Black or White
a common soul
Beneath the surface
of hate resold
Uncolored ground
that buries deep
A shared endowment
— to haunt our sleep
(Dreamsleep: August, 2026)
I believe in oceans
because I read
I read that they are green, and gray, or blue,
amethyst when daylight packs its cloudy bags
I believe in oceans
that they are more than waves and water
that there are beings who breathe inside them
plankton that drift in the current
algae, seagrass that wave to invisible companions
jellyfish, dangerous and translucent--
I believe in these.
Giant clams, who slam their engraved doors
on breakfast,
Phosphorescent jellyfish, undulating their many legs.
I have mused on the brittleness of crabs
and whales so colossal
that a planet might have swum by.
I tread brokenly on the constant earth
bruising when I fall
gulping the uncolored air
anxious for the future
believing in oceans.
i stand
beneath this somber sky
lost in the depths
of its misty eyes
sharing my tears
in this new year
dawning upon me
uncolored
unfocused
like these thoughts
of finding love
along life's road
i feel abandoned
like the old house
on the hill
ready to crumble
back to the dust
from which it came
its weakened frame
weathered in years
stands unsteady
unsure of its fate
as days move by
in slow lonely waves
of years passing by
like onlookers
staring in disbelief
where beauty once stood
but now lingers
empty inside
lost in the same depths
as i beneath this somber sky
Dove-like bloom, uncolored queen bee in full sphere.
10.05.16
For Silent One's contest
"One liner about YOU"
My deep empty eyes pits
Sink further into my clean skull
As the cracks in the dry ceiling
Smile down at my prone body
I’m in place like a packing peanut
In this soft little box
That pills and taut cotton
have allowed me to accept
This place with drugs
Is warmer than snow, even when it’s cold
It’s draped with uncolored canvas
A blank slate for my mind
To cage me in
To stifle me
To tie down my mind, like my body
To the ninety degree corners
Of a perfectly shaped mind
A perfectly shaped world
A perfectly faked reality
It’s unbearably white.
a disinteresting air
another gaze
within a full length mirror
a persnickety grimace
bandaids
the severed slices
of crystal
sleeping
within my
larynx
excuse my idiotcy
not utilizing
punctuation marks
cmon darling
please please
warrant my arrest
dementia is not covered
under my insurance policy
but
cough spit
mutants
like myself
somehow survive
religiously pathetic
empathically morose
sympathetically laughable
one last day
one fleeting
precious
moment
the rifle is gently removed
from an uncolored mantle
periwinkle would have
been my palor of choice now
Say ah and place
the hunter's
metallic eye
strategically
down your throat
everything is pretty
everything is so goddamn
wonderful
sweat on my forehead
sweat on the trigger
one deep breath
one more for good riddance
go my sweetheart
cmon
pull it
i said pull it
for a starved beggar's last day
will be
righteously
and
magnanimously
honored
by himself
Like the hour of sleep approaches,
Everything goes down.
In the direction of everything
I close my eye in search of rest,
And I find a dream,
Without an answer of the rain
As lightning and thunder is accompanied,
My dream remains uncolored.
As daybreak, I get up with an answer,
To move in direction of the weather
With an umbrella, I shade the fear of getting wet.
But soon, it gets sunny.
I left home with an umbrella,
The answer to my fear of not getting wet
And not getting dry.
"To reduce water from getting out of you or getting into you, use an umbrella"
Africa! Africa!
Such a beautiful word to thy ear
You speak of great wealth
In your land’s enrichment
And of your knowledge.
Africa! Africa!
I’m sorry for what happened to you
All of the hurt and pain you went through.
The struggle of a black man
Shipped to another man’s land
Cursed and beaten
For the joy of the uncolored.
Tears dripped
Blood shed.
Please!
Do forgive them
For if we retaliate
We are no better than them.
Africa! Africa!
You’ve spread your achievements
Both far and wide
Now people can see
What greatness you behold
Yet deeper than every eye to see.
Africa! Africa!
Can you hear that?
It’s coming from the north
And the east
And of the west
It’s your people
And they are coming home
Home to stay.
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