Road to Liberation

We seek it daily while reaching and teaching the younger
that when it rains it pours, but you can’t let it take you under
No longer stuck in a trap
looking back at the world with open eyes that were once blind, in fact
we lost years for that
We’ve packed prisons for that
We’ve lost children or we raised them just the same
That is nothing nice or sane
through these nights of pain
we pray that the morning ends the mourning
but it's feeling the same
How can we change?
Make it for better instead of the worse this time and rise up out of the hurt?
Can we get it straight and break every constraint on our brains
we're in modern day chains
It becomes simple and plain when we're tempted to blame
another race for the things we've got to change
inside of our own minds
acknowledge our own times
and promise we die in vain
Time gets harder and shorter the longer you live, that's how it is
we've got to survive for all the kids
Infact, parents outliving their children is really ill and it's really for real in my city
we stand still and watch with pity
still too busy to feel that we've all got a problem, "they shot him and he's probably killed". We see the news and read the papers about all the hatred
we're living the blues like Billie Holiday sang it
And she sang them too well
so if we're singing them similar
we are not living well.

The Gift of Being a Father

Wrapped in brown skin floats my true gift
the one I would ask for if only I had one wish
Will he have my eyes, my ears, my head, or my nose?
Are the questions I’m guessing the answers to as he grows.

He broke water rushing me out of work to catch him
to ensure the first hands he lands in carries a love filled blanket
Shivering and shaking, he’s history in the making
a testament to God’s presence and the impact He’s making.

Resting on my chest our hearts beat as one
it’s euphoria, this must be where dreams come from
Santa can never provide this type of treasure
and I have never seen a stork who swoops down in the ghetto.

I’ve been blessed with a responsibility, I deserve it and I cherish it
no one can separate what is created through merit
We mold his mind, combined with his mother’s and mine
a prophecy filled, my miniature sign of the times.

It's On Me

Struggling while reaping no progress
is stagnation at its best
A fighter’s reward is not found in victory
When winning is not an end result
The victory comes within the fight
As character is strengthened and dedication is unwavered
Life
Constantly searching for the unseen
With the belief one day something will be revealed
The truth is hiding behind Plymouth rocks
That symbolically block mentalities from seeing the light
Constantly giving your all when all you seek is a shot
To change the past
By pressing forward through daily battles that have blazed paths
And laid foundations undeniable and unshaken
Dying to live a life of simplicity and certainty
While living imperfectly in an imperfect world
Where society lies through history
Making untrained eyes blurred

Insomnia’s Influence .10

It’s just enough to keep me up
Fighting sleep
Heavy eyes wide shut
Thoughts roaming
I live in a dead zone
Forcing my pencil to paper
The lead finds home
Creating poems of the present
Reflecting on past lessons
in sporadic form

40 Years in the Making

So u think I’m quiet?
But this riot inside made a writer out of me.
I learned how to think ahead
while always acknowledging what’s behind me
So while you flow fast into the future
unattached to the past
I’ll be present
with the most powerful weapon made to last
See, they cant erase this
They cant “destroy the tape” this
So what they resort to is to alienate this
They want to disconnect struggle from our minds
Feed us democracy lies
America the beautiful?
Do u think I’m quiet?
This riot inside made a writer out of me.
Remember Watts when the lights went off
and when the lights went off over in Newark
when the city was hard and filled with the National Guard
Me, I wasn’t even thought of
but somehow I came off a branch of that bark
Deep rooted
Using the art to spark the way
to changed minds in changed times
What they give you is a chained mind
if you don’t seek for yourself
So u think I’m quiet?
But this riot inside made a writer out of me.

Generation: Movement

Change has truly come
The people have decided
To choose a leader

One who has led us
To look within ourselves first
To seek a purpose

We have grown through this
Momentous history ride
And waged a landslide

Involved we’ve become
In a process we once shunned
The voices have won

We’ve defeated odds
Indeed we’ve shattered the glass
And broke barriers

But now is the time
For persistence to be bred
Once all the tears shed

Continue to tread
Through troubled waters ahead
We have just begun

For the change we seek
isn't merely victory
Now begins movement

Formative Years

The youth are doubted
Old ideas need to be re-routed
Onto a path
Where the generation’s gap
Becomes crowded

The youth are eager
To be treated as equal
Until difference is found
While through common understanding
We all come around

The youth are bitter
From being shown less
Than the casual respect
While struggling to progress
Amid and environment of stress

The youth are present
Etching stones
Pressing on
Carving grooves on pages
Rattling the pavement
Letting it be known