BYFA

Another Day
after Carrie Mae Weems

A long week that just started
and I’m already exhausted
After work I undress
Dropping the weight of a long day
But still . . . I feel heavy
Stressing over bills, bus fare and food
SHIT!!! . . . how do I afford it
Depression begins to creep
While my thoughts are distorted
So I take a seat just to rest my feet,
As I pull my hair back
Just for an ounce of release!!
*sigh* just another day

Loveless
after Oseije

He said I love u . . . No response
He said please return my calls . . . No response
He said are u ok . . . No response
He said did i do something wrong . . . Well let's be honest
He doesn't look at me the same
Nahhhhh . . . he don't look at me the same
And from a distance, it's love but in person its silence
Like he'll say i love u in a text, but in the flesh it's quiet
He doesn't even look at me the same
As a matter of fact he doesn't bother looking my way
If it wasn't for ME!! communicating, we wouldn't have anything to say
And it was every once in a while, but now it’s happening everyday
Like damn i feel like a fool like should i stop . . . what do i say?
Naw i don't wanna sit there saying everything's ok, with a fake ass grin
Not discussing our problems holding everything in
Wondering when am i going to explode, so i could finally win
Baby u just gotta get it together so we won't end up just friends
I just wanna be fully comfortable to love u again
Cuz on the real i'm tired of trying
And tired of lying, acting like everything is ok
Like i dont wanna believe it but this relationship is dying
And it's all bcuz he dont look at me the same

You Got Me
after Oseije

When we were younger,
You wouldn’t leave me alone.
Always trying to pick fights,
But you would never win.
Then things started to change,
We started to grow.
Then life started to change,
But you were still there.
You were there when I had nothing,
Lost the house and still kept moving around.
You were there to put the knife down,
I just couldn’t take the stress anymore.
You were there to wipe my tears,
Grandmother passed and things got rough.
You were there when I couldn’t get out of bed,
Those were some days.
You were there to cook when I was ill,
I can’t get enough of it.
You were there to help me change when I was weak,
And that I dread to remember.
You were there to open the door for me,
Others are barely gentlemen anymore.
You were there to make me smile,
That time you surprised me at home.
You were there to make me laugh,
And you just can’t get enough of wearing my shorts.
You were there to help me escape from that place,
And I don’t want to go back.
You were there to take us on trips,
Georgia was the best one yet.
You were there to keep me from falling back,
I’m not letting you do the same.
You were always there for me and you still are.
I will always be here for you,
Because nobody got me like how you do.

Morgan Cruise

Cypress Vines
after Chong Siew Ying

Oh beautiful Cypress Vines.
Appealing to me your display of purity,
Only hinting to your hidden mischief.

My fingers drawn to your soft petals.
Memorizing your subtle ombre,
Bright white fades to soft pink.

Your vines spiral and reach with purpose.
Latching to my already bruised skin
Draining my beautiful brown to grey.

Lowering my head and shoulders
Submissive to your facade.
Forever enclosed by this cage of thorns
I submit myself to your beauty.

ANna Davis

Float On
after Trinitee Oliver

Sit with me in all the splendor
Our eyes will connect and the flowers and lily pads will smile at us

Tell me about the first time you fell off you bike
Tell me why you always run when I say the words all at once in a sentence

I want to know if you were loved enough
And if you weren't I would tell you that's okay
And if you say yes . . . I'll love you even more

All the Lights
after Spencer Finch, Moon Dust (Apollo 17), 2009

White lights without all the cries for help
They were all so bright but they couldn’t replace the sun

Suspended in the air like a classroom full of kids’ hands all knowing the answer
The light is brilliant    terrifyingly intelligent

The lights played God amongst their friends
They wanted to hold all the power
They pretended that their glass bodies were resilient

And then all the lights all went out    shattered on the ground
Everyone stepped on all the parts

Views  
after Keith Smith

If I lean in close enough
Grip the gate tight, fingering the spaces like a lover
I can sense beyond  
the caterwauls of police cars and beyond blinking neon signs.
I never have to take off my shoes and leave them by the mat
When I trek my dirt bound feet across this place.
Yet, would somewhere else be better?
Would a hushed street overtaken by mulch and manicured lawns,
Stained church glass be more holy?
Here,
Someone is always standing at the corner, the cliff,
Never jumping.
Dirt bound feet, making love to a city that is
A blare of blinking neon signs and unholy matrimony.
How could I ever think of leaving? 

