Poetry

Just Listen – Prose

“Just listen”

But I wouldn’t and she accused me of wanting her blood

Blamed me for pushing her to the point that her vocal instrument split as it flipped a sorrow-filled phrase off rhythms

“Just listen”

But I couldn’t as she charged me with piercing through her flesh until her soul bled.

Ignoring our passion

Becoming swept up in the action of words that sends Isfet through the wind.

“Just listen”

By now she has fallen in a place where everything is a poem and all words rhyme and meet in the center of tempos

Our minds

Incomplete bass heavy lines moving too fast

Our bodies

Spent as our spiritual selves repent

We’ve spilled enough blood to give life to an army of enemies.

“Just listen”

Her voice begs for me catch the undertone of each cadenced dripped scream.

But I refuse

Our bodies had leaked enough – every orifice bled until the loss is no longer usable.

But she knew

Listening leads to healing as spirits communicate to spirits

Chanting prayers that I – her lover, would eventually get it

“It seems you have a burning desire to witness me bleed all over myself – Just listen”

But I am deaf

And can barely speak just hold my arms out to be held so tight the flow will stop.

She fades…but stays woke…watching…the insane way I try to transfuse my blood into her heart with nothing more but cupped hands

But I’m convinced that we both MUST LIVE

“Just listen”

Scratching at the earth to create a grave for our pain. I reach for her AGAIN.

The fear in her eyes spoke for her heart

“Just listen”

But I’m dying

Fading in and out, I remember how willingly she gave her life to satisfy my need to silence her wisdom.

Together we arrived at this space where nothing matters; not the words, not the rhythm, not death, nor the broken shards

“If you would just listen – Every thing will sound like a poem.”


Because Mike, Ezell, Eric, Rekia, Trayvon, and the list goes on…

Rage
Unharnessed
Enveloping
Imploding
Running out and over
Burning
Fanned
All relative
Real
Painful
Undeniably sore
Through and through
Feels the same
This pain
Dying
We’re dying
Humanity
Desire
Valuing
LA
Ferguson
Sanford
Chicago
NYC
Staten Island
Black
Boy
Girl
Woman
Man
Trans
Gay
Intersectional
Intersecting life and death
Disproportionate
Caged
Killed
Brutalized
Frustrated
Rage
Fear engulfs
Stifles
Reacts
Chokes
Killing us physically
But not the warrior
Never the fire
Murder
Guns
Chokeholds
Knives
Fists
Batons
Speaking up and out
Insurrections not riots
Don’t call it a riot
Call it a comeback
Summer 67 repeated
Summer 14 we need it
Fuck them
Demilitarize the Police
Fucked us
Rise
Wake
Up
Cease the time
Rest in Power
Copyrighted 2014


Below is a collection of poetry written hundreds of moons ago. 

Strong
I wish we stayed strong
Strong like tsunamis and monsoons
Strong like balboa trees and gilead balm
Strong like volcanic lava and avalanches
Strong like summer colds and winter fevers
Strong
Strong like Elaine and Assata
Strong like Malcolm and Mandela
Strong like Nkrume and Newton
Strong
Strong like Struggle
Strong like Elders
Strong like Survival
Strong like She
Strong like Love
Strong like Restraint
Strong like Truth
Strong like Sadness
Strong like Ancestors
Strong like He
Strong like Us
Strong like Youth
Strong like we once were and were once
Strong

Copyrighted 2006


The Morning After

The morning after

Brought one regret from

My side of the bed

*Scene I

We fell asleep to Miles tunes hanging in the air like incense

Her breasts peaked out from June’s poems collected

Bare bodies at the legs connected

We fell asleep with instruments and words to feed our dreams

We had just met

And somehow she was convinced that spending a night at my rest was a need

I recall not having to explain

A request and reassurance had her follow my lead

Back in my space I set the mood

And as we lay we dreamt in color about what could be

Pretending us had a potential to become we

We touched but just enough

We danced with our expressions but only at a glance

Eventually sleep overcame our daydreaming hearts

Eventually the sun prevailed over the dark

Pressing us back into the familiar scene

June’s words and Mile’s tunes

My want and her needs

*Cut

She said: “Last night I dreamed of sex.”

