PRISONER EXPRESS POETRY ANTHOLOGY 13

JANUARY 2015 ALTERNATIVES LIBRARY

Special thanks to the following contributors:

Daniel Peterson William Andrews Otis L. Jones

Z.L. King By Brandon Rushing Taylor Gerths

Matthew Fox Dion Coleman Elisandro Antonio Nava Ronald Edinburgh Cesar Molina Bobby E. Brown G. Neal Straunch Christopher Hopkins Anthony Murillo Lazaro Vazquez “Terry Lee” Nelson D.B. Hughes Semaj Naoji Herrington Don Jose Antonio Saez Daniel R. Jackson Joshua Mathew Finklea Kellon M. Williams Gary Gregory Maurice Stokes Trent Boon Ron Clifton Albert Doggett Kevin Harrison

Noman Theriot Nkrumah humumba Valier Maure B. Wade G. Neal Strauch Francisco “Bule” Ramirez Marcus Randall Brown Don Brown Michael Griffis Andrae Stradford Jacob Silva Bruce (E.D.) Feaster Joseph Sierski Maurice Stokes Noman Theriot Robert Patnoude Brandon Rushing J. S. Slaymaker Lucky General Borg (Greg Buck)

Jonathon Rininger Jonathan C Holeman Lazaro Vazquez Eddie Menetee Maurice B. Wade Mychael Chambers Nathaniel Vowalsin Donald K. Brown II William Carlson Rj Clayton Anthony Spaulding Samantha Rew Chad Frank Abdul “Dula-Dym” Fowler Eddie Menetee Dexter Rabadan James Jackson Alessandro Milan Sabron Stewart Wesley R. Carroll Lonnie Smith Benjamin Rivera Joseph Sierski Durrell Anthony Puchett Copyright notice: All works belong to their

Rodney M. Lane Earl S. Polk original creators and have been republished by Prisoner Express with the permission of the Michael Madrid creators. Please do not reproduce anything in Juan Frias L. Vasquez this book without getting permission, in writing, Robert Patroude from the artist. Prisoner express can provide you James Chonley Don K. Brown II the address of anyone published here you may

Sarah Julie Spencer want to write to. Wen-Dell

Sabron Stewart Garrett Lincoln Morris Michael Madrio C. Wright Quentin Horris Luis Reyes J.W Johnson

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And to those whose artwork was used in this journal. Artists include:

Rocco Ranallo Kelley Fredricksen I apologize to those whose Jason Forbes names do not precede their Antwon Tylor artwork. If your name is not Carlos Delagarza Jr coupled with your work, Manuel Antonio Gonzalez III send a letter so we can fix it Alejandro Cruz Benauidez Thomas Stranblad on the web version of this And many others…. poetry journal. Thank you.

Kelley Fredricksen

2 To the reshaping of the mind. When times collided and God decided, to bring me Mystery of Mysteries Forth, to the earth… By Anthony Murillo The Cold Truth Children of the Gods Life is a great mystery— By Noman Theriot By Daniel Peterson So is death, And self. Life is filled with many changes, Touching the Artist’s brush, Changes we possess, but who’s to blame The blue paint is the heavens, A Warrior spends a lifetime us. Red is life, Attempting to unravel the mystery, We are all the same in many different Yellow is the sun shining forth. All the while ways, Each are gods Knowing the mystery is unravelable. We hunger and strive, just to get paid. Each stands alone, proud, Unblemished, untarnished. Unraveling is the ideal. We are no longer children but grown Blue paints the sky, Acting for the sake of acting— adults, Red paints the ground, Without promise of reward— We put in so much effort, for such little Yellow illuminates the world. Is the mood. results. They speak: Time after time, they questions, they’re “I rule the skies; I am god.” With this idea and mood, replayed, “I form the earth; bow to me.” The Warrior storms the citadel of Reason But those are the choices we all have “I shine forth illuminating man, omniscient.” And gets chopped down made. Each has a place on the pallet, By the self-appointed guardians of Each has a purpose in life, “reality.” Our hearts, they have been broken, Each is the creator. All in all the same by the ones who bare Unblemished, untarnished, I Wonder our children, Pure colors are proud. By Daniel R. Jackson And the ones who have passed away. The Artist smiles because Only he understands that Sometimes I wonder, what was the plan at Why did it come to this? The masterpiece is in birth Why did this happen? The bending of the rainbow, The moment I exited the womb, and A blending of the pure entered the earth From having a job, to the pistol I was That true life is only found in Such a small being, in this vast world packing. The children of the gods. Am I crazy to think I have a purpose Penned up pain, from scars unhealed History of Abuse Remember the Artist Looking forward to the future, while time By Don Brown By Elisandro Antonio Nava stands still Searching for a method to the this I killed myself in ‘89 When our ashes are finally scattered madness But somehow I’m still Into the wind, into forever, Hoping an answer would surface Feeling fine Will our words have even mattered? Find me, leave me, find me, leave me, Did they bring anything together? that’s the way I died again in ‘92 It usually goes From the same old shit When our etchings on the wall, Hold me, need me, love me, breathe me, I always do Undiscovered, have been found, but that’s Will they understand them at all Never how the story’s composed In ’95 I lost my life As they crumble to the ground? Beautiful or brutal what is this thing called Lost my home, my kids, life My wife When our letters are excavated Warm then cool, warm then cool, and From a deep and damp pit, sometimes In ’98 all hell broke loose Will our secrets be exonerated? Cold as ice Evil lies and hate Will they make any sense of it? Don’t try to understand me, your efforts Found me in a noose are Will they know the love we knew Useless, you will always fail, if you should Two years in hell for another’s sin Or hear the songs we sang? I’ve reached a point, the lowest one could Then 2000 came and brought Will they know to whom our prayers flew go, Me life again When heaven’s bells gloriously rang? So I could never be understood That’s why at times I often wonder, what Soon came the year 2004 I hope that they will know us all was the I thought I’d never For every mark we leave behind, Plan at birth Suffer more From the paintings on the wall,

3 In 2006 I lost the stars When I carried guns and sold drugs they Of the heart You just can’t see them encouraged my mentality From behind bars. But now that I carry books and teach they Frigid Incarceration want to silence me By Jonathan C Holeman In’09 they unlocked my cage Claiming what I’m doing is against prison I let loose my anger, my pain, policy Upon a field of white My rage. Because I’m now threatening to make a Beneath a bitter sky of grey change in our society Constrained in the artic In two short and angry years They told me they’d cut my time if I offered Bound by the permafrost Twenty eleven proved that I still my apologies As the polar zyphers drift Had so many tears. And forget who I am and let go my Across the frozen glacier ideologies In the freezer of the mind When I Was Young And stop teaching men positive qualities By Jacob Silva Because the lack of men in jail will Flakes of images flow down overthrow municipalities From the icebox of the past When I was young, And cause a rise in in unemployment and Immured by all the faults Imagination was play, crash our economy Of the sunshine hampered by the clouds When I wanted the phone to ring, Because so many fields depend on us I said bbring, bbring, being admonished honestly Memories formed to icicles Then I said, So with the bigger picture in mind they ask Limited to pain and sorrows Hello? me to read and teach silently Of mistakes numbered by repression And let the blind stay blind and keep A chill mist hardens into hail When I was young, behaving violently That pelts the blood red face Summer days were endless, Trying to convince me that the world can’t Imbarrased by the restraints Sticks were guns, survive if some don’t remain asleep That enclosed the frigid heart But no one was killed, So like the slave masters of the past All was pretend; they’ve forbidden me to teach Non-Haiku 1 So no matter how far we go they can keep When I was young us on the hook Clouds and mountains Murder Rape War, That’s why they make it easier to get a Rivers and streams Were grown-up games; knife than it is to get a book… The bullfrog dresses in mossy green Dragonfly escapes a subtle death When I was young, A was the alphabet’s beginning, Non-haiku 2 Look up Sex in the dictionary – Blush – Bees in sweetness What’s intercourse anyway? The birds in flight Angels can not fly into the night When I was young, In the dark, there’s no hope to guide them I knew I’d never grow old – Old people came pre-packaged in foil – Diné Princess Assured of this, By Maurice B. Wade I was happy; Blackbirds across the fen catch her eye; When I was young, She stands on browning grass to watch Cancer was a horoscope them fly. In a Reader’s Digest, San Juan climbs on a north of tides, I am a Leo, but my Backing into springs and hills, floating isles Roar is feeble; Jason Forbes Of flowers, bringing striped Bass in to lust and feed. She squints The When I was young, Year’s flight; Death was a parade, While lawns and hills shake on their I liked the limousines, dressing nice, Down By the Creek in Summer restless piles But not the crying, By Brandon Rushing and thunder rocks deserted river sites. She waits in the scent of hay and sighs. My tears stain this page. Cold water, soft Woods surround her, black with Rippling numbness. greenness, fervid like Back When… Spread toes curl in A tide to fill all hollows with their growth By Maurice Stokes Something like joy. and blight. Childrens tiny legs. Motion, The Hogan, a college now, decays amid

4 The lovers lying careless with books. Spotlight, And aroma sweetened from the essence The mud cracks from roof to ground; the of lower. pillars Quiet sacrifice. Thoughts were crushed by every waking Shed their paint like rattlesnakes that wind Single leaf moment, A ruined garden down a drowsy slope. Saffron and red, To daydreams of distressed damsels and The empty pool is lined with years of Silent heroic deeds, leaves; Humble nobility. And slumbered visions lay peaceful smile The flowers bloom and die at will; the upon innocence. vines Word Play Have closed the garden gate and several By William Carlson Seems like eons, though presence being windows nigh, Of the hogan with latches firmer than Summer sun slowly sinks And wisps of vapor only remain to Their rusty iron. The tennis courts have Wisping winds whistle remembrance; lost Through the While the light glows radiant to consents of Their lines, and balls careen into a Loose leaves age, limitless Shaking shimmering shadows And connubial oaths reverberate the Void that shames the blackbirds their sanctuary; season’s ride. Story Oft’ Told Liken heartbeat over womb; and the By William Carlson wonderment of miracle beings. She walks beneath the piñon where Time is motionless for the brevity of carriages wait Lyrical gold instance And buckled horses stomp their blood and This story oft’ told Existence marks the gaseous phases of beauty. Of lives new intellectual whims, The trees astir with wind fly suddenly up; Like vines And memories, the more being magnified, The mottled sky splits wide with guns and That entwine never evaporate consciousness. rain. Growing from one She runs the field and falls into the air. To another It has been eons, or so it seems, The mountains vanish; lovers die; and They become And mist clouds the lens of aging learning Each other memories. Turns to dust. She cries: This is Crime! First me Moisture trickles a path to the unforgotten; Then she Still vivid as photograph or in realistic Diné found her later in the flooded fen, Now we sense. Flowers tangled in her black hair, Begin Vapors of essence surround the heart with Eaten by bass. The tide fell south again To fall tender squeeze, And carried her cry between the palisades That’s all Into Albuquerque. The summer failed. Step Wild woods burned at last and left their By step luminous Note Ash upon the lawns; the bluffs whirled By note In wind and snow; Life let out for most of Heartsongs us. Singing out This lyrical Beauty Unseen Quote By William Carlson Of lives Like vines Single leaf, Like yours From autumn maple Like mine Splash Entwined… Of color across Vapors of Essence Its bow By D.B. Hughes Falling, falling Primeal beauty Seems like eons ago or eras Calling passed, Longing for That mist arose from the depths of the heart, Savage love. And cloud cover the precious Shaft soul of eight years new. Of light stabbing Giving wonder to the light of Through shadows, gender; delicate to touch,

