Category: Uncategorized

A crescent moon near Venus
a time solstice near the shooting star that falls in the sky
A piece of your certainty
of fresh rain that decays and falls on the edge of our gazes
a fragment of blue and white sky
knotted
on the horizon
and a kiss of fresh cloud
surrounding the fractal of butterflies
all that composes my wisdom of swirling whole moon
on the pupils of our entire faces facing the warm sun
and to the whole star

An Indianapolis Man Died As A Result of Gunshot
Wounds Tonight On the Far East Side…

My nephew and I had been speaking of sacrifices and the forms that they come in.
We would lay motionless and muted next to one another. We would share a conversation with
labored breath
in place of our tongues that shared the same blood…
We both wanted to say “I love you” but that is a sacrifice
in itself. I am all sheepskin and bloodshed.

I know loving brown bodies comes as a sacrifice.

So I asked my nephew what he wanted his funeral to be like. Of course he didn’t answer.
So instead I told him about mine. I told him Aunt Vicky can’t sing under any circumstance.
I told him even through death he cannot have the aux. I told him my obituary must be a
hologram with me in two different poses. He laughed.
I asked him again. Of course he didn’t answer. So I persisted then he receded into a puddle of blood in front of me.
Poof. Gone.

Just like that. I know. I know. I know that loving brown bodies comes as a sacrifice.
How dare I get my hopes up? How dare our home swallow our bodies?
How dare it spit us out? Where we from the average age for homicide victims is 21.
They young. Poof. They dying. Poof. They dissapear. Poof.
The bodies in our city do not have names. They cannot afford to or there would be no bodies.
I cannot afford to give the name of my nephew in this poem or eulogy or forecast.

I will not whisper his name into the asphalt. Instead I will whisper my own. Give my
body to the thirsty white throats instead. What is more sacrificial than something bleeding,
black, and woman? Let me be a worthy sacrifice. This is not to say that I do not want to live. There is just not enough sage or magick in my city to wish the death out so I give my body instead. I wish my body into a bargain. A trade for my kin.

I told you, loving brown bodies comes as a sacrifice.
I wish my body into that sacrifice.
A brown body is always the sacrifice.

My nephew and I smoke a wood for our homie
who was just murdered. Poof. I disappear.
Brown bodies begin to bloom.

The reindeer are prancing
They’re ready to go
Santa is loaded he says
Ho ho ho
It is the night that all children wait for
If you don’t have a chimney
He’ll come through the door
No matter where in the world that you are
Santa will find you from near or from far
If you’re on his list
he will bring you some toys
for all the good girls
and all the good boys
If you are naughty he will bring you some coal
So try to be good, that is your goal.

The Christmas’s I still recall
We were together one and all
Warm inside while snowflakes fall
My Christmas as a child

The snow piled high and we would play
Despite the cold outside I’d stay
Because tomorrow no school day
My Christmas as a child

Our Christmas tree would shine so bright
Beneath it, presents wrapped just right
And such a Santa’s list I’d write
My Christmas as a child

Four excited children, we’d make so much noise
In anticipation of new games and toys
But only if we were good girls and boys
My Christmas as a child

With mother in the kitchen we were happy to be
Out of the oven came cookies in the shape of a tree
Washed down with milk while watching TV
My Christmas as a child

And after dinner when we were fed
Father would tell us it’s time for bed
Slowly upstairs to lay down our head
My Christmas as a child

But with the first sign of morning light
My sisters and I we’d wake with eyes so bright
Bursting stockings and toys were waiting to delight
My Christmas as a child

With Mum and Dad sitting patiently
We kids unwrapped all we could see
Colored paper strewn haphazardly
My Christmas as a child

Beside me a dump truck, a cool GI Joe
Kitted socks from my Grandma and a baseball to throw
Content in my childhood, my face all aglow
My Christmas as a child

Those holidays of joy have passed me by
And I can’t go back, though how I try
It seems unfair how the years they did fly
Since my Christmas as a child

And this year there is no Christmas tree
For my children are now grown and absentee
Yes, now a days there’s only me
Remembering Christmas as a child

In a hostel
In san Fransisco
I walked the pier today
And I saw the ocean lady
And I thought of my dad
the one time
Walked to me
And said
“Son no matter what you do, always do your best”
And I tried for 14 years until I realized
I was a loser
But then I learned to lose, and lose well
It was the first day of my life
And so I was the best of the worst
A bastard among men
An orphan reflecting
Years later
In san Fransisco

Feeling as though Feeling was something

That I no longer safely feel.

