights and dreams
And ill give you your car back?
As a father I did what I had to for my kids.

Africa, your mother, cries
Day in and day out.
Her own children die
Not only at the hands of the free, but also at the hands of her children.
Sacrificed, a lot, to keep her children fed,
She’s been a mother to the world,
Its time we, her children, look after our mother and
Each other.

Splinter and divide,
time after time,
bluster and misdirect,
point to the workshy or foreigners,
twist the knife in vulnerable hearts
and fan the fear

We’re here because at some point past
we agreed this land should last
that it stands for goodness and right
and all heads shared the thought
so the idea
became

Our disgust and indignance
threatens a retreat
so the squeakiest wheel triumphs
through attrition

Your mission,
should you choose to accept it,
is this:

Call out the heartless, the bleak,
the self self self serving,
the thoughtless, the blinkered
the unthinkers

Every breath, every day
our grit and mettle can save us
and an idea worth saving

Why are humans
Divided in race, ethnicity,
****** orientation, or gender?

Why can't we be united
In our brokenness?
Every single one of us is broken
Not in the same way or from
But still broken

This quality should unite us,
But why does this
Always draw a wedge
Between us

I have so much love to give

Like the sun gives to us

A light so bright, we can't even see the other side.

But pieces of my heart
Have burned
And flown away
From ash to dust.

There's a light
that still shines through
In my hopes of belief
That there could be a me and you

I empty myself out
And let the universe fill me
With her maternal love

Each breath of oxygen
Mother Earth fills our lungs.

So we must thank her
And never forget
Her love is what keeps us
What bounds us
What keeps our hearts beating
As one.

I was fourteen,
a rebel and so naive,
my "boyfriend" broke up with me,
or at least I thought he was mine,
but that's a story for another time,
and then I met this guy,
my age, so popular and so my type!
we hung out at my house,
almost every nights,
he walked me from school,
I thought that was nice,
but outside my bedroom,
we turn into strangers.

One day he asked me out,
on a date..?
I thought maybe it wasn't too late,
maybe it was fate,
for me to trust again,
he told to meet him late,
so I dressed up nice,
wore my favorite jeans,
and blushed my cheeks,
nothing too revealing,
don't wanna be deceiving!

We went for a walk,
and...he took me to a hotel,
I should've left right there and then,
but I thought,
we were alone before,
he wouldn't do anything I don't consent for,
we went up to our room,
ordered some pizza and drank some *****,
and he paid for EVERYTHING!

One thing led to another,
I was wearing only his sweater,
too drunk to remember,
how he got on top of me,
why I couldn't push him off my body,
my hands on his chest,
but he's not moving his hands,
he kept kissing my neck,
I kept screaming STOP!
and NO, I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS!
SO WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?

He drowned down my voice,
nothing my mouth was able to say,
he told me it was okay,
that it'll feel great,
but I felt paralyzed and betrayed,
tears streaming down my face,
and I was afraid,
I couldn't keep it down,
while he pinned me down,
on the bed, my lips he's kissing,
but only to keep me from shouting,
not because he's so loving,
he was so close to finishing,

He screamed YES!
while I thought NO!
but thank god he pulled out,
and then he got mad,
why I didn't put in my mouth,
why I let his *** spread out,
on his sweater, he went to the bathroom,
and I sat on the bed,
I was all wet from his sweat,
I felt exposed,
and got filled with regret,
I wish I stayed home,
I wish we never met!

Four years went by,
and I'm still traumatized,
I'm eighteen,
and its summer after my senior year,
I'm hanging out with some friends,
and I'm at a hotel again,
but this time I know what could happen,
and I've taken precautions,
we hung out a couple of times,
and he said he wanted to see me one last time,
but surprisingly I was the first to arrive,
he said let's drink to **** some time,
until the others pass by,
I politely decline,
and I ask to sit outside,
on the balcony,
where it's safe and everyone can see us publicly.

He then poured my a glass of orange juice,
my vision got kinda hazy and my body got loose,
he picked me up from my chair,
and took me to the bedroom,
I didn't know what to do,
my mind was awake,
my body was at stake,
he placed me on my stomach where it aches,
and pulled down my shield...

... I don't know where to go from here,
or how to feel,
I'm almost nineteen,
and I still see them in my dreams,
and I still feel them breathe,
heavily against my body,
and I'm so very sorry,
for every girl who had to worry,
about an unwanted pregnancy,
because they acted so recklessly,
I stand by you during your journey,
and in front of all the jury,
with integrity,
to tell the whole world your story.

This is my story.

Only ever with an enemy,
Glaring with blood-red eyes at our backs,
Do we talk.

Only ever with an enemy,
Snapping words of disgust
In our faces,
Do we unite.

Only ever with an enemy,
Splintering the world and all within to pieces,
Do we become sisters,
Do we become ourselves again.

So I ask,
In a voice no more than a whisper,
With a shadow of pure wrath spreading,
'Who are you truly?'
And 'Why only ever...with an enemy?'

the escape that i get
when i take a deep breath,
chest pains cease
their restless wander,

air fleeing trees,
a velvet braille,
my exhale.