In a Cement Kingdom
after Gordon Parks

A rat
Plump and intent
Scurries from his home
Into the yard
Lush with trash
To see what the gods
May have left him  

Two smaller gods are crouched beyond
Huddled together and talking in hushed excited whispers
The rat suspects they come bearing no gifts
And continues his search
Through wrappers and crunchy leaves

Yesterday
The two small gods
Were astronauts
Today war generals
Fingers pushing into the dirt
Prodding a dream to appear

The rat goes back
into his house and awaits
tomorrow's harvest

Veronica Jones

Lonely Shadows
after Tiara Hollins

Pay no attention to the shadows
Lurking in the light.
Just come in and dance, have a great night.
Drink and mingle, lean against the white.
Just don’t go down that hall where it’s not too bright.

In the back is where they lay
The shadows when they’re alone.
You all are just guest but for them it’s home.
They hide behind laughter in the room shown
But still remain lonely shadows touching cold stone.

A Flower
after Morgan Cruise

A seed
Is planted
In hopes that it grows,
Watered and nurtured to its beauty.
Well done you have grown, keep it up now.

But yet
It is stuck
Away from what
It’s naturally known to be.
It’s okay to be different and on your own.

It’s expected
To grow in one place.
No flaw as it sits in its pot,
It’s okay to drop but just keep growing.
Let me help hide the dirt for a more fascinating look.

Nature all around but it’s still
Alone in its lovely alluring sight,
Speaks out loud but somehow still doesn’t feel.
Your pot is showing and it’s not looking pretty for you.
Grow some more, don’t worry about the dull wood you sit on.

What once was
A seed has grown
Into a radiant piece of life,
Alone in a pot or one with nature
It still has to grow because it is a flower.

Let Me Out
after Tiara Hollins

It’s been six weeks
Six weeks I’ve been home.
It felt good for a while
A true break,
An excuse to not go out.
Then it became a law:
We cannot leave
“Until further notice”

After a week, I was home and happy.
Two? I watched the numbers rise
It was crazy, but still acceptable.
Three? I complained
Staring out the window
Imagining what outside felt like again.
Four? This has lasted too long.
Stay in the house, so I can legally leave!
I thought about climbing out the attic,
I’d feel the weather I’d missed, sun or rain.
Five? I tried to not think about outside
Or that green park bench I used to visit;
And the drive to the Midwest I would have taken
As the sun beamed from the attic.
I thought of how it would shine outside.
Six? I was pacing around the house
I’ve seen everything that I could.
I thought I knew home before.
I know everything now.
Was the attic always open?
Is that my way out?

Amnesia
after Henri Cartier-Bresson

Your tattoos are written in ink,
mine are written in the scars of being a woman.

But I forget about the tainted reality when we’re together.
I remember that we are souls encaged in our fleshy bodies:

full-figured bodies that attract attention,
hair that we are pressured into styling for each other,
the deep gazes on our faces we want to perfect,
and all of the clothes and accessories that flatter us, you swear we like searching for.
All things we simply did not expect were responsibilities of a woman.
All things we did not ask for.

This is reality,
reality we have made bearable because only we understand.

I forget about reality when we are all together.

Kham Owens

Invisible Man
after Gordon Parks, “Invisible Man Retreat,” 1952

A peculiar night
and somehow through creativity and innovation
I find where peace lives
In this lair of mine
I’ve created my own type of sunshine
If only Harlem could see
how tall it seems to stand against me
and not for me
If only you could see me
as all 1,369 of them do
If only you could understand
as these Armstrong records do
If only it was as easy
as drinking gin slow

You
after Alisha Coates

What is it about you?
Maybe it’s your divine-like energy
spreading your rays so graciously
For this, we should wait more patiently
We are
so unworthy of all you have to offer.
Like
the way your hairs are not black, but green
and your face to be the sky
feels warm and so serene.
Or
the breeze that forms from the waves in between.
And
you’re so much more than any eye can see.
You’re so kind
selfless and
loving for
blessing us with a moment so true.
Thank you for being
you.

Keith Smith

Phoenix
after Alisha Coates

Puddles of regret soak the sock of your soul.
The wetness fills you up like a sponge.
You pluck tears from your eyes
That land like bricks right back
to the weary center of your dripping heart.
The melancholy Monday that rains and greys,
the sunniest of us, has blackened you.
A blessing of depth
of a lit-up world inside you, bustling with questions
Of grace to give you pause and greater solutions.
It builds and builds.
You rise from your charged ashes
Reborn
Fresh
A phoenix.

Pause
after Gordon Parks

And when we finally pause
To celebrate the miracle of life today
To grieve the prickly chapters passing by
To pray for our heart’s deepest longings
To heal the wounds fully
To ask for the help we need most
To release every ounce of shame
To know freedom well

The day’s drama, once red, turns grey
The large lumps in our throats dissolve
The ever-spinning wheel slows
The crammed markets air out
The too busy city sleeps

Our souls glow iridescent light

And we’ll hear a voice say, “At last, welcome home.”