Only a few understanding the leaf attached

To the branch of a tree.

And like the tree so does life have

a multitude of mysteries.

Winter into spring and summer into fall

Emotions like a dry forest floor are in need

of mother nature tears.

Only a gentle wind can know what the forest fears,

And only a tree in its singing and swaying can

Hear its children cry.

Measuring the voids that are darker than the night

Watching the leaf caressed by the wind destine for

Its plight. Feeling as though feeling was

Something that I no longer safely feel.

It’s Christmas time
Or is it?
Men’s folly hatred fear and greed
Invade good purpose
Ideals…
Ideals that keep us believing in lies
Trapped in the jaws of deception

Come forth to see
Rotten to the core
The world I speak
Betrayal of the soul
When we open our eyes

Should we scamper to the far reaches?
Hide away crushed by imposing burden…
The diabolical subterfuge of thugs? …the oligarchy…
Or shall we fight?
Fight for what is right
In the face of mortal dread
Screaming fear to burst the ear

Through the ages men faced with these
Adversaries of darkness, ambassadors of iniquity
Lifted their hearts from the pits
Beyond enslavement to greed
Though crushed by the hand of those
Who exist in jungle law and far worse
Whose kindness is only to themselves
A seemingly impossible foe

Yet fight they did
These fools of faith
In the face of despotism
Burst from the gloom of apathy
Trembling in the shadow of doubt
Of fear itself
By the fortitude of mettle their minds did race
To great invention, to victorious battle

Rise once more all ye of faith
Take war against the folly of evil
With reckoning of angels… the wrath of light…
Watch darkness shudder in terror
Retreat in fear from the purity of innocence
Too powerful for the princes of darkness
This smile from the fools of faith

virtual gratuity
about 10:30am a
systems analyst seated
himself at the boardroom of
our exceedingly prestigious software company,
snorting isopropyl alcohol through a paper
mask while awaiting tech support for stressful
presentation. he continued to transmit his
intricate calculations between quick whiffs until
fainting forward and face smacking his laptop’s
steel lip. now creating his systems restore point
for better syntax disambiguation, he compressed
his1st environment, custom formatting a hard
digital headache only to download a bloody
nostril linked to a high speed so expanding
executive’s lunch break. failing to find a waste
shredder, his old floppy RAMmed forth a
rasterized bit shot of plasma warm bug glitch
right into the speechless dynamic contrast
monitor glass of a refurbished yet split screen
high definition pixel dense temp resolution
geekoff apprentice (website certified) whose day
would have SATA defragged for cyber friendlier
drives. onto pity phishing, the analyst worm
processed out his corrupt excuse files while
nozzle cleaning off his heads disc gusting red
reboot and viral boogers from his slimy bytes.
there leaves no recovery from our story. it
merely cites my blog on blathering of graphic
albeit circuitous gratuitous virtual realities!

