A Poet Close to My Heart-- In Honor of National Poetry Month

This is a poem written a few years back, before this poet became hot on Milwaukee's streets. At the time, he was just a shy 19-year-old who used the pen and pad as his weapon against the world. Now, nearing 23, the pen and paper are still his weapon of choice, but he's turned it into something far greater. He shares his gift with the world. No longer able to bear the weight of lost souls on his shoulders alone, he stands on stages and rips mics to pieces as he spits lyrical bullets into the heart of the crowd. Many monikers, one man shooting for the goal to inspire and incite change. I offer a bit of the man I know and love with all of my heart through his poem:

Rainy Day

Everyday is a struggle
And Each day brings another night that I hold tight to my expectations of someone else's life
I find myself hurting constantly on the phone like:
"You gotta be better than that
Why did you settle for that?"
Settlin for his half ass attempts at respecting you
But you don't even give yourself none when respect his due
Cause he a dog but you actually sit and watch his ass
Roamin from yo house to the grass of the neighbors
holdin his chew toys in between yo thighs lookin stupid cause he played you
You think you in charge of the game so you stay there
And even when I told you it was over you still aint care
"You gotta be better than that
Why did u settle for that?"
I saw my nigga really turn into a nigga one day because he couldn't control his demons
G's in the pockets of a street's version of a genius who's seen by the cops
And when the cuffs is too hard for him to handle I ask him
"Why did u settle for that?"
He admits that it was all about cash
and his "street smarts" didn't come equipped with the kit that gives him the ability
to think his plan out realistically and since he smoked more than a chimney
He couldn't even feel it the night he got stabbed more than a homicide victim
He aint never know that this would come
And now he can't even feel it when he shittin stuff
I know high school dropouts that could've been college graduates
But looked at the ACT and aint try to pass it so they sat on they ass with they minds movin backward
and I ask:
"Why do we settle for less?"
My mind constantly asks my heart this question
and it does nothin but beat back
My brain couldn't determine what the answer meant
So I sent a couple of prayers to heaven hopin that GOD would reply
but I never got one when I just looked into the skies waitin impatiently
so I began to find my mind that I had just about lost by this time
A friend asked me why I cared so much even though I'm never physically there
I said " Whether I know people or not, a stop can be given through prayer . . .
And I'm just tryin to help them get they lives right
They sit at home and I'm on the battlefield fightin for their benefit,
so I always just pick up my sword while I'm carryin my own cross and deal with it"
My friend said somethin about stress but by this time I had a feeling that I just had to rest and 
She told me to go and lay down and that it would be my best bet . . .
That night my mind asked my heart why did I care so much and my heart did nothin but beat back
but it stopped for a minute once I saw a flash
I cautiously stepped outside as if I didn't know what would happen next
as thunder rolled and rumbled through my chest
Rain began to drop to the concrete and GOD said:
"You've been holding in this pain all week"
My worrying about others had always been a secret
But GOD told me he brought me here for a reason
He told me their burdens would be blessings if they only believed in him 
And not to let it worry me, he said to release it
I told him I didn't want anyone else to see
And he said, "The only one that matters is me"
So I began to let my tears fill my eyes in the rain
I let each pain fade away
As GOD used the rain to cleanse my face
So that only he and I would know what had takin place
Not only was the storm a symbol of what the world was goin through
But GOD revealed to me that he was crying too
He used his tears to wash mines away
Told me about all of the lives at stake
And told me that all i need to do is pray
Then I admitted that I wasn't in my rightful place
And GOD used his power to let the wind gently lift my face as he whispered in my ear
"Nothing that u go through is a mistake, I'm using your life to save others,
so let my presence fill your body and spread my word"
I accepted his proposal and before he let me go he said, "remember everything that I just told u"
They say that men aint supposed to cry but if the world does then why can't I?
So to this day I use storms as a masquerade
And use God’s tears to wash my face
When pressures are too hard to take and all the ones I love are making life-threatening mistakes
I keep my head high as I walk and nod when I talk to GOD and we sob together
Cause we know it won’t be like this forever

More Poetry to Celebrate National Poetry Month

THIS IS ONE OF MY  MOST FAVORITE POEMS IN THE WORLD!!! Next to the things the man closest to me writes, I cherish this poem and listen to it a few times a week. It reminds me that everybody isn't just a carbon copy of what they see on tv and read about in magazine. Everybody doesn't want to be Barbie you know. . . 

The poem is titled "Barbie and Ken 101" by Rafael Casal who performed it on an episode of HBO's Def Poetry Jam

sometimes I feel like I'm sittin' in the back of Barbie and Ken 101
a class we're all in, but never seem to learn from
Some general ed requirement for
Students of American culture
one that convinces even the brightest
of young women that sex is survival of the thinnest
and I'm sick of this education that doesn't serve our best interests
my teacher has no face
she is every Revlon model women have ever chased
her lectures can be seen in the backs of  magazines, beauty adds and marketing campaigns,
shit
just turn on your tv
this just in, a skewed perspective for todays youth y'all ladies aint thin enough, fellas aint trim
enough, wanna be sexy?
Y'all don't go to the gym enough, cut to commercial, 

come on

just tune
just tune into their maintenance team, tell you you're ugly then tell you how to fix it with maybelline
please
They just moldin' Barbie to fit the new trend
next they're gonna have club hoppin' Barbie
With thongs as accessories
video hoe Barbie
abusive boyfriend sold separately
underaged Barbie
Kobe Bryant included
or 9/11 victim Barbie
and Ken is proud to get recruited
problem is all these teachings are womans decay
and my girlfriend' sitting up front and she's getting an A
this is where I start getting really pissed off ok
when the fuck did it become about
tuckin' in the gut I gotta get the bigger breast
shit I wanna fit a little better in a dress
so let me get a little skinny gotta fit into an itty bitty
size slimmer just to liven up the chest
please

teacher teacher I wanna give my oral presentation
cuz I have a problem with the class, and matter of fact, I have a damn problem with your
whole administration
you're the reason my girl won't sit across from me in restaurants
the reason that she thinks she's over fat in over ten spots
less gut less pudge less looks less real, more looks more love more Barbie
appeal?