5 And passion peers from the soul lifted; still. If there is meadow A glance returned before the heavenly The river keeps getting bigger Beside your still water sheet veils, Ha! It is a sea May I never roam At the precious soul of eight years great Whose water seeps a bitter grand new. Poison in me

I have known love Cherish Me And watched it wither By Bobby E. Brown With not a kind shove But by a shredding, little by little Here I am with a smile and white rose in Remembering Lance hand- By G. Neal Strauch Under the crystal hue As I wait until time pass and fly like turtle What could have been doves That warm Spring night when first we met, If ardor paid its due Through the air. I’ll forever cherish you… My eyes on you were firmly set. Your Gothic-style of clothes and face Though if passion ceasing I’ll patiently wait with undying love for you, Could not obscure your charm and grace. What could we but do? because Beneath that black and white on thee Because under this moon You alone cleanse me. However far I A loving sweetness I could see. Is our ruin. might be, you’ll Date on date for weeks on end, Be first. Still upon my heart. I swear. Did leave was more than merely friends. Are You Out There, Girl? Though we were thirty years apart By Gary Gregory I’ll never say farewell, even though I yearn Our friends felt not our loving hearts. for One day you were prepared for more, Is there sweet salvation near? Your lovely smile daily… you strengthen Life partnership were looking for. Perhaps your smile me. Six years of bliss, so bright and gay, Sensed shining upon the shadows Us growing closer each new day. Of dying suns Here I am with a smile and with a single But one day we were pulled apart. And collapsing emptiness white Our loved ones’ illness rent our hearts. A silver lint Rose in hand—my memories are great of You flew back East to help your Dad. Shimmering you, but this I stayed in Texas, heart so sad. In an obsidian sea of deposit Yearning would never be extinguished, We’d talk and text each day for hours, Smoke sent on spiral forms even if I stood Encouraging with word and flower. Of prayer Next to heaven’s gate. I wonder, would We’d fly to visit as we could, Slightly stirring you Spend days as one as Lovers should. My sad state of affairs Cherish me? A foolish act sent me to jail, My slumber of sorrow shaken Our love stood fast with letters mailed. To awaken to angels I’ll forever wait to have that chance to One day your letters stopped arriving, That softly sing your name wipe And in my heart I now was dying. In my ear That tear from your eye, because my love I wrote to you the truth to see If there is solace nestled for you If you had give up on me. In the soft shoulder Would never die. When from a friend the word did come, Of your soul My hear, it ached, then grew all numb. I lay down my horns Here I am offering you the key to my heart Your life so young by murderous gun And surrender To Cherish me. Cut short by hate e’er first begun. To the feather down asylum In prison all my thoughts are you, Final comforted Our dreams lie dashed, ne’er to come true. From the search I hold you in my dreams at night Still dripping To grasp you tight ‘till dawn’s first light. From the storm My heart is broken, ne’er to mend. If there is sanctuary Yes, I’m at peace this Life to end. In the sweet serenity Prepared am I to hold and see Of your kisses Again, my Lance, to dance with thee. May my mouth Tongue linger long Twin Moons To View Admits it By Matthew Fox Breathing in Your essence Twin moons to view Tender and true One is mine, the other you If there is haven Underneath the pull of tides In your hear Hides a river between our eyes May I call it home

6 Her Horizon The strength she showed throughout her By Eddie Menetee struggle Is what I cherish most. Her eyes, these days, are distant. Each morning, we shared breakfast She stares one-thousand miles And it was always cooked. Into the horizon Each day before I left for school, The Hooker And smiles… She’d smile and give me that look. By Taylor Gerths But at what So always let your mother know Does she smile? How she fills your heart with pride. The girl down the way comes over Lost fragments found Because each morning, I wake up The Goddess of Dawn floating Of memories? The sounds, I wish my Mom was still alive. Through my midnight door The smells, the sights A Of warm days and warmer nights? Greatest Value rose blooms in the midst I always ask her By Samantha Rew Of What it is that she a scrap yard Has of reverie, My greatest value can’t you see It was the kitchen floor we found But she never answers… Is not other than my lil man, Passing a bottle of rum Her eyes, they keep to staring, My minni-me. Melting into Never daring the tiles To move from the horizon. His little heart, so full of love She recited lines of Whitman A miracle sent down Far an age who wouldn’t listen Human Family From the heavens above. For the men By Ron Clifton who took her love *Dedicated to Bo Lozoff* He gives me strength, courage and A night or Hope! two at most Just be who you are, because who you are (And now… is fine. Dreams reaching further than the From somewhere outside the I’m always proud to say you’re a friend of Greatest telescope. open window mine. I hear the saddest Color, race, or religion, what’s really in a When I stumble into the darkness song) name. He was my candle light. It sneaks its way into the kitchen Just beneath the skin we’re really all the Filling my night with stars Like creepy voices directing us same. That shine so bright. to dance. We shield our children and draw them I watch it swell within her fragile breast; near, from those we Whenever I get knocked down To the beat she stands Think unlike us and so often fear. In the ring of life, Shedding I’d like to give those who make war a new It’s the way he loves me that constricting pants perspective Keeps me in the fight. An angel in underwear I truly wish I could, for the prejudice we The teach our young does no one any good. Some say the strength to push Goddess Aurora If the world could come together in a circle Forward Spinning, Spinning, Spinning of brotherly Should be found in My clothes too slip Love, most would find God lives in all of thee. away us, not Rose petals falling to Some other world above. But what’s so wrong Blow far If we took the focus off of our differences, If I found it first Across a Similarities are easy to find. In my minni-me. forbidden We might depart that place all of the same human It’s his love I value more Scrap yard. race and leave the hatred behind. Than words could ever… Ever say. Remembering my Mother By Alessandro Milan No matter what I go through His little smile just makes it I had a dream about my mom last night, All okay. About the things she did. It took me to those precious days For You Back when I was a kid. By Wesley R. Carroll Carlos Delagarza Jr And every time I came near She’d always hold me close. On this very special day, Of all so blessed days,

7 Here’s a poem for you, Please, I prayed, just allow my son to I’m lost in this white man’s concrete jungle, That many saw as quite true. receive what I bought Lost like a football fumble, Quite honestly, I was afraid and worried he No fresh air, no clouds, no birds, no She walked beside her father there, won’t receive them or he’d reject them nothing… A busy street, a child so fair. from me Carlos Revuelta Her solemn eyes were filled Rose+Ed were successful, at least, getting With enormous tears, the presents for my son inside the house… Monarch Warriors (for my sons) Her little voice portrays they actually answered their door. Puchett Cont’ Her vivid fears, Sometimes, I wonder if he opened them at “Daddy, please hold my hand.” all or blew out his candles on the cake Under the calendar stone restless souls To not know whether he got them or if the Wait for Mictlan to open its door to the The father’s hand picks up his child’s; guardians interfered by taking or stopping Underworld so they can rest and evolve The child looks up and sweetly smiles, him… into For she has also placed her fears, Unless I know, for sure, one way or The butterflies of times foretold, where In Father’s hands, and dried her tears— another if he really opened them, warriors Dad has now taken away all her fears meanwhile… I will hope for the best Shed their warshields and clubs for Validation isn’t as important for me than it Monarch So cavalier Dad has made it all clear, is for my son that I, mom, never did or will Wings to travel the land of dreams where Creating such a nice new atmosphere. forget about him! Crystal flowers chase Jaguar Knights in With all the past + present that’s happened the Just wanted to let you know, so far from my biological parents who care Realm of their sleep; As eagles soar That your thought of everyday, for him it’s definitely been an uphill battle! touching So. Xeroxed a copy of the letter I enclosed The sun without burning their wings, as inside his gifts; I hope he reads it alone so, they My hand has always been near. he knows I’m so sorry for all that’s gone Travel to the land of our ancestors, across wrong The breath of the Calendar Stone, Remember… Yet, if not, maybe the two wooden dog searching By Lonnie Smith tags, one engraved mom and one For the forest that is their home… engraved dad, will catch his curiosity to Remember… today was the tomorrow, you read that letter… that we never Whispers (for Sabrina) worried about yesterday. I wrote an “A to intentionally left him and we both regret Puchett Cont’ Z” poem when I had to remind myself of our pasts that saying, my teenager put on her photo. Zombie-like, I bring myself back from all Lighter than a feather and freer than a the thoughts inside my head and just pray, Bird was the whisper of you, that my heart Another day gone past also hope my son had a fantasy, very Heard; its breath reaching the depths of But this one, was a very special day. happy 13th birthday! my very Couldn’t be there, because I am here (in Soul, its meaning all happening beyond prison) A Twisted Soul my control Daddy couldn’t be physically there with By Durrell Anthony Puchett That whisper of you weaving my entire life, you too, for he’s passed on and no longer Piercing the darkness with its ray of light, here I live in these streets like a mass soaring Efforts I made as best as I could to make murdering beast, The moment with its invisible wings, today special Creepin through alleyways, wrapping For my son’s 13th birthday, I’m kept apart Lookin for a place 2 sleep. All of my yesterday’s, in memories along from you my Gifts I bought wrapped with love, even My clothes are dirty torn in 2 pieces, Road of moments I come to find; the cake and candles My body odor smells worse than a whisper Had them delivered by a dear friend decaying corpse, Of you, traveling across my mind, I telephoned his house over and over My homes made out of a cardboard box, searching me Just to receive another unanswered call, Any order 2 eat I gotta dig-in trash cans. Out, holding me two breaths close filling feels like another dead end me Keeping as optimistic as best I could I lost my freedom at the age of 15, With love for my heart to hold… Later I tried to call again, but again all I got Lost some of my family at the age of 16, were unanswered calls But that’s not it, Meanwhile, my very good friends (Rose My whole world crumbled at age 21. I Come From (for my parents) Puchett Cont’ and Ed) went to his house and delivered all the presents I got him 21: that’s when they locked me up, I come from a land where the pyramids Not knowing when or if they’d even be And threw away the keys by giving me life touch able to in prison, The sky, and Eagle Warriors dance the Openly give the presents I got especially So writing gives me an avenue of escape. song of life for him, or even answer their door Escaping deceit and pain,