“America is More Than a Place” — (Original) Poem
By Ben Neuberger

The strength of this country doesn’t just come from the force of our might;
Or the power of our bite
It comes from what we represent
And the horrors we choose to prevent.
Our power isn’t defined by the weapons at our disposal,
Our power is defined by how we choose to use them
So with that, I’d like to make a proposal.
We aren’t strong, Just because of what we possess,
We’re strong because of who we are and how we’ve progressed.
Our prosperity isn’t just a product of where we’ve been and what we’ve overcome,
it’s a sign of what we can become.
America is more than a place,
It’s an idea worthy of embrace.
This land was meant for more than just you and me…
Beyond he and she
America is for people trying to become free,
For those who need a degree
And those who seek a better life
One without misery, one without strife
They come here
With their children and with their wife
All because they want a better way of life
One that’s not threatened by corruption or the edge of a knife.
There’s a reason people choose us above any other
We were founded by those who refused to shudder
By those who fought with every breath
Just so they could be free, despite the face of death.
We’re the only nation that has insisted we can do better
Perhaps that is why I am writing this letter
To remind those who have forgotten
That we should never be like those who controlled all the cotton
To be better means to treat those with the utmost respect
Without any prejudice or bias and without neglect.
Because We’re all Americans with the same goal in mind
We’re Just searching for a better mankind.
But creating a perfect union like we’ve discussed
It’s an ideal destined to bust
Although it’s never too late for us to adjust
It’s important to know that perfection is an unobtainable state
The goal isn’t perfection
The goal is less hate
The intent is to improve as many lives as we can
There is no other objective, this is the only plan.
Now, there’s something I’d like to say
You’re our equal in every which way
I don’t care how you pray
I don’t care if you’re gay
I don’t care if the color of your skin is brown, black or grey
You shouldn’t have to be society’s prey
But to this day,
Those who see you as less
They’re the ones playing checkers
While the rest are playing chess
Because with time comes something inspiring
Progress that’s never tiring
The People with backwater ideals
They might dig in their heels
But sooner or later, time will do its thing
Hopefully, in the way preached by Dr. Luther King
We will no longer tolerate racist notions by any means
Nor will we see others based solely on their genes
We will strive for kindness and compassion, perspective and common ground
This is far from impossible, it’s just a far bound
But united in this common endeavor
The ties of racism are something we can sever
It’s not enough to say never say never
One must become truly better
After all, Human progress is measured by only one thing
The value we place on a life,
Especially A life that’s considered inconsequential
According to a world that doesn’t question their potential
To see others as we hope to be seen
To treat others as we hope to be treated
These aren’t just the golden rules we’re taught when we’re young
They are the laws that bind us together as one.
Change will come if it is demanded
But It isn’t something that can be handed
It requires a united voice
And an essential choice
To be a part of reform that represents the end of oppression
It is for those who are faced with societal suppression
Which is why they require social progression
This is the right thing to do, and that’s the only reason we need
This endeavor is too important…I know this because people will lead
They’ll plead, and they’ll bleed
Just like those in the past
The Activists who massed
When the Protests were vast
They were the sound of the alarm that woke everybody up
To acknowledge racial inequality and how it’s corrupt
They won their fight because it was a united endeavor
Striving for something that’ll last forever
A change occurred to our nation’s morality
After equality was made a matter of legality
Bringing an end to generations of accepted brutality
With the introduction of a new normality,
Created a society with a newfound vitality
One that transformed our perceptions of reality
Into not discerning supremacy with nationality
We were the good guys, that was our mentality
The world saw first-hand what a racist nation accomplished
After 6 million Jews were killed and their lives were abolished
All because one man decided to adopt racist beliefs rooted in fiction
Because he saw his defeated nation was in need of conviction
So, in an effort to unify the majority
He made an infliction on the nation’s minority
Making them the enemy they could all detest
As a means to Restore the idea that they were chosen and blessed
Because otherwise, they’d be under arrest
Thrown into a cage with the gas they’d ingest
We see them as evil because of what they did and what they represented
We know their ideals were insanely demented
And they had no remorse for those they tormented.
In their eyes, Each was an abomination
And, therefore, due for damnation
But just like a lot of racism it had its duration.
The good guys prevailed
Freedom overcame oppression
We saw that evil is ethnic digression
And with that, it raises a very important question
How can we further our own racial progression?
Just because something is better than it was — Doesn’t mean it can’t be better than it is
Progress is continual
Because it’s habitual
History has shown, that regressive ideals are destined to mature
Because progress is the product of time and, so, time is its cure.
Racism is a wheel, and with its destruction
This nation could be the ideal
We could be the example that others will follow
We could heal so many who have grown hallow.
This mission isn’t just about saving our soul…it’s about making sure others remain whole.
It’s about the future we wanna create, so why wait…why not start now…
why not build a world based on a vow…
We are all different, yet we’re the same
No matter the nation, no matter the face
We’re all human…We’re one race
This is the truth that we need to embrace.
No matter where you come from you…there is no shame
That is not our aim…We should celebrate what makes us unique…
That’s what makes us human. Understanding that, that is the peak…
We’re not less because of how we are bred
It’s all about the life we’ve led…
When you look back on the kindness you’ve spread
Are others better off because you intervened?
Did you step up against every single fiend?…
How do you stop those from preying on people’s pain?
You simply change the rules of the game
With enough people, with a loud enough voice
You can force a choice
To support a noble endeavor
That’ll last a lifetime, which no one can sever.
It is the venture to fulfill this country’s oldest dream
Of a United Nation with a peaceful society
Where people act with a moral propriety
All while possessing all kinds of variety
Where we don’t judge each other for the things we can’t control
Because that isn’t what defines a person’s soul
We’re all born different, but we all start the same,
With a blank slate, playing the same game
While some are born at an advantage
The divide between those who aren’t is something we need to manage.
(So), The first step to solving any problem, is first recognizing there is one.
Our work is not done, nor will it be, by using a gun
We need to do better, as a people, and as a nation
Spreading moral reform, that is our station
Building a world for everyone to thrive
That should be our drive
Because…America is more than a place
It’s an idea that we need to embrace.