We ride the shimmer, stardust spun/
Between the birth of dying suns/
A groove of galaxies unwinds/
The pulse of silence, vast, sublime/
Nebulae breathe, in violet streams/
We waltz on waves of astral dreams/
Comet tails curl, a cosmic tune/
Our shadows cast by fractured moons/
Through veils of gas and drifting light,
We pass from day into the night/
Where gravity’s embrace is loose
We dance, unanchored, star-induced/
Electric hearts, in sync, align
With every ancient, pulsing sign/
We cross the nebula, become
A groove eternal, endless drum/
And when the universe exhales
Its secrets, stardust, cosmic tales/
We’ll still be moving, you and I,
Across the nebula-lit sky/
THE STAGE IS MY PAGE
I don’t write poems—
I live them/
Jazz is my heartbeat/
poetry my voice/
truth my purpose/
I don’t sing the words/
I paint them/
in sound, soul/
and hip-spoken stories/
Man, that’s the vibe/
I speak the music/
all day, every day/
words, beats, people, power/
Real voices change the world.
Dreams don’t work/
unless you do/
Speak it/
Live it/
Love it/
Every verse is a movement/
a music poster for the mind/
The mic is my pen/
The stage is my page/
The Last Poets
“When the revolution comes,”
Politicians whispered sweet lies,
promising dreams that were never theirs,
while streets echoed with dreams denied,
and voices drowned in blood-stained hope.
Economies built on the backs of the weak,
wealth for the few, while many stayed silent,
coins of gold pooled, but hearts went cold,
hands reached out but never united.
The Last Poets rhymes like Hymns
echoing in alleys,
fingers snap,
feet tap,
words meet the pulse,
the Congo thump lifts hearts,
raw and real,
hip-hop’s roots grow deep—
But what has changed,
in this swirling maze?
Do we still speak the truth,
shout over sirens,
dream beyond the neon flash,
with wide eyes,
still fighting, still asking,
for justice in our sound,
each voice a note,
every story a song?
Breath Without Apology
I stand here,
with a chest full of echoes,
and a tongue heavy with prayers.
I want a life,
not stitched in fear,
but woven in safety,
like a blanket that never tears.
I want a love,
not a riddle,
not a puzzle with missing pieces,
but a flame steady,
burning without question,
a hand that does not tremble
when it reaches for mine.
I want peace,
not the fragile kind,
not the one that vanishes
when silence enters the room,
but peace that lingers,
like incense in the rafters,
like dawn refusing to surrender to night.
I want simplicity,
the kind that feels like home,
like laughter spilling in kitchens,
like children chasing shadows,
like the sound of rain
reminding us we are alive.
And if you ask me again,
what I want,
I will tell you
I want to breathe without apology,
to love without armor,
to rest without ghosts,
to live before dying,
to begin before ending.
© Tr. Elvis Otieno Gikoi
® ArtFromHeart
I am a proud American,
Nothing more, nothing less,
No tags to wear,
No labels to confess.
I am not blind to history,
Nor unaware of our mistakes.
Like nations older than our own,
We've known the risks that failure makes.
Yet through the trials of our past,
We learned, endured, and found a way.
To rise above our broken roads
And build a stronger path each day.
History is not a chain to drag,
Nor a script we must obey.
It is a compass in our hands,
To guide us forward on our way.
I know what this country means to me,
A truth no one can redefine.
Not by titles, not by degrees,
Nor by a different view than mine.
So let me stand where I believe,
Without demands that I conform.
Leave me be, and walk in peace,
No anger, only calm and warmth.
For I am a proud American,
Nothing more, nothing less;
A citizen of hope and freedom,
Without a need for anything else.
I’m just an American, and proud to be!
By James C. Chapman
life that knows death
and nevertheless continues
God is gracious
Grace granted after trial, mercy,
stronger than judgment
divine help that was not earned but
given
Ivo is the one preserved through death by grace
The evergreen life that survives the underworld because God has remembered it.