8 And death; to the beat of the war drum, I ask the Lord why, why, why? We shield our children and draw them where golden First on the scene to look into his eyes, near, from those we find different and so Eagles learn to fly and use the stone Made me want to damn near cry. often fear. temples as Id like to give those who make war a new Perches as they screech across the skies, Melancholy walks by medical divas perspective, I truly wish I could where Turn to shock as crimson ran For the prejudice we teach our young does Bands of warrior butterflies return to rise, Through out the ethers, no any good dressed It made them all believers. If the world would come together, in a As Monarchs to color our skies, I come circle of brotherly love, most would find from a People running in circles, like they God lives in us all, not some eternal world Land where the llorona still wails and cries Never been trained in medical procedures. above. Searching for the children she drowned, to Just watching this circus got my mind If we took the focus off of our of difference, never traumatized, similarities are easy to find. Find as her suffering is but a melody she As I watch his life drifting on by. We might the place all of the same human Must endure as it still rings and is heard race, and leave the hate behind Across the earth; I come from a land that Numbness almost took my breath gave After seeing the suction pump was a Rise to the humble campesinos who defeat. fought for Lord why’d you pick me to see this man Land and dignity as soldiers of the Gran gargle “God lives in us all, Revolucion, I come from a land that my On his own blood, and choke to death. Parents still call their home, our beautiful not some eternal Mexico with its valleys of golden corn… Now I have to pray to you, to remove This burden off my chest. world above” – Ron Friend And pray to God to lay that man’s By Rodney M. Lane Weary soul to rest. Clifton

They’re hard to find The Choice And far and few between By Ron Clifton They’re extinct in the lives *Dedicated to Bo Lozoff* His Loving Words Of the evil and mean By Juan Frias They stand by your side We rob Mother Earth for all she’s worth. Lift you up when you fall We rape this fine lady who gave us birth. His loving words are soothing to the ear They always have your back When she cries acid rain you know it hurts. and always rule over fear. And always answer your call They penetrate the darkets places and dry Some go to extremes The Father Sun shines through polluted the falling tear. To let you know that they care skies. They break the chains that shackle every Others show that they love you He doesn’t seem as clean or pure and mind By just being there bright And provide strength to heal the hearts They’re a pat on the back We can’t deny what’s wrong, but won’t that sin would bind. A shake of the hand admit what’s right. A shoulder to lean on His loving words that are whispered, And a soft place to land An absorption of beauty for profit, in the rooted in the heart A refuge to run to name of progress for the human race. Will bear fruit and give wisdom to those A safe place to hide Our children can’t inherit the treasures we that are apart, An ear for your secrets can never replace. Will shed light in the darkness where hope And in whom you confide may have died A smile through sadness We butcher a forest, then plant two trees. And bring life to ambitions that can fill us And laughter through tears At this rate, it’s clear what our future will with pride. A stronghold you trust in be. To conquer your fears The time is now, the moments at hand. His loving words give strength to survive They’re a world of advice Will we choose Life? On a Desolate Land? each task, They’re honest and true To help the sinner to take off his mask. They’re for and few between Just be who you are, because who you are They inspire our dreams and show us the But I’ve found one in you. is fine. way I'm always proved to say that you’re a To release us from pain, until that perfect Fallen Angel friend of mine day. By Lonnie Smith Race, color, or religion, what’s really in a Dedicated to Angel Garcia name? His loving words soothes the soul and Just beneath the skin were really all the enlighten the spirit; I see an Angel fall from the sky, same.

9 They bring comfort and warmth like a To the respect of free will of all living My creativity is dull when sober, so I beautiful lyric. things smoke weed to push the edge over. They bring peace to our lives in most Every day it is my will and intent to Suicide poetry with a conscious flow on difficult times; the other hand I misplaced the suicide So always remember his loving words are Accomplish greatness and love note. Divine. Correcting wrong, for getting old ways My life is like a Mark Twain quote “I see it for what its worth” Having strength coverage and honor You only live once on this earth so I plant The Land Across the Sea Involving soul, mind, and heart and color female seeds and birth the THC focus on By Robert Patroude the TV and smoke heavenly. No darkness shall enter Hells on fire so I burn one for the star of In my darkest hour to you I call Gravity reverse to lift barrier the morning. Deathly afraid that I will fall I pray when its dark that he light my way Though my voice you do not hear In honor of the god and goddess because I’m lost without him and come to Despite the call, so clear Separating right from wrong find out there’s a finder’s fee, but she Across the Sea you stand found me for free. In a Land-Without Time Over see my mind to progress I be on a different attitude I’m different How I long to be at your side Killing old habits and abroad new habits from these other dudes. But the ferrymaster—he has died So might it be Them average Joes can play the fool, I try to swim to the Neverland while I manipulate the cool. Yet my arms fail my command Harming none I’m driving without a license on a mid-life If my wings were clipped not Love is the law crisis. The ember of our passion would burn Love is thy will white hot Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Angry Tears and Apologies But this Land across the Sea law By Sarah Julie Spencer Forever keeps you from me. Do that and none shall say nay I’m sorry for the times My Soul I vow my heart and soul to the god and I know I should have prayed By James Chonley goddess And the times I should have left To learn knowledge I wish to know And the times I should have stayed. When the breeze is warm I close my eyes In deep breaths I let go of all this ice Mid Life Crisis For things I never said By Sabron Stewart Or wish I didn’t say Lost in trance, I stumble but For failing to comprehend I find my way My conscious is a mid life crisis. That there is a special way… Laundering my troubles, I must carry on Every day I wake up and I pray it’s today enticing. For us to live our lives My backs against the wall, and I’m tired of When we live our lives for you. Year by year, the ice gets thicker fighting. Why did I have to do? Overtime, the ice becomes a barrier The bible says Jesus wept but I wonder if Just whatever I want to. God knew how I really felt. Unmoved and untouched my soul yearns Am I the devil’s advocate cause my I mistook the freedom for love materialistic mind state is extravagant? The love, the grave you gave To life and love I thank Ishtar from above Made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t And used them as a stepping stone become average. To plot out my own grace.

Everyday I am blessed. Getting chosen is the narcissistic swagger. Astonishingly want to know things I wished Poke the heart of a lion with this dagger. For don’t you know this Jesus to know As my mind travels my conscious falls Humans tend to die, asleep on the gravel. When they don’t have a mother Confessionally, I am Dark, Grey, with no It awakes in a coma. To look them in the eye color I told my momma coming back to reality is Having no help of guidance I am lost with like coming back from a despicable aroma. Babylons Blessings no adventure Never understood the basics, wake up to By Michael Madrio changing faces.

Meaningly, I mean no harm Sleepless nights keep me pacing because I march atop the stone below and smirk up Everything, I used to have is gone like a my thoughts are always racing. at the sun false charm If I could pass go I would be the host of my And if he runs from the sky the stars and party. moon arise I will follow my religion til the day I die I brag not hardly. In that time dear Babylon shall blossom Following the Old Religions way Life is a Bitch I just hope she is emotional. into life

10 Deep beneath, unleash a beast, that Please recall booker T Washington, feasts on other’s glee Gandhi The key to free my shackle shines to One Finger Dr. George W Washington Carver, release me of my mortal binds By Matthew Fox Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa The wings to fly above the night and near Just to name a few they are still alive the laughter turn to cries One finger to the many because of their noble war Dear Babylon my home sweet home live On the hand of plenty They are still alive because of their noble your life before it’s gone Do the lines tell the tale work Or is the secret hiding And service to others Poem #1 Obscure, as the cut of a thumbnail? The work of Dr. Margaret Burroughs will By Quentin Horris continue One hand of anger To live on and on Spiritual revolution is forced On the palm of plenty Each time that I think about noble people On every sunshine soldier doing time To build a temple Dr. Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs will Whether you are weak or strong To sorrows of many come to mind In every season the spiritual This noble woman was quick to assist and Battle begins in the arena One moment of many defend prisoners Of every prisoners’ minds Changes everything This giant of a black woman While you eye with envy Died at the ripe age of 95 We must fight; we must fight The choices of others For more than 40 years As children of the son She was a beloved mentor and friend We must fight for what is right And with choices of plenty In life she received honors Against the darkness of our souls Hope not to stray Presidents of the United States We must fight, we must fight For everything turns ugly Governors of several states As creators of a new world order When you lose your way. Kings queens primes ministers and We must fight to co-create the presidents Lovelight of new scripture that Again Of many foreign countries Will brighten the minds of those By William Andrews In spite of all praise, honor In future. And adulations she received The 32nd of every June, She was quick to cast her lot We will fight against Satan’s enter- When the Allman Brothers do a rap tune… In with the downtrodden Prise of building more prison Right after a cow jumps over the moon, Those at the bottom rung of society Warehouse in world Hold your breath it’s all coming soon! Prisoners have a warm and special place in her heart Trapped inside of a shape The day booze is free in every store… Year after year she would reach out to and By Luis Reyes When we figure out what the moons really for prisoners for, Teaching art classes, poetry and some Trapped inside of a shape, as my soul Right when it’s O.K. to piss on the floor… history too withers Hold your breath… I’ve got more In her mind she saw prisoners taking a Away minute by minute, breath after positive role breath; About the time it’s polite to steal, As free men and women My hope depends on love, the kind of love When the media reports all that’s real… For the good and wellbeing of all that seeks After the government has nothing to Again and again she appealed to prisoners The importance of life, for what is life conceal, To leave a legacy without a purpose? Hold your breath… cause here’s the deal Worthy of emulation To be bound behind walls of regret, For the next generation ignorance and pride, That’s when I wanna see She set the noble example by being co- Hidden away from the little that you know You again… founder of and The Dusable museum of African American Comprehend… A Living Example of African American history – yeah!! Trapped inside of a shape, as my thoughts Culture As a prisoner that has served 45 years in seem clearer By Z.L. King prison My strive for success seems stronger and *A tribute to Margaret Burroughs* My life is rich today anything I encounter won’t stand a chance Because Dr. Margaret gave me love For the heart is stronger than the mind, or A giant among Giants And some of her quality time is the This noble woman has died and passed on As long as I live I will always lift up Mind stronger than the heart?... at 95 The memory of a mentor, friend, hero and That’s a decision you must make while Great and noble people do not die deer staring Because their good works live on and on Dr. Margaret Taylor Goass Burroughs – Isolation in the face Long after they are physically dead Yeah!!

