The Poetry Marathon

My Poetry

My Poetry

 

My poetry is a fastball, sailing

through the wind, 93 miles per hour, slicing

the air like a child’s paper plane.

 

It flies until it hits the batter’s mouth,

causing blood to seep out of teeth’s new holes,

gushing to the ground, the way I bleed poetry.

 

My poetry is the ambulance rushing

through the crowds, racing to save the one.

As the bandage is placed, and all is healed,

 

he forgets the scab that used to be, fears

the one that is to come. He soaks in a bath,

peels it off his skin, embraces my words.

Hour 6

apply liberally

last night my friend asked me if i had explored the area that i’m staying in this summer
Emory University
Druid Hills
surrounded by white, liberal domesticity
i said yes
explained the trauma of last june that happened down the street from where i’m living now

perfectly landscaped lawns
colorful flowers carefully arranged
only for their neighbors consumption
don’t look too suspicious walking through their neighborhood
don’t look too Black
don’t look too poor
too other
if you stop long enough you won’t smell roses
but you can smell the stench left from the murder of indigenous people

the irony of a ‘black lives matter’ yard sign in a gated community
we know you hunt us here
irony of a “no hate welcome here” sign paired with an american flag
like it’s not american borders & american ice agents that are separating (re:murdering) families
like it’s not america funneling money into the israeli state

i should’ve said
what is their to familiarize myself with
i should’ve said
they don’t want me here anyway

Poem #7

Looking out the frosted car window

to that shining orb of light

in the dark, dark sky

the winding mountain path

and trees I have no idea

what to call

I reach out my hand

I don’t know why

to grasp it and the cool window

thwarts my effort

not that it meant something in the first place

though now i have someone

something to blame.

Poem 7

They gave us a song prompt for this hour. I used Neon Gravestones by Twenty One Pilots

Your love was strong;
your resolve was stronger.
You hid from your thoughts
til you could no longer.
You spoke of the darkness
but not of yourself.
You brought me joy
as days passed by.
I never thought
you’d say goodbye.
For who’d suspect,
my darling friend,
that you would meet
this gruesome end?
You told me that
there was no hope
and so you chose
to let life go.
The hole you dug
and fell inside,
you hid from us
with smiling guise.
Those we love most
we forget to tell.
I let you go
and then you fell.

h.e.m.

Prompt 9/Hr 7- Song

Two black bags neatly packed
Soft like the sunset
Bitter like Regret

There on the hillside,
Bright like their eagerness
Present like egress

Travelers meet  disrupted
Sudden like the limelight
Fiery like it burns bright

Bother, they both preferred it solo….

Locked Out/Prompt 8 Hour 6

The ancestors built it with the sweat from their backs
Eyes full of tears, waiting for years
For a compensation that will never be received
Fought in every war for freedom, but denied his own
Viewed like animals, shot down like dogs in the street
To rot for hours in 90 degree heat
Protests and marching, marching and beat
Black fists raised high for all to see
Respect must be given, I am a man too
Instead fear was the feeling that permanently ensued
Every win was tainted with the sting of deceit
Cointelpro, Patriot Act and the Crime Bill of ’94
History rewritten to hide deeper what’s been hidden
Working full-time to lock out an entire people
This is the view from within the ghettos
Spaces and places where being locked out is known and grows

The Boat

At night when I cry you are there for me
You listen and take it all in.

In the morn’ when you cry, I am there for you.
I listen and take it all in.

We each take turns patching holes in the seams,
of our cute little boat on the seas.

Our boat is messy and half-sunk most times,
but it is entirely the boat of my dreams.

Stardust and Moonbeams

Gazing at the heavens

stars from the past

light the night sky

as water falls like a moonbeam

Fishing

I love fishing from start to finish
First you prepare your gear
Second if you are lucky your boat
Third get a good night’s sleep
Forth load up the car or truck
Fifth hook up the boat
Sixth travel miles to the lake
Seventh launch the boat, put in the plug first
Eighth spend hours watching fish swim by ignoring your bait
Ninth leave the lake stop at the store
Tenth buy a nice fish for dinner
And don’t tell anyone how your fishing trip ended.

Mario Party

I flew straight into the flower
that shoots flames at you
and he looked at me
with those hazel eyes

I told him he’s the best brother
right before he could yell at me
for being bad at the game