If my heart ever has trouble dancing on beat
Just put your lips on mine
When the poem won't write itself
Gently hold my hand
Because when your lips interlock
With my emotions
Holding the world feels as if I'm holding you
I’d be lying if I said my forevers
Didn’t send you an invitation
In every possibility
You make my imagination
A calm reality
Dreams become passing thoughts
Breathing obsolete
My soul defies gravity
I didn’t fall, I reached for you
Knowing together we're that much closer to heaven
With your love under my wings
Your safety in my arms
This life has no interrupting alarms
Carry this one request
Allow me to crave you
Not to be too forward
But I've been waiting for you
Since I thought I understood sacrifice
Then I began fasting to grasp what I didn't first comprehend
I been fasting
To experience love at its purest form
I’ve been talking to patience
To get familiar with your voice
A voice that makes the echo home
A voice that rocks me to sleep
A voice I long to see
p.s. I just want to be in your presence…
Remembering love, like yesterday's adventure
When passion was warm, stamina strong
Heart felt desire of its wants burn
Skin dripping enough make you wet
Excitement indulging need for love, oil
glistening off skin
Feel me; deep inside your curves I play
Fingers caressing beauty's cry, salt
taste upon lips
Tongues entangled, squeeze held tightly intense
Grasp of hair, pull me in deeper
Just wanting to crawl inside your depths
Soft tones whispering the flickering light
Night air, whisper of wind across heated body's
Sensuality, you can smell scent about air
Pleasures of love we once knew back when
Remembering love, hard and soft but two
hearts beating same
Byproduct
By Dustin Branum
Have you no clue how hard i try
To keep positive alive and negative aside
Why must you insist, genocide
Why must you feel the need to lie
I don't remember the reasons why
I cater to your deceptive lifes
What makes you think I'd oblige
Why must you live this way of life
Have you no clue how hard I try
To not do the things I so despise
To keep a hard face and try not to cry
If I do so, shall it be my demise
And should it be, I give you my word
Destiny will be mine fulfilled in time
I'll show the world that's being disguised
Time to reveal this knowledge I hide
As everyone starts to wonder why
But it's little too late to rectify
Nothing you say can justify
Living such a demonic life
My deepest fears are coming true
Total darkness is bleeding through
Raging inferno that's within my soul
No longer desires to maintain control
Exposing this darkness for all to see
"Reveal your demons!" You beg of me
This word driven
I'm trying to be driven by the struggles and mad situations that iv be around ..iv got to be driven for the opportunities that I can see right in front of my eyes... I swear there isn't no better motivation more than the hard times we all have been around that's what made us hit the bottom..of of the ground in the the first place what made us stand up and look around. so be driven to make whatever it is in your own version. of trials and tribulations..work. and this word driven is a universal word what we all should used to prosper in what helps you in your
own terms.... and this word driven what we all face in life..... I hope this word driven can make life a little bit better in time
This word driven in time..because
allbetter things in
A best friend is one of the purest forms of love
Not just one thing nah they be all of the above
That's the flower stepping out of the dirt
Because,
They ain't a real bestie if it's never been muddy
Water over dark or boiling emotions
I'm talking the one that's seen your tears ocean
As well as your smiles explosion
Inside jokes got us laughing outside the body
When we're together it's more than motion
That tag team be an undefeated potent
I'm talking poetic words spoken
I start the sentence you finish
Best friend language is never broken
Chemistry so good they think it's stolen
That's my partner in crime, call us
Bonnie and Clyde, we're forever in our prime
Our relationship could never have dime or time
Constraints, because when it's real
It's love and that's the definition of a sublime you can't rank
I'm talking a bond that's chemical
Call us ionic and iconic, ironic
But that's just God's sense of humor
So I know we're divine
So go ahead and try
To separate the Ne-on from our shine
p.s. you can't and that's not even the best part...
I sold my brother's coin collection for a fix/
Police and thieves/
Coke n smack, synth riffs and puffs
Jack McDuff, Sure ’Nuff ’n funk for you/
My life is on freeze, please don't tease
Pop the beat, heroin junkies down the street
Hookers trickin' where we used to meet/
Jazz horn and the abstract truth
The cross is afraid of women's rights/
Stay on the fight, the truth is right
Lo-fi delights while eating shrooms/
Mojave Desert eagle walk
While wearing peyote buttons round my neck
As we talked, a raven's feather flew in her hair
She was high on acid and said
I looked like a shaman dancing with a bear/
They tell you when you're young
that you don't know what love is.
Maybe they're right
because it took heartbreak
for me to finally understand what I need.
I don't just want to be loved.
I want to be yearned for.
I want someone who chooses me
without needing a list of possibilities
waiting behind my back.
I don't want to feel like an option
because someone can't find enough
in one person to be satisfied.
Because when I love,
I don't leave pieces of myself
in other people's hands.
I give one person my whole heart.
I want that same devotion returned.
I want someone who misses me
when I'm gone,
who feels my absence,
who doesn't constantly wonder
if something better is waiting somewhere else.
I've spent too much of my life
feeling like I was almost enough.
Almost chosen.
Almost worth staying for.
And I'm done with almost.
I don't need someone
who can tolerate my depth.
I need someone who craves it.
Someone who looks at me and thinks,
“I don't need anyone else.
I found what I was looking for.”
Because I don't want to compete
for a place in someone's heart.
I want to be chosen so completely
that there is nowhere else I'd rather be.
You put a face to every cliche about love
You bring balance where I feel off
You water the fruits of my spirit I neglect
You are the one I want to share my garden with
You make Texas feel like Eden
Got me cheesing through any season
I've never been this comfortable
I've never felt this strong while staying humble
Today God's breath breathed into your heart
Evidence of the son how your life flowers
I could never pick your petals but I'd always choose you
You are a blessing that overflows my cup
You challenge the best parts of me
So this is a thank you
For being in this part of my journey
I hope I can give you at least half of what you bring me
In a world where love is poisoned
You are a key ingredient to the antidote
You help me paint the color of hope
And I hope regardless of what life looks like
You know my heart grows deeper when thinking of you
p.s. for her…
I remember tomorrow, I know that sounds impossible.?
Like saying I have already cried?for a goodbye that hasn't happened yet.
But I can see the white rose
I can feel its stem between my fingers,?the thorn pressing into my skin,?and somehow, I know exactly when it will hurt.
I know there will be sunlight on the table.?I know someone will laugh in the next room,?I know I will stand there thinking,?Please, let me keep this moment.
And that is the strangest part?I haven't lived it,?but I miss it.
Maybe that's what love does.?Maybe loving something means?your heart starts remembering its ending?before your life has reached the
beginning.
Because I look at this rose?still closed, still becoming,?holding an entire bloom inside itself.
And maybe we are like that too:?carrying memories of places we've never been,?goodbyes we haven't said,?people we haven't met,?
futures we are already afraid to lose.
So yes, I remember tomorrow.
Not because I've been there
but because somewhere inside me,?I have already begun to love it.
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