11 By any means necessary. In time a reader ambles by, For freedom we all know the cost. Losing A bit too close, begins to read. The Price That Must Be Paid. By Ronald Edinburgh Becomes entwined with words so fair That he away cannot be freed So often, people don’t realize the misery of a loss, until something they loved is no Until at last, the readers lost longer there. In worlds fantastic spun around Times you neglected to make for them, Caught in the web of poetry’s light and the ways you could have showed, how Content to have its meaning found. much you care Sacred Scribe Living is loaded with surprises and By Lazaro Vazquez “Remember. Today expectations, kindness and exacerbations, and full of ups and downs Ink of my own blood was the tomorrow, Me, because of my anger and inability to Words pure written by my soul control it, I end up locked up and bound. Every last one. you worried about

I thought my life was over, sentenced to Hospice yesterday” – Lonnie fifteen years! By Lonnie Smith Losing my way of living, the warmth of my Smith family, my rights and freedom Keys jingling Enough to bring a statue to tears Fortified door closes Terminal darkness becomes light Black Dreams Day after day, time, gradually crept by Time is no essence By Semaj Naoji Herrington Then, after doing five long years, I In STATEVille Hospice received news that gave me the shock of Perceiving the gloom of darknesses my life. The Price That Must Be Paid unconsciousness, By Nkrumah humumba Valier I envisage the night retreating fearfully into My father left this world, apparently his slumber. heart gave up Only then things will change. Where star studded dreams gleam inside Found by my mother, on the bedroom No one who truly wanted it was denied it. velvety nests, floor, the sight was too much Talking about it with no actions to back it Like eggs hatched pitifully into blackness. Im sure, thinking of being alone, she up. lapsed into a coma, for nineteen days and Will keep us trapped in the Matrix. The putrid odors of obscure imaginations then she too was gone. This is a message to the People. wrest, Don’t Sleep! Like identical misconceptions of unrest in It couldn’t be worse, I'm doing time and the These conditions we are forced to live in the womb. Lord chooses it to be theirs will never get better. Borne like ebony wishes upon beds of Our children are suffering. thorns, Making matters even more unbearing, they 17 year old black boys are being shot Banished illusions consumed in black on would not let me out to attend the services down in the streets every day. black. Mad, upset, and almost to tears, I ask god Where is the Justice? what did I do to deserve this Samuel Jackson time to kill. Beneath the cloak as weeping cracks a they say President OBAMA will save us. smile, So, here I am, sitting in my cage, chin on Empty promises. A Smidgen of light then filters through the chest, alone, for-gotten, emotionally Texas got a plan. guise. pained Lock up every black man and Mexican. The sounds of hope are but a faint No one to care, no one who writes no one That’s like money in the bank. ideology, to hug when released my life in a spiral, Not even the poor Whiteman is exempt Yet transcend they the abyss as a like dirt down the drain from this plan. Pegasus mounting winds. I ask and pray, can someone help me, Prison Corporations is new age slavery. please get me out of this losing game. The South never fell. Reform dangles loosely like a carrot, to Slave masters sit in office buildings incite inspiration. Poetry’s Web overlooking the city. Dreams, awakened to face another damn By G. Neal Straunch Nat Turner 2015 do you know what I staid. mean? Fear of struggle, buds into hope of A poet weaves a web of words I rather die than be a slave. change. Each gossamer stand suspended high What happened to the land of the free? Aroused into movement, where blackness From beam to post, and post to beam, Jim Crow running for president 2015. once rested… That may attract some hapless fly. You know what we must do. In Black Dreams!

12 Rocco Ranallo

Monitor what you watch and read and What drives his soul, value your education And the rage he release. And what you learn teach others to apply it to their lives Dwelling within, Because we’re all still at risk if even one Is a world of rage still remains DESENSITIZED… Filled with lust, In his savage cage. Scream – Shout!!!! Desensitized By Joshua Mathew Finklea For beauty, By Maurice Stokes Stops the sin, he see. Beggin’ this cage to let me out! Calling his name, Societies perception of success I despise Silence mean like a stone, Who could she be. Because it makes an exception to the Through my window thrown. acceptance of lies Strugglin’ with the right words to say, With caution, Handicapping kids from the start in my Hide the ugly, He bestows his essence. eyes Behold the beauty of yesterday. With her flame, With music and movies meant to Rollin’ riddle, yes I am! She devours his presence desensitize Jailhouse Jesus in a traffic jam, Us about the things that affects all our Halo among perverted politics, -Untitled- lives Walkin’ proverb – livin’ limerick! Albert Doggett From the drug dealers that we’re taught to Libra love – a bright sunny day – idolize Close my eyes – fade away. Psychedelic trance invades circumstance To the men committing murders which Rattlin’ the bars, my angry cage! Reality suspended, per chance happens to be on the rise Open up, eat my rage!!! Sensory overload, enhanced They’re slowly shaping our life views and Wrestled with it, can’t fight it. A glance into shadow’s eclipse guess why? Reservations of the uninvited. Skips, hits, nearly missed Because a man without inhibitions simply Heavy laden – greatly behooved, Flaunt the tryst openly can’t survive Once “mama’s boy” – now “that dude”! Dancin’ the edge of the abyss They’ll have self destructive nature Sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. Shear openness And Lack the discipline needed to become A little hip-hop, truth be told. Envelops this whole vibrations within the innovators Strugglin’ with the right words soul Because they’re taught all their lives to To say, Reverberate to the core worship paper Close your eyes – Fade away. Begin once more Currency and despise the slow pay of a To blend and start a’new waiter Silence – stronger than words! Whatever you may choose Taught that school is simply just a waste of time A Night Before Christmas Because the only legal hustle out the hood The Enemy Within By Michael Griffis is sports or to rhyme By Marcus Randall Brown Lies to desensitize us of the ills of our T’was the nite afore Christmas, I searched actions “Walls of concrete, doors of Steel, for good tiding So we’ll have no regrets when we kill in locked away from all that’s real.” The only thing found was the whole world our section “Keyless locks and chains that bind, fighting Sell drugs, rob and steal in our section Reality’s the demon in my infernal mind.” I looked to the north, the south, west, and Humiliate, abuse and womanize to please “There is no key that can set me free, east an erection My mind is my worst enemy.” Where clearly deciphered was sign of the From magazines to hood novels, music to “A formidable foe going toe to toe, beast movies Will it ever let me go?” It’s time to open our eyes to the things “A day lost? Or a day gained? I too searched the heavens, so far out in they are doing Two separate worlds, both share the pain.” space Because whether you believe it or not “Lock him up, throw away the key,” Where satellites watching instead of God’s these things are affecting our people That’s what the world said to me. grace And got us thinking the only way “I can’t do all that time,” I said to them. to survive is illegal “Just do as much as you can son… The dictators hung by the gibbet with care It’s time to get off this paved Until it all ends”… But first a good beating while tied to a road to incarceration chair That we seem to love to follow -Untitled- Al-Qaeda too was roughed up and trodden all around the nation Bruce (E.D.) Feaster See morbid corpse of Osama bin Laden It’s a simple task called take control of What can be seen, I saw rampant murder and wholesale your situation In the mind of a beast. slaughter

13 A son that was hung and a stoned to death Merry daughter Christmas anyway. A classroom was filled with the dead and the dying A whole town asunder on Christmas Eve When I Awake crying Viewed From Within By Bruce Feaster By Noman Theriot And whole thriving cities wiped out by There is a place that I know, decree Just doing time in the penitentiary. Inside so hollow, With maniacs taking what God gave for Laughing at the jokes told Where I don’t allow, free In the night, but our laughter is empty. No one to follow. Indeed there were bullets and all types of In the corner over there you find them bombs preaching. In this place that I keep, With equal destruction for soldiers and While over at the table someone’s Which is so deep, moms teaching. I fall asleep, There’s the ones at the table watching the Knowing the pain I’ll reap. To those wouldn’t leave, they were news. butchered like cattle Poets in their cube writing prison blues. When I awake. How often these maniacs like to do battle Men under the stairs fighting over words. When I awake. The only free things here are the rats and Let me take, The Middle East churning with violence birds. This time to escape and death People laying in their bunko lost in Sadly at home it was still crystal meth thought, In this place that I know, America leads when it’s death by a parent Stuck on the days before they got caught. I seem so hollow, Seemingly violence and stupid inherent There’s a radio playing a new funky With walls so high, rhythm, has me thinking You cannot follow. And much too much too often, there’s Of family, man, I sure wish I was with shooting en masse them. This is a sacred place, We seem not to notice, for this too shall We spend each day living in the moment, Where I can face, pass Hoping for freedom till the day I own it. All of my pain, Now death by the numbers, the U.S.A Knowing that eventually the time will And leave no trace. leading come, Always dead last when it’s science or I’ll put this life behind me, my time will be With streams of tears reading done. And leaves to count the years Oh, I’ll look back and see the walls and The sun red with fear Nature too killing, with heat, cold, and realize No one can get near drought I’m just another memory fading in those In Joplin tornado’s did give quite a shout prison halls. ‘Til I awake. The east coast had Sandy with so much to I’ll carry with me all of the lessons from my ‘Til I awake. say prison days. So I can make. A hard lesson learned is that nature don’t And all of the words of wisdom that made This dream my escape. play me change my ways. Oh they’ll remind me there’s nothing so When it’s cold I will hide, Starvation killed children, as did precious as time, Within so deep inside, dehydration Perhaps I’ll remember that before I again My emotions collide, Pestilence seems never takes a vacation turn to crime. And the moon pulls the tide The irony here is that food too was killing Inside I am safe Though it went well with the with nothing else at stake blood that was spilling But a broken heart And a dream to take I searched for good tidings but they weren’t to be found When I awake. I listened for angels but heard not a When I awake. sound. Let me take, this time to escape. I waited ‘til dawn and the news never came Sadly my friend, the times seem the same.

14

My yard is now my prison, Here I sit in creative writing class. My house is now a cell. I’m here voluntarily so it’s no problem if I My little piece of heaven don’t pass. Speak Thou Easy Has become a living hell. However passing this class is not what I By J. S. Slaymaker sat out to do. Why did this happen? The goal of me coming here is to try and In a manner most befitting Where did I go wrong? better express my words to you. Gentleman leisurely sitting; Afraid of every shadow There is a lot of my writing which is Whiskey sipped from The night becomes so long. grammatically incorrect. crystal glasses. I have a street way of translating my Come ladies now in private rooms Did he think about my future words, yet still come off with respect. I Where heady lingers French when he hurt me with his crime? grew up in the streets, and spent a lot of perfumes; When he gets out of prison time in jail. Swaying gently hips I’ll still be doing time. Still the vernacular I use is understood and asses. although it’s difficult to spell. And oh softly croons a crooner Tracking There’s always room for improvement, you The ladies knees part that much By Lazaro Vazquez can never learn too much. sooner; There’s a wide variety of people out there Bourbon in their I laugh aloud, uproariously amused whose hearts I’m trying to touch. sassafrases. Some may be into hood novels as oppose I have forgotten what lap I’m on to poetry. Cholly Benjamin Still I run. But still buy a book for the simple fact that By J. S. Slaymaker Many have passed me, it was written by me. But I have passed many. Some may be into realistic fiction as With pissing and moaning your voice Breathing hard, oppose to sci-fi. keeps-a-droning, Sweating profusely, While others enjoy drama and Like insects a-buzz in a nest. Tired, enlightenment because it brings a tear to With yipping and yapping your lips keep a- Exhausted. their eye. flapping, There’s a world filled with people but A cell warrior beating his chest. I’m catching up, everyone’s unique. You titter and tatter and keep up the Getting closer. Which is why I’m trying to be versatile in chatter, They stop to rest. the way that I speak. Without having reason or rhyme. I will not. I can’t reach out to people if I can’t talk On goes your blabber, the jibber and with respect jabber, 20/20 Thinking Manuel Antonio Gonzalez III And I can’t make a difference if I’m only in Believing yourself so sublime. By Mychael Chambers it for a check. Your circumlocution is not the solution, Which is why here I’m currently sitting in For admitting to all you accuse. Eyes closed destruction creative writing class. Your tired conversation and self- Mind open’d to nothing Gots to do something constructive with celebration, But this burner myself as oppose to sitting on my ass. Have long lost their power to Stands for something amuse. Life or death Be Extra_Ordinary If I hold it long enough By Anthony Spaulding Victim Awareness My life is next By Donald K. Brown II Pass’n it like hot potato WE CHANGE THE WORLD BUT WE Pop MUST BE EXTRAORDINARY TO Secondary victimization, Now I’m locked in a box ORCHESTRATE THE DESIGN. Anger, pain, and fear. A quarter sentence DEFINE WHAT’S BETWEEN THE LINES Paranoid ideation, The judge just dropp’d AND SHINE “Oh’ you better shine! Like Thinking “HE” is always near. the Eye open suffer’n stifling suns spine touching the city limits Every day a nightmare, Mind seeing corruption sign in Napa Valley while Re-living every scar. But my brain stands from some thang I gradually sip a vintage wine with a Knowing the next horror Use’n it to unlock the locks vivacious honey that’s “Ohh so fine; Is never very far. Pop Like a mime in the stages lime trying to This is where the ignorance stops climb out an imaginary box of invisible Barring every window, crimes; Like a courageous thought in it’s Locking every door. prime. Yes, with my mind, I can bend time. Not going to the mailbox Forward Process Fast forward rewind, ‘I’m not here!’ Or walking to the store. By Abdul “Dula-Dym” Fowler Disappear then reappear like a spinning