oh shit
fuck Barbie and Ken

fuck Barbie and Ken
they're the reason 15 year old girls arms are slit
the reason 12 year olds think skinny is a compliment
And it's too late

it is too late
I can't write my way through these bathroom doors
So I raise my hand in class cuz I can't take it any more
Teacher teacher your lectures are all backwards
You got mothers and daughters forgetting what matters
Cuz above hips, ass, lips, legs, and uggs
The most real ass shit is women who don't give a fuck
So screw all your teachings your lessons and plans
You skewed sick distant relative of the man
Your plan for brainwashin' my baby I reject
I'm walkin' out of your class

and I will proudly take

my F

Now ain't that some real shit?? Watch the video here

In Honor of National Poetry Month

To celebrate some of the most creative-minded people on this Earth, we offer up the beautifully sad month of April (sad because there's sooo much rain). "Poets paint their pictures on the canvass of the mind. . . " and their words often resonate deep within us, inciting a revolution against all that is not right in our world. When your soul hurts, sometimes all you have to do is grab a Chai Tea and sit back with a good book of poetry and I promise that glass will start to look a lot less empty.

Today I'm posting a poem by gay activist Andrea Gibson entitled "Say Yes." If you do not like this poem or it does not strike a tiny chord in your heart, then you are a conservative and in that case, suck my left nut.

Say Yes

when two violins are placed in a room
if a chord on one violin is struck
the other violin will sound the note
if this is your definition of hope
this is for you
the ones who know how powerful we are
who know we can sound the music in the people around us
simply by playing our own strings
for the ones who sing life into broken wings
open their chests and offer their breath
as wind on a still day when nothing seems to be moving
spare those intent on proving god is dead
for you when your fingers are red
from clutching your heart
so it will beat faster
for the time you mastered the art of giving yourself for the sake of someone else
for the ones who have felt what it is to crush the lies
and lift truth so high the steeples bow to the sky
this is for you
this is also for the people who wake early to watch flowers bloom
who notice the moon at noon on a day when the world
has slapped them in the face with its lack of light
for the mothers who feed their children first
and thirst for nothing when they’re full

this is for women
and for the men who taught me only women bleed with the moon
but there are men who cry when women bleed
men who bleed from women’s wounds
and this is for that moon
on the nights she seems hung by a noose
for the people who cut her loose
and for the people still waiting for the rope to burn
about to learn they have scissors in their hands

this is for the man who showed me
the hardest thing about having nothing
is having nothing to give
who said the only reason to live is to give ourselves away
so this is for the day we’ll quit or jobs and work for something real
we’ll feel for sunshine in the shadows
look for sunrays in the shade
this is for the people who rattle the cage that slave wage built
and for the ones who didn’t know the filth until tonight
but right now are beginning songs that sound something like
people turning their porch lights on and calling the homeless back home

this is for all the shit we own
and for the day we’ll learn how much we have
when we learn to give that shit away
this is for doubt becoming faith
for falling from grace and climbing back up
for trading our silver platters for something that matters
like the gold that shines from our hands when we hold each other

this is for the grandmother who walked a thousand miles on broken glass
to find that single patch of grass to plant a family tree
where the fruit would grow to laugh
for the ones who know the math of war
has always been subtraction
so they live like an action of addition
for you when you give like every star is wishing on you
and for the people still wishing on stars
this is for you too

this is for the times you went through hell so someone else wouldn’t have to
for the time you taught a 14 year old girl she was powerful
this is for the time you taught a 14 year old boy he was beautiful
for the radical anarchist asking a republican to dance
cause what’s the chance of everyone moving from right to left
if the only moves they see are NBC and CBS
this is for the no becoming yes
for scars becoming breath
for saying i love you to people who will never say it to us
for scraping away the rust and remembering how to shine
for the dime you gave away when you didn’t have a penny
for the many beautiful things we do
for every song we’ve ever sung
for refusing to believe in miracles
because miracles are the impossible coming true
and everything is possible

this is for the possibility that guides us
and for the possibilities still waiting to sing
and spread their wings inside us
cause tonight saturn is on his knees
proposing with all of his ten thousand rings
that whatever song we’ve been singing we sing even more
the world needs us right now more than it ever has before
pull all your strings
play every chord
if you’re writing letters to the prisoners
start tearing down the bars
if you’re handing out flashlights in the dark
start handing our stars
never go a second hushing the percussion of your heart
play loud
play like you know the clouds have left too many people cold and broken
and you’re their last chance for sun
play like there’s no time for hoping brighter days will come
play like the apocalypse is only 4…3…2
but you have a drum in your chest that could save us
you have a song like a breath that could raise us
like the sunrise into a dark sky that cries to be blue
play like you know we won’t survive if you don’t
but we will if you do
play like saturn is on his knees
proposing with all of his ten thousand rings
that we give every single breath
this is for saying-yes

this is for saying-yes