poem – Artistic Apathy

Beautiful Black Boy

Hey beautiful black boy, how’s your mental health?

When is the last time someone checked in on you?

Hey beautiful black boy…

Our ancestors went through too much for you to be so hard on yourself.

Remember where you come from. Warriors. Legends. Tribes. Kings and queens. Dynasties.

Hey beautiful black boy. Your lips aren’t too big. They’re just right.

Hey beautiful black boy, it’s okay to like things other than Hip-Hop, Basketball and shiny jewelry.

Hey beautiful black boy. You can be with anyone you want. F*ck what they told you.

Hey beautiful black boy. It’s okay to cry sometimes.

Hey beautiful black boy, it’s okay to not be so tough all the time.

It’s also okay to use big words and vocabulary.

Hey beautiful black boy, there’s nothing wrong with working a regular job.

There’s nothing wrong with not being a player.

Hey beautiful black boy, it’s okay to be romantic sometimes.

Hey beautiful black boy, it’s okay to show your artistic side.

It’s okay to be kind to everyone. Children, grown-ups and even animals.

Hey beautiful black boy. It’s okay to wear pink, wear flowers in your hair, paint your nails and to like girly things.

Hey beautiful black boy. It’s okay to like the same sex.

Hey beautiful black boy. When they look at you as a savage, just remember that they don’t know the real you.

Hey beautiful black boy…

Elevator

Stuck in this elevator…

Pitch black. Can’t see my way out.

It feels like it’s not moving, like it’s not going anywhere.

I crouch in a corner of this cold steel cage.

I grip my knees and rock back and forth trying to console myself.

The elevator is my own mind.

Constantly facing and fighting my own insecurities and doubts about myself.

It’s like being stuck in a pitch black elevator. Everywhere you look, darkness.

There’s no emergency button either. I have to be down for the ride.

Where is this elevator going? Up or down? I just hope it’s up for my sake.

It’s getting harder and harder but somehow I feel in control.

A strange feeling.

Will I finally reach the top floor?

2 Souls

I approach you with the heart of a child

Your music is like magic to me

You’re like a siren the way your call informs the world around me

In a technologically advanced world, you remind me what it’s like to have an old soul

As the world revolves around us, we’re reminded more and more that it’s more than just about us

Let’s abandon selfish desires for something pure… Something unadulterated…

We trip up on words unspoken. Left to the imagination, what’s unassuming becomes visceral and amplifies with each quaking moment.

Allow me to come clean once and for all. I leave my filthy rags behind for some fine linen white robes.

Let’s endure this love everlasting. Making each moment for exciting than the previous one.

Salvage Yard

Take whatever you can salvage.

Everything must go.

The old saying “out with the old, in with the new” applies to this current situation

In this yard lies unfulfilled dreams, pain, darkness, long forgotten memories

Soon, everything will be tossed into the furnace.

The purifying blue flame that is this current moment.

After that, the old will cease to be.

I will become a new creature, reborn from the ashes like a phoenix.

Still though, I find myself coming back to this place time and time again.

What is it that keeps me here and binds me to this place? This attachment that feels more and more like a sore each time?

I will pluck out the thorn from my side, correct my posture and walk the line that is set out in front of me.

Shadows of yesterday will not be able to withstand the light that magnifies with each given day.

And in return, the shadows thank me. You see, a shadow doesn’t know it’s a shadow.

I sit atop a rusty old car and wonder if it’s going anywhere. But then I remember it’s not functional.

So I trade in my keys for some new ones.

Down to go for a little joy ride?

Evolution

I traverse the path they call life with you

Over they sky, a monochrome rainbow but now a different hue

Stabbed me one too many times, been my thorn one too many times… I thought of getting rid of you

A relationship is a gamble for me but you I couldn’t stand to lose

We have conversations over coffee, see, but we still have different views

Offer me a million girls from all around the world and still only you I’d choose

I’ve come clean. I’ve righted my wrongs. I’ve paid my debts. I’ve paid my dues

Please let this be as sweet as candy and as pure as white snow on a frosty December morning.

Wherever you are, whatever it is, I’ll meet you there, no matter what it’s concerning.

An unquenchable torch within my heart that will forever be burning

I fear my emotions are too much sometimes and you’ll leave in a hurry

Please reassure me everyday and tell me “I love you” so I never have to worry.