15 sphere call me the 10th planet taking money to keep brothers caught up in the Sharp, full of edges, now smooth and dull advantage of the exigent terrestrial. funnies. Its shine and luster gone. No traces of I’m extra! Rev’x out the ordinary. Very hu- Momma used to say “don’t get caught in lettering man but when I’m walking in the the trick box” but how can you when the No label or clue to what it is or where it spirit am I a fearless black man with the courts are magicians without wands. originated from hue of Jesus. Think about this Freedom is baseball, three strikes and Wasting away on the edge of life. memetic thesis ‘kinetically’ cause God you’re out of society. Hoping that one day somebody will pick it walked the Earth ‘heavenly’ demonstrating Now we become victims of statistics, up faith with works and incredibly many chained like cage mutts, how can we And give it one last look doubted. Pouted as petulant babies change much? And recognize its former state of being because they knew in their heart it was When time becomes a little too much, At last, the feel of an unfamiliar touch something different ‘bout this every minute changes like a clutch. Is so welcoming and unsettling dude. Performed miracles with water, food, I constantly wish I was in the 5th gear so My hopes are raised that maybe I will be a sickness so when I feed fuel equate the they wouldn’t hurt me so much. The gavel piece knowledge that’s within me with the ‘Omni’ seals the plea deals and the deals revolve Of something meaningful once again Tree of Life, breathe in when I around meals. And have a sense of belonging to release light permeate mortal The circle of law enforcers and their something understanding. Brainstorming a cure for all millions. Instead I am jubilantly tossed in the air disease and global famine, peace for Therefore we become pre-cons before we with carefree abandonment random violence, singing this sacred were ever civilians. And then tossed out across the top of the anthem to silence the ambulance and What have we come to and where must ocean blaring sirens. Extra-ordinary; like we go to go back to, and free our heads Skipping on the surface, skimming on the Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, more out this slipknot noose, metaphorically cusp of a waves edge charitable than a Rockefella; better speaking. We are guilty until proven Eventually my velocity slowly comes to a open up yo’ grandest umbrella cause innocent! Capeesh! halt when I pray blessings reign royal. No more And the inevitable happens political subterfuge no more war over Spectre’s Lament I sink to the bottom and I am forgotten religious discrepancies or oil. By James Jackson By those who thought they remembered ‘my heartbeat’ loyal to the patient truth’s me fault-let righteousness bank the Broken ribbons; strands of my mind come And just like that, in a blink of an eye cost of freedom justice and equality. So undone, I never existed. A mere nuance in the Rev can break open the vault for the Grasping always for an island nowhere. someone's life bought Dim light, stone and steel, Mozart playing; Eventually I will reach the shores edge the unconscious walking dead, content My only friend a mouse with silver hair. A former piece of myself. Only to repeat with living blind and lost. Letters from Jennie that never were, the cycle Be Extra! Drawings from babies taped to cold walls. Until I am no longer, but a grain of sand. Rev’x But resounding silence lured my tears, Razor blade beckoned too sweetly. Guilty Until Proven Innocent Snow whispers softly outside cracked By Sabron Stewart windows, I watch spotlights capture others long Tune in This Twochi Concert! Life of a convict, is guilty until proven passed By Joseph Sierski innocent, especially when you hear the As gray suits, unknowing, check high verdict, but I already heard it and reworded fences, These people keep tune tune tuning away it to be heard again, but before I began to As they did only moments past. Till eventually that Radio in their head will start again. Misery am I that no longer breathe, play play play & play. Guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of For from these walls I can never leave. This twochi stuff is a serious way to do minority law. yourself harm I speak no truth, because of lock-jaw and ½ these dudes might wind up dead or in a drink my knowledge through a short straw funny farm. and try to swallow my pride and Piece of Glass It causes short term memory loss like it’s regurgitate the shuck and jive. By Benjamin Rivera unbelievable I stay full of knowledge, for a witty young Its effects upon the brain & a person’s man who never graduated college. I am getting too old for this psyche inconceivable Aware of the games, I study the cheat Continuously wasting my time and life Because it hasn’t been around long codes and reuse them like Morse code. away enough for serious study My paper is college rule with three holes. Like a broken piece of glass I’ve heard if you find the right kind it’s quite I think outside the margin and learn On the shores of a beach lovely between the lines. Relentlessly pounded on by the ocean’s I’ve also heard about a very explosive Whats a public defender to a lawyer, as a rugged water heart pounding sensation prosecutor is to a judge, time, and more And its unforgiving sand

16 I’ve heard it’s instantaneous after only one I guess I’m way beyond existence or I turn people from God, and separate inhalation maybe I’m just friends I’ve heard of people who ended up in a Twisted I’ll take everything from you, your looks coma or paralyzed. Demented in another dimension with no And your pride. That’s when I made a decision to abstain conception I’ll be with you always—right be your side. cause I realized Where life is just the period that follows the You’ll give up everything—your family, K2 is seriously bad for you sentence. your It’s a creation of the devil & bad JuJu. Home The smell of its smoke stinks so bad to me This poem is reflecting on philosophy of Your friends, your money, than you’ll be Just another reason our love cannot be what alone. It’s been known to bring on sudden Is real and fake, good and evil, right and I’ll take and take, till you have nothing extreme violence wrong. more I have no desire to find myself in an To give. ambulance… When I’m finished with you, you’ll be lucky Still these people keep on talking about it My Name is Meth to like it’s way cool By Earl S. Polk Live One day they might regret the effects on If you try to warned me—this is no game their gene pool I destroy homes, I tear families apart If given the chance, I’ll drive you insane. But I won’t be here to see if people grow Take your children, and that’s just the start I’ll ravish your body, I’ll control your mind three eyes I’m more costly than diamonds more I’ll own you completely, your soul will be Or a penis on the side of their necks precious mine. supersized Than gold The nightmares I’ll give you while lying in Cause one day I’ll be long gone The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold. bed Just left y’all something to think on If you need me, remember I’m easily found The voices you’ll hear, from inside your I have no desire for “the concert” or what it I live all around you – in schools and in head. do towns The sweats, the shakes, the visions you’ll Believe me the message gettin written is I live with the rich; I live with the poor see 100% true I live down the street, and maybe next I want you to know, these are all gifts from God bless y’all & the new definition of a door. Me. tuner I’m made in a lab, but not like you thing, But then it’s too late, and you’ll know in Should include what y’all do a lot sooner I can be made under the kitchen sink, your Still people should know the facts before In your child’s closet, and even in the Heart their choice woods That you are mine, and we shall not part So if I were there reading this I’d scream it If this scars you to death, well it certainly You’ll regret that you tried me, they always with my voice should do Use so much emotion & emphasis in I have many names, but there’s one you But you come to me, not I to you hopes you get it know best. You know this would happen, many times Maybe for my efforts God will bless it I’m sure you’ve heard of me, my name is You were told, So this poem does the job I prayed it do Crystal meth. But you challenged my power, and chose Make a bunch of knuckleheads think twice My power is awesome; try me you’ll see to be & never use K2. But if you do, you may never break free. Bold. Just try me once and I might let you go, You could have said no, and just walked But try twice, and I’ll own your soul, Away. Comprehension When I possess you, you’ll steal and you’ll If you could live that day over, now what By Michael Madrid lie Would you say? You do what you have to—just to get high I’ll be your master, you will be my slave In all reality is this reality probably not The crime you’ll commit for my narcotic I’ll even go with you, when you go to your ‘cause I Charms Grave. Suffer from insanity Will be worth the pleasure you’ll feel in Now that you have met me, what will you This is a fantasy or just a crazy dream or a Your arms, lungs, your nose Do? dream You’ll lie to your mother; you’ll steal from Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you Inside another dream that’s trapped inside Your dad I can bring you more misery than another dream When you see their tears, you should feel Words can tell, That goes on forever or that will never end sad. Come take my hand, let me lead you The big question is when the nightmare But you’ll forget your morals and how you To hell. begins were A little morbid just feed on it absorb it Raised. Misconceptions understand it I’ll be your conscience, I’ll teach you my By Otis L. Jones Until you wish you never knew it way. Then exhale and breathe now we can’t I take kids from parents, and parents from Never will I allow the world to place in a feel a thing kids box.

17 Because everything they believe me to be, I know he is me. I am not. Dead Bird. Empty Nest. And everything they believe I am not, I am. A Natural Said you goodbye to the ones you love? Still, I never worry because my soul rest in By L. Vasquez Before they soared away and above? God’s hand. Peace made? Feelings pressed? Misunderstood by the world, never quite Unorthodoxed in my ingenuity fitting in with my peers. Innovative in my annuity. Dead Bird. Empty Nest. The perception of this life changes to me, Self-educated, though I’m sure that they This came of you, my little friend who, with each passing year. tried Unaware that feel now I for you… Battling for peace within myself often Two educations together combined. Still Mind. Heavy Breast. causes internal strife. Next-level observations, I search for The Pebble in the Pond In the middle of the day, it seems the what’s not seen By Jonathan C. Holeman darkness never shined so bright. Listen to their words and hear more than But, never will I let the world place me in a they mean The current flow gentle box. More importantly, I hear what they don’t Rolling along, glistening Because everything they believe me to speak Rushing softly over be… I am not. And find the secret motive hidden in Aged smooth stone barricades May God Bless the soul of a child who cloaked speech. Broken by the rains of time holds his own. The glittering sifting sands Because often Misconceptions causes I rhyme because I can, I don’t have to at Twinkle, like starlight what’s right, to seem all so wrong. all Beneath a watery sky Death to Misconceptions!! Allow people to Alive, and if I am, then the passion evolves And along this soothing course be themselves. So why must I be bland without fashion or Of waterfalls, streams, and rapids gall Is a small and silent pond And die without a stand like I’m happy to And deep below the surface Dude, That’s Deep fall? Shines a tiny beacon Don K. Brown II A serene piece of peace Intelligent like a genius bored as a well A forgotten relic Deep so deep Shakespearean: irrevelance was short Trapped beneath a shore And long, and wide when it fell. And guided into a pool In this river of fear The mic does the talking, it holds me in its To show its light above He rides the tide hand Its message of nature The pen does the writing, I just read what I Refreshment and beauty Deep so deep can. Bound by hope The remorse he feels The lies he tells The paper is alive like a sentient being The Singing Pen The trust he steals. It whispers in my mind, I can see what it’s By Wen-Dell seeing Deep so deep The words give me breath, they’re the I introduce my pen to paper and The darkness grows reason I’m breathing bring my thoughts to life. I give special The pain he feels A slave to the ink, she’s the beating I’m curedit to my dear sweet mother, who The shame he knows. bleeding. taught me how to read and write. Do you like music? For you my pen is going to Deep so deep So when you speak of poets, poetic in now sing. When I’m happy, she sings. His resentment lies poetry When I am sad, she cries. Listen to my His anger dwells Formats and formulas, phonetical potency, singing pen, for she never lies. She moves In his buried pride. Constructs, narrative tone and imagery like a ballerina so gracefully. Listen to this Never mention my name: metaphorical song she has written for you and for me. Deep so deep simile. Inside his soul An excerpt from—Metaphorically Speaking She can transform a blank piece His true self seeks Vol. 1—A message to the youth of paper into a beautiful work of art. Words His real goal. contain so much beauty, when they flow from the heart. She sigs of love. She sings Deep so deep Silent Moment for lovers like you and me. People without His guilt it rests By Garrett Lincoln Morris someone to love are imprionsed by His joy denied loneliness. They’re longing to be free. I By second bests. Dead bird. Empty Nest. often talk to my pen, when no one is What came of you? Small abandoned around. She answers my questions Deep so deep one? without ever making a sound. I asked her, But he must climb free Your little life, surely, scarcely done? “Do you think that you could learn to love a Because deep inside Lone Grave. Pose of Rest. man like me?” “What do you know of love,”

18 she says? I respond, “There isn’t anything She knows that I haven’t got a dime. She Do you like them? more precious in this world. Love is more loves me for the beautiful way I make her My daughter asks, valuable than money. Love is sweeter than feel all of the time. Baby, if it sounds good Handing them over, with a kiss honey. Love increases each time you to you. It must be good for you. Sure I’d Oh, my, yes! I exclaim spend it. Money decreases each time you like to be rich, but without you, I would still (Feeling a knot in my throat) spend it. It’s not how much money you be poor. You said that you love me; well, “I But aren’t you have, it is what you do with it that truly love you more!” Allergic to them, hon? counts. Love is really all that counts.” With a sheepish smile She sings, “Love is like a bank And a tiny nod, My love doesn’t cost a dime. The account. You can only get out of it, what She comments: only thing I ask of you is some of your you put in. We became lovers, after we For you I’d pick the sun precious time. The more you love, the became friends. Relationships take time to more you are sure to weep. Love for most build. Effort to grow and work to last. The Truth of Experience… Still Alive. people is simply too deep. Listen as the kind of work that never ends.” Sing that By C. Wright pen makes passionate love to may paper. song for me again? Sweet pen, make love Here’s my heart, please take it. Before you to my paper, over and over again. I don’t To think I would have learned a lot in a accept my heart, you must promise not to ever want this love affair to end… Love is quarter of a century. break it. Love is the beginning. Mistrust is the beginning. Hate is the end. Hate is the The eye of doubt winks to question my the end. Dishonesty is the enemy. Love is enemy. Love is the friend. Hatred only capability. the true friend. Love is the beginning of serves to blind us. Love helps us to see. Now I sink, but just down the path a-ways. understanding. Understanding is the Hatred imprisons us. Love sets us free. The morning sun reveals the future in the beginning of wisdom and wisdom is the You may share your love with the world, distance. fruit of knowledge. I want you to save your but don’t give it all away, because I’ll be Through a smokie throat I hear a young love for me. May this song help you to see. coming home to you one special day. man sing. Love is not blind. Love is simply hard to Yesterday you were his. Tomorrow you’ll Fallen leaves claps to their own Autumn define. Puppy love is beautiful. Mature be mine so, let us value today! All my love! breeze symphony. love is divine. True love is a lofty state of Donald Thetford Together they harmonize survival through mind. Once you discover real love, everyone. everything will be just fine. The ability to Misery Loves Company Their song I learn or know from before and love is inherently present within us all, but it lifts me rung-by-rung. instead of rising in love, we allow other’s to Echoes of laughter haunt these What is going to happen when the lights come between us, who most often, cause chambers, still. Cascades of crystalline go out? us to fall. memories, unbidden, wear raw the Where is everybody who helped drown the landscape of my heart, leaving it scarred fire out? The song my pen sings will and tender. As I life awake, tears of regret You may look, but there is just one truth; sometimes make you laugh. Sometimes spill quietly down my face. The laughter the truth of experience. you can’t help but to cry. She is not now taunts me; there’s no hiding place. Wake up in the new year. perfect, but she does try. She says, “She What will be will be, I am forced to accept Travel north to see the snow. couldn’t survive without her paperman,” with a heavy-hearted sigh. Perhaps this is Go see your friend, bring him cheer. and without her, I’d rather die! Without my true punishment, where the mind You might find him just sitting there— each other, we have no reason to exist. cannot escape and the heart cannot Waiting to move because you never do. We have no purpose. We were created to mend… There is a band down at the club tonight. create beauty. We were made for each Oh that this were only a Go see what they have to say: other. Only a woman knows the joy and nightmare! I would wake, to live again. Where they’ve been, pain of being a mother. I know what she The night passes like a sloth, Poetic history. likes and she can read my mind, word for and my eyes grow dim. Sleep is a Knee deep in their quest for knowledge. word, line by line. Everything I think is welcomed savior, into who’s arms I wish to My favorite show has become the night clear for her to see. Every passing though fall. Ah, but sleep will not come until dawn, sky—on the rooftop high. she records for me. She sings for other if then. Thus I must endure yet another There are plenty of special guest starts— people; but, her heart belongs to me. I love sleepless night, filled with memories of and a trillion-mile screen. to watch her dance. She will only dance for what if’s and what-could-have-been’s… My girl is here in my arms—infinite me. She has sex with paper, but she Somewhere down the cellblock dreams. makes love to me. If you can read, she run, I hear a sniffle. There is a rainbow around the moon may give you a chance. It’s only sex I tell Seems I have a friend tonight. myself, because only my eyes can witness We stay home and drink the ‘old’ beer. her love dance. Starshine innuendo holds us tight. Daddy’s Girl We see and hear th movie in the She has her faults. Her poems atmosphere. don’t always rhyme. I overlook er I remember the daisies Out of space, but out alive— shortcomings and she forgives me for Bent and wilted, Still alive under the phantom tide. mine. She doesn’t love me for my money. Proudly held in her tiny fist

19 Seeing is seeing, we all do it, as the Like a Piglatin mass phenomenal world reflects Much to our woe and regret Sweet Reminiscence To us—endlessly like a mirror. By J.W Johnson Is the reflection too bright to see? And too it was I that had noted The CIA turds candy coated Time seems to stand still, Blind Lovers From Senate to Merkel As the memories By Brandon Rushing Completes not w the circle Of my yesterdays And we think was Snowden that gloated Occupy my thoughts. Their secret passion, Silent whispers in passing. See now director explain And feed the beat Lingering embraces, How agency circles the drain Within this lonely heart. Hidden from the world. Deny, deny Was a smoke thin veil, Then lie and lie A place I go A translucent image. That piss on my back isn’t rain To get away Pale gossamer coverings. From The gossip on the town. “Beyond the pale” he ranted The harsh realities “Seeds of deceit have been planted, Of life. The Velocity of Pure Consciousness honest as scouts By Dion Coleman It’s only you doubts” Summers were special. Two weeks and now he’s recanted Love was easy. To be able to reach deep, beyond the Naivety was bliss. shallow. And now to the public, “I’m sorry” What freedom! From glazed over eyes that are starry A pick and choose photo shop, Notice yourself and you will notice your Yet still in the skies Of perfect flash-snap shots. freedom. Are satellite spies In order to fly you must open. Like wildebeest on a safari! I see the smiles, Have you ever seen a bird fly without Robert Tashbook Hear the laughted, opening his wings? (Hebrew translation) And feel the warmth inside. To soar into the extremes of the universe on must open Geshem b’Sheol At times it’s all I ever have, We are born to fly, or like a bird who Ya-ace ha’macomb Gan Eden To make me feel alive. decides he will no longer Hoo ba’protrot Open his wings. Different Forms of Seeing Your life will plummet! Shelach es amee By Cesar Molina By remaining open you will always fly, V’avduni, Moshe a mar grow and change. Elah lo sohgad So much to see, even with eyes closed When you land, it may be on happiness or there’s so much to see. pain. The rain in Hell While out in the town or when falling But if you remain open you can fly to the Makes the place quite heavenly asleep, how good can next. Devil’s the details Appearances be? It all depends on what Or remain closed and find death in your your likes and dislikes are right? depth. Let my people go As for me whatever is clever; as I always So they can worship, he said say when we’re not But, they failed to pray Sure of what to expect. All we usually say “Summers were is “we’ll see.” From anyone you could see anything in a special. response to a question Jagged Thoughts One might have. Love was easy. By Christopher Hopkins It is there to see! “Different forms of seeing”… Naivety was bliss.” Raped of humanity – stabbed with justice Or you could see much better when and morality; wearing spectacle eye glasses -J.W Johnson For under the skin is soaked with Or through a sparkling clean windshield of consequences a car For the sin I’m in! “Different forms of seeing”… Can’t Imagine Arcanum Camera lenses, old and young people By M. Griffis Expired mentally, absorbed into the alike, they see any form of system – imploded Being-the object, subject it is there to see! T’was I that said never forget Psychologically to understand See whatever and however you can! And too how much do you bet the judicial. My words come to pass

20 Never-ending thoughts tip-toe on chicken But many things for which I felt So I wait for the day wire, a I should apologize. That all I will see Postmortem date past time to Is these prison gates expire I’m looking back across my life Open up just for me To everything I have lost or made, Victimized, scrutinized – downcast by And I cannot recall a single time, Dreams society – When fury ever paid. By Don Jose Antonio Saez Under the microscope of felons. Whose the So I struggle to be patient Drift away in a dream Real criminal? Since I have reached a wiser age. And leave behind no legacy I do not want to do a thing Nor scriptures of impending Hola Ebola Or, speak a word in rage! Prophecies to contradict realities’ lies. By M. Griffis I have learned by sad Breathe the fragrance of fantasy It seems now that trouble has landed experience And then behold insanities sane realm With doctor infected and branded That when my temper flies, Through a blind man’s eyes! Nothing to fear I never do a kindly deed, Ebola is here A decent deed or wise! Forsake physical agony What say ye now of my candid While seeking mental ecstasy. As eight hundred bodies lay Wicked Anatomy dead By “Terry Lee” Nelson Listen to that siren song “Trust us” the government said Conceived in mystical love “We think it’s contained To this soul this heart appertains Inspiring foolish hearts to hasten ‘Cause we’re so well damn In meaning to the reversed side of this Beyond the beckoning threshold trained, brain Of the dream keeper’s door. We’re betting your lives it won’t As blood turns to acid so black spread Coursing through veins starting to crack -Untitled- “For we have technique and finesse Bones upon bones become ashes of time Kellon M. Williams And too have the good Lord to bless” Slurry of bodily fluids now a crusted grime Remember the pox Testaments of life in finality My eyes have captured the moments We let loose in a box Memoria of fated totality spoken This too is a pool of cess Truth is all but wicked lies Exuding life to the lifeless. Already I’m feeling Impale the irises of these dying eyes Breathing energy swimming about, past much better In these last moments of breath the anguish, Watching them work Taste the flesh before claimed by death To the water falls Genesis of existence. by the letter Sins of the father or imperfections of the Where the inhabitants of pretense, Gloves, caps and mother In subtlety exist. gowns What is the blame when there is no other Between the makeup of dialogue, Not litter our So mother Death and Father time The flow of this. towns Come claim what is not mine Lately been walking with a bit of And I feel the need for Anatomy a shell for this soul pretentious, a sweater In this dying Life has no control Notions in my presumptions, There just isn’t nothin’ as scary In my Hands place a black rose By letting the future you be, As “Trust Me” responding to query Lay me in supine pose The maestro of consumption. Or government masters As this Anatomy gives in to Death Change was made from within to the brim, That flirt with disasters So sweet is the morte in this last breath To the skin, whence darkness found its Turning serene into hairy! function. All I Can See Such an imposition to tread in the garden, By Trent Boon Gazing upon the dawns of one’s heart. Grey mornings highlight the rays, When I look in these walls The displays leaving silence an awe. My Temper Is bob wire fences Thoughts like “can time stand still if but for By Don Jose Antonio Saez And long concrete halls a minute,” If my time stood still Used to be said amongst them when When I have lost my temper It wouldn’t surprise feeling prestigious. And my cheeks are flaming red. Because that’s how it feels I always entire something When doing this time Lost Identity Which I wish I hadn’t said. Everyone’s there By Kevin Harrison When you first take your full In anger I have never done Then years pass and no one is left there at Thoughts of when I was a youngster, A kindly deed or wise, all Tends to captivate my mind,

21 Grew up lonely, at a loss for words, Freedom is gained by sleeping away time. Till I started drinking wine, Who fashioned the stasis to be so bland And it doesn’t hear repeatin’ Then I found that I could fit in, Like lukewarm water saturating the gland? I feel terribly cheap Anywhere and anyway, By this terribly beatin’ Man, I wish that I knew then, Outside the air is fresh and crisp, That have me on a restless sleep The things I know today, Inside the fans blow on her lips; I would’ve never, smoked that weed, While the sweat rolling down her neck, The way I have no authorship I would’ve never, joined that gang, Glimmers brightest on the nape and breast The way I have no loveship I should’ve listened to my O.G’s, No Name The way I’m like an abandoned sunken But I chose to sell em cocaine, ship A product of my environment, Eternally Bound Is the way I’m here delopringlyship. Or at least, I thought it was, Yeah, I grew up in a broken home, Eternally bound—she’ll forever know my The way profound Feelings grow to itch But I can’t say, there was no love, name. The way press for time on me stretch It all started as fun and games, Of all the air in the world her and I share The way all of this is Farfetched Now I’m strategizing for survival, the same. I wish I could just cease of existen’ Huey P. Newton and Maya Angelou, I am because she is. She is because I to. instead. Were true strong black idols, Death cannot hold love. So, forever I’ll Now I desire to make a difference, hold you. Sestina: The Poltergeists Sick of seeing my people struggle, I feel you in my chest: a beating, rolling, By Maure B. Wade Looked down on and criticized, thunder. Like we’re the reason, for all this trouble, What GOD has joined together let no man Kali: Going forth that day to fight the I ain’t never owned no boat, put asunder. poltergeists And I ain’t never flew no plane, Past time. Past space, distance, and I was surprised to find it had such cunning, From the beginning, we were victimized, opposition Avoiding the moon in thickets veined and So how in the heck, are we to blame, Where your heart is, I am. I make GOD my dark, Railroad then shackled up, Witness. Ready to spring and stun the hunter’s Man, this is no longer a game, I love you with a passion, extended arrow They got me trapped, inside these prison indefinitely Useless. Then the girl came, knowing walls, Eternally bound. Her and I… The danger, knowing the only weapon, With a number, for a name. … We fire.

Restless Sleep Trapped by trees and bushes blooming By Francisco “Bule” Ramirez fire, The spirit burst the thicket. I saw the Someone said it poltergeists “Notice yourself and Never waste an opportunity Pierced by the girl, and loved her, knowing I hate to accept it Release, while at that moment, woman’s you will notice your Worlds purloin serenity cunning Fired a brand that flew, straight as an freedom.” – Dion And this happens arrow When good graces preserves the mind To smother me down into this flaming Coleman When seein’ an act opens dark. But Futile away behind Oya: Far from Africa where I had sucked The way I have no authorship dark Four Quatrains: The way I have no loveship Wild milk, I saw in Jerusalem by fire— By Kellon M. Williams The way I’m like an abandoned sunken Light what Kukiyu called The Man. A ship woman’s arrow Fall! Fall! Descending to nothing Is the way I’m here delopringlyship. Slew him. That was all and yet, the Sleep alludes me so still I function; poltergeists To float within the cold of night The way profound Feelings grow to itch Has watched me since, in dreams, with Would be the birth of my delight. The way press for time on me stretch heavy cunning The way all of this is Farfetched Eyes. Women say that prince died without The scrapping of machinery dictates life, I wish I could just cease of existen’ knowing Like sheep bleating from lost sight. instead. Spoken words from calls stops the flow; What consumed him. I understand that When realizing a legacy’s no more. His words were prove to be true knowing Bein’ Far hurts just as is And fearing white eyes in the moonless Prisoners are caged when they obstruct Dreams that could never come true dark. the line, I got tired of all this I have eluded them till now, with cunning,

22 But now, fast as I run, my breath on fire, To memories of hunger and Took 39 years to realize drugs = forbidden They gain the race. I scream to see the anger and frost fruit… poltergeists In the cold barren solitude where I Since it’s been chewed up, swallowed & Now armed, rising to plunge his burning survived smoked that’s moot. arrow. Like a stray on the run, never The knowledge of good & evil is what’s dead nor alive good but evil too! Artemis: Men said her body was a curving I longed for a day when my life would All alone we were told what drugs’ll do to arrow begin you, When she ran, almost as it, knowing For a chance to recapture the Yet my dumb numb A*@ wanted to Defeat a transformation, she fled a child within hallucinate? poltergeists And a chance for a love that transcends all Wow how now my mind likes to Rather than a man. The world turned dark time exaggerate! For many a loser, but the slow fire No matter the circumstance, the Especially when filling in the blanks of In my brain was one of Hell’s cunning. place, or the crime what I hear, How deeply afraid I’ve always been Or what’s just out of reach to the normal Three brass-bright apples, wormed with Of the lightness of being and the ear… cunning darkness within Oh I still hear… Spells tempted her path, and broke the Scary little messages that travel upon a stiffened arrow -Untitled- whispered word Of her form. I won the race. In fire Andrae Stradford What in my right mind could’ve been easily Of victory, I took her, even knowing written off as absurd… She blazed with her defeat. The moon- Delicately wrapped in glee Insomnia brings it on in extreme intensity eyed dark Apple blossoms bloom Till they’re coming quite often in high Saw our skins flaming, like two great Fourth of July booms density golden poltergeists. Sneezing itchy throats Not to be confused with high definition. Skunks and bears out of their lairs My vocabulary is above most so more Kail: Knowing the poltergeists is only the Insects and creepy crawlers words can rendition start of burning. Springtime is here Over & over some days till I just can’t take Oya: Poltergeists cunning turns all arrows Summer is near it… inward. You look great with grey hair Yet it’ll do no good if I smash my radio & Artemis: Both slain and slayer must share Happy Birthday Mama Bear break it. the same dark fire. So I guess I’ll just act like I’m fine for a Turned up & regrettin’ it! while & fake it… The Child Within By Joseph Sierski Sometimes fun & amazing sometimes so By Robert Patnoude scary I wonder… Will I make it? Did God ever speak to you through a How deeply afraid I’ve always been song? I Am From Of the lightness of being and the Which made you wish you didn’t used to By Kellon M. Williams darkness within sing along… Ever since time as a memory for me Cause now you might know its melody yet I AM FROM… The dark side has reigned- its words’ all wrong. Wood floors under tin roofs and A corrupt monarchy Since you memorized it now the message Hurricanes in June. How deeply I’ve felt apart from the norm is clear & true; The swish from machetes and Of not fitting in from the day I These words have their special meaning Handmade straw brooms. was born just for you! Powering up in the oceans And how does a child, like a dog in the Or is this since I idolized music it’s my While bathing in the rivers. pound false god? Brown wood with bright colors, Learn how to love in the lost and I know these thoughts seem kinda odd… Insects with a bite you wouldn’t believe of. the found Yet it’s happened again & again. The smell of callalu and dumpling soup, And how does he bury his past like a bone So I wonder will it occur again & when? Nutmeg in the shadowing chicken coop. Of contention and conflict—a Till it finally does all over, usually I cry childhood alone A zillion reasons flash by in the blink of an I AM FROM… And how does he learn that he does eye, The sea grape, mango tree, coconut and belong Yet I usually settle on the one most breadfruit. That it’s ok to cry and to important; The skin-up tree that allowed me sometimes be wrong Why have I been so stubbornly blind & To see what flows from the family jewel. And hot to discover that a hug and a kiss insubordinate? Are better by far than a leash or Couldn't have followed the rules & obeyed I AM FROM… a fist more quickly? Cornmeal for breakfast, And how to recapture a childhood lost How come I as bred to have a head so Tea and biscuits at high noon. thickly? Graveyard as a playground

23 With the sweetest treats around tombs. Before the break of dawn. Smocking hydro and red hair. Ethiopian Animism blended with honoring I Love You’s when I don’t care. I AM FROM… the Virgin Mary, On my knees staring up, Prying the rosary on Fridays, Chants and Drumming in the hills, Begging please take me there. Fasting the same day. As a youth left me very scary. An Island boy down to the depths of my All white on Ash Wednesday, core, Sleeping in the jungle I AM FROM… Who gets empowered every time they say When it’s time to get away. St. Georges Grenada and West Indian “Daddy, I love you more.” Ancestry. I AM FROM… African tails and Spanish sails write my I AM FROM IT ALL…. Jabbs Jabbs, glow bugs and history. Carnival in the fall. Big pots for Sussie, salt fish and banana. Sojourner I am from Theresa Jacinta and Micheal Correct me not bwoy, potua be the name By Lucky General Borg (Greg Buck) Samuel. of the gramma. The daylight slowly slips away— I AM FROM… I AM FROM… Beneath the darkening skies. Hard work and determination with a will, Phrases that speak, such as: I feel myself begin to stir, Vegetables and rice, fresh bread with “You remind me of your fatha, I bid my soul to rise. every meal. Ah lady’s man who loved till it hurt. Take me from this wretched place— Discipline with the quickness Mechanical mind of genius, Into my blessed home. When restrained words start to spill. Who but couldn’t spell cat in the dirt.” No longer can I bear to watch These streets that I have roamed… I AM FROM… I AM FROM… “Make haste nah mon! Ehhh wadda you!” The sea turtle shell and conch shells, Ambitious And “Me ah box yah the head.” In the homes where I dwell. By Jonathon Rininger And once you traversed over water, Family bibles like mini tables These are the first words ever said: That expel the demons back to hell. The ambitious are vicious when wishes “In America you gotta work ten times as come hard, I AM FROM… Provokin’ the push and pull until the list is Unlike dem boys out there, playing the Plush carpets and tile floors, done. yard.” Mopping the floors on all fours. Relentless with the persistence of a lookin’ “Boy, gonn got two strikes against you.” Granite like formica type, junkie, (Spoken words be ever true) Covering up the draws. Shouldering to the top with a skillet, STRIKE—1: They’ll only see you in their Driving lessons from golf carts, cooking monkeys. eyes as a black man. Mercedes and the Grey Jaguar. The scary who tarry actin’ merry, but really STRIKE—2: You’re a foreigner, be bad “Tickety, tickety, tickety, tickety, weary they send you back man! That was my car!” Mold up like dairy with the animistic poison they carry. I AM FROM… I AM FROM… Defiance towards any alliance only fuels Strike the nail alright bwoy, The second window story ledge, riots. Hit is on the head. My perch. Loneliness you can buy it, the top’s on a Strike wit all your might bwoy, Neon lights I kept bright diet. While the fire’s red. Whence shadows would lurk. Slim down lookin’ grim now, the cycle trims When there’s work to do bwoy, nouns Do it wit a will. I AM FROM… Merely fighting dim rounds, so they throw Those who reach the top bwoy, The heart always, in his towel, First must climb the hill. Giving it all in all ways. All shots at the rim foul straight out of Standing at the bottom bwoy, Passion under stilt houses bounds. Gazing at the sky, As the rain plays. Words generate so much power; how can How will you get up bwoy, you doubt the sound? If you never try? I AM FROM… Here clout is found and brings goals to Though you stumble up bwoy, The right knee genuflect, empower success. Never be downcast. Tilted neck for the peck. Laziness brings the uneducated guess that TRY, TRY AGAIN BWOY, YOU’LL Hatchet demos for respect and sours to a mess. SUCCEED AT LAST! Strain of neglect. In the Markey I AM FROM… I AM FROM… By Eddie Menetee The inside of Cathedral churches on The Psycho analysis for a battered wife. Sunday, Therapist for a battered life. I stand—In the market to be seen—Yes, I Eucharist in the palm. Cocaine and mushrooms to shield want Saying prayers to the Almighty The pain inside my eyes.

24 Existence—But not that of a thing—Damn For we tell the world, We must give them our soul this we’re greatest and best Translucent body! Unnoticed in the And our way of living Enchanted Voice scene—behold by God has been blessed My dread supreme. But ashes to ashes and too dust The name that I cried to dust It gave to me truth I stand—In the market to be heard—But It doesn’t appear, as we claim in Believe that I died Every time I speak—It all seems so God trust Yet I still have no proof absurd—Speaking For thou shall not kill is indeed a command But truly, I’ve seen Into nothingness—My words drown in the We take it as solemn as laughter that’s The voice that’s so great herd—Each stare must be endured. canned She’s forever the queen! Love one another, that too a tall Please make no mistake I stand—In the market as a dream— order Indeed it feels For when we are killing we offer So real—yet hidden in the seams—seems no quarter The Awkward Stare an utter Until we can change and repent from our Nothingness—A nothingness that sin I use your picture screams—The glitter’s lost Mankind will suffer again and again To mark my book Its gleam. My prayer and my wish for this warm It’s rude to stare festive season Though, I must look I stand—In the market—Still. We open our hearts to the spirit Not yet your page of reason But I skim through Change Joy to the world, and too peace on earth Just for those words By Nathaniel Vowalsin If indeed we’re the salt, then we need That I call you Dedicated prove our worth. I count the days A Political Lie As time fades, Holding no regrets, There are recycled chemicals For the mistakes I made, Coming forth from this spout Depressed, RJ Clayton Poetry And a little bit of sewer water Stuck in a cage. Going inside all of our mouths Against the clock, All of this blackened frost I’m battling age. Yes they will surely say God forgive, Before the disease A Cure is Born “We won’t burn any more coal I’m stuck in my ways. No, not even for another day” Heaven forbid, The cure for your careers And help me to change. May be found in some lobsters Money Don’t forget, the crustaceans too Moment of Silence Everyday do make drink Everyone agreed By Michael Griffis That your blood may not stink And so, it took hold Hibiscus tea, cloves and cinnamon brew Defined it’s own creed There’s been so much killing it’s hard So please - make no mistake - A darkness, so bold keeping track Ginger eat with mandrake The name that we gave, Though seems like our children are Inside hulled barley , every day do Almighty - A THRONE - leading the pack With all our crabs and starfish We lose at the grave It’s made all the headlines, the doom and We - as a whole - answer their wish Its power, all gone the gloom This evil, we may now subdue We’re now shooting babies while still in the Daily slice your raw potatoes To See the Truth womb Top them with much brown sugar It’s wholesale slaughter and death by the Then consume them, before you’re To you lot consumed I give truth Our children are smothered and lined up Even though and shot At 13- The Game Begins You won’t believe They’re drowned in our pools, our lakes Remove all and our ponds There are demons assigned Of your superstition ‘Tis how we are choosing to sever our To us all at our birth Evil uses bonds A few tricks up their sleeves Just to deceive We now kill so many we’re no They confuse our true worth But forever longer shocked Yes they all set the stage In her service We are though belittled, and so For a purpose and goal Your soul often mocked To convince you and I It must be

25 This price Time right behind him? This is what you’ve dreamed of All must pay The singer follows Who is quitting to tell such absurdity If you wish to see Eternal play of day Go! Run! For the next seeing of the blood dawn Guardian Just Go Is not promised! The fly knows this A giant cat There is no erasing in Are you dumber than a fly? With yellow eyes Poetry Go…. Run… So many names No I think does or noes Fulfill your fantasies and wants Are her disguise Pure non-stop flowering Because you only live once Beside a mountain Of the mind And to live, my friend, is to let death She quietly sits No eraser marks- Straight through the door Light houses are proof Only scribbles Aim for first, never for last That she exists You must go on as if every Fear Not Breath-step! You take is Your last Chad Frank Poetry Why must you fear a horned evil-doer? Dead man walking with Why must you fear evil? Dreams to be fulfilled Monsters When the one you must fear is the One who claims of not sinning Me Children do battle Banging his book containing all of With make-believe monsters while Your secrets- the ones you’ve brought Rejected by the devil Reality lurks close by To the grave Ignored by god Watching and waiting Total number of breaths is documented Unseen by many For a chance to make them prey. As well Devil reject Why must you fear the devil who Ricardo Dominguez A Wonderful Life This Isn’t Knows nothing such And not god who has thrown billions Directions Found Houses burn down Into a lake of (fire) People die With no explanation to the action Amidst torrential circumstances, sprouts Children cry Only that you did not fear him or his so purpose Pictures survive Called son Independent of currents, his nature Jimmy Stewart lied-- Why do you fear death when god is alive Endeavors to elevate inspirations A wonderful life this isn’t Peeking over your shoulder when you For he that drowns at last has directions. Think you’re alone Why fear the devil little redman pitch fork Manipulated Soil Attached Dexter Rabadan Poetry And not god creator of life as well death Ignorance curtains standards that inspire Why fear the devil who sits beneath As cascades scatter the course of purpose That Was There? While god treads on water and presents The obscured paths convert constantly Himself as a trio to billions unaware When sediment is swayed so naturally Of his presence Rare is the soul, if it exist, that The singer sails westward Blind if you lay a single eye on him can escape from its existence. Psyche’s Winds of an old gust drive on The devil is the least of your worries survival requires for us to be exposed to, The man-waker heads west God is the creator of pain and death and infected by, and swayed with it as our The singer follows Sorrow-god is the reason you cry confused nature demands it. Yet, it is criticized, Not wanting company of the wave-waker And you blame the devil For day is not over, eternally God have pity on your soul, fearless ridiculed, and marked as flawed… fools! Perched on a money-ladder Have we not embraced it and applied it in Eagerly waiting for him? To catch up doing so? Judgment itself is the The day is not measured on the west nor A Fly In My Eye quintessential elysium of it. With it as is the wing-holder sword thus sands are slaughtered, with it Time is of no essence Balancing your hopes dreams on a as shield thousands are rejected. Die, dead Tight rope can be dangerous Then let us see it as it is and Live, die But none the less you must accept that we are no more than wild Born dead Carry on forward animals without it. But then, even wild Like the sunset Going knowing you can’t do what is animals are its adaptation. So it is you We rise, fall Planned then that miraculously exists without it that Birds sing But with pure stubbornness is flawed, in error and contradictory to an And man-waker moves west You will not accept defeats fit existence. Create nothing in your image!... As if in a hurry There’s no swallowing your pride for if you have no vanity

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"Be the pen that writes our history. Be

the ink that refuses to be erased."

— Rudy Francisco

“The analysis of one’s own interpretations is more often than not a mirror of ones self-make reflection. Life is such that it does not escape the darkest abyss nor the brightest illumination of our being. For better or worse, we understand what we’ve created not as it is but as we create it. After all, we made it. And thus, even as it is named, labeled and categorized; it does not exist without our making it so. It is what we want it to be and it is what others see it in fit to be… so it warps, transforms, and molds into anything and everything – except what it truly is” – Dexter Rabadan

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