And I said: “Sister, we pushed past the thoughts of directed desires.

Chose instead to caress the art of June and Miles

Last night the tips of our fingers met as I held the other side of the book

We were platonic allies, intellectual lovers, just friends committed to purity and

truth

As you whispered June’s legacy over Miles’ hooks

I felt our bodies blistering from the heat of desire of the unknown

But instead of indulging

I imagined us pressed together on the frontlines

Standing side to side

Knowing that any day could reveal the most important revolution

When freedom conquers all

And the action of love and not lust is the only solution

I dreamt of us holding hands in mid-air with intensity as we released our fists,

But kept our ARMS up

So we can RISE

And STAY there”

She winked an eye and agreed: “It’s best.

Our purpose will be much greater served if we steady our minds on the inevitable struggle ahead and the only promise we make is that we’ll meet again.

On the frontlines

And it won’t be awkward.”

*Action

As she dressed preparing to leave my rest

That one regret

That one regret…

Her afro standing erect

My locs molesting my back

Her copper jewelry kissing her neck

My desires began to effect

Sex in definition is a revolution

and the night had been put to rest

I led her back to my bed

… morning sex can be the best

June was pushed aside but this time we heeded her call for “Directed Desires”

And this time

Mile’s accompanied the next revolution filled hours

Beautiful like the war for freedom

If only in our minds

And

It was

Natural

as if we were standing on the front lines

Together

Copyrighted 2002.


Sometimes I wonder how many times I can lie to you

Make you believe something that will never be true

Not sure who I blame more for this

Me or you

Copyrighted 2012.


Cherish You: For my Brothers who Need Love Too

You will think to the past when she becomes present

Recalling your prayer that she would come to you

You will sing brown woman I was created to cherish you

As a young child

We learn our purpose is to give love under sun or moon

That is

Unconditionally

There is an inevitable emergence of lovers old and new

And I believe she often dreams of you

Unaware

A man she makes love too but her face isn’t there

Just a body to caress and nurture

A sign of loving the unknown and learning from your past

She’s dreamt of your coiled black locs

Your spirited eyes

Possessing the triumphs of our ancestry

Her life story is already captured in the brown of your skin

And when she arrives and settles in your arms

It is all that you’ve imagined and all that she’s dreamed

Your bodies tangle as you drift to sleep

Secure, comfortable, loved

You’ll think back to these words

This is a prayer for you

Brother

She will discover and cherish you

Be prepared to love her too

Copyrighted 2007.


For now…: When They Couldn’t Throw Us Out Anymore

We are revolutionaries

before smoking the natural herb inside the cigar brown paper.

She more than I with her social activism, frontline rallies, and poetry workshops

I with my beliefs and philosophies. We are lovers before strong inhales birth infectious coughs.

Intelligent, independent and in-love before our eyes squint and tear inside the suffocating climate of revolution – before our fingers become hot – too close to the receding blazoned circle.

Ashes of contentment are collected and discarded while the smell of burnt grass lingers … For now we are empowered to take a personal revolution in the streets.

Comedy seems to be the world’s theme as we sit across a thin table in a small tin diner to diminish the feeling of starvation … I notice a frown of paranoia above her eyes perplex at the odd stares surrounding our space. I reach over to wipe the wrinkles playing around her brow away then lean in to kiss her discreetly, painful noises betray the throats of otherwise boring people and we laugh with our mouths mashed and foreheads bouncing gently together. We pull away laughing inconsolably gazing unashamed in each other’s eyes. Knowing our next dining experience will be in the sole company of us better than this – ten times.

Watching them examine us … to them we are exotic birds, perched and ready to shit all over decorum. Our affection becomes over exaggerated as we realize to them our revolution is more quixotic than a worthy stance. We stand after we fill our selves…paying the bill…leaving a tip that we are normal, just a lil high and in-love.

High

off

love

they had to choke down and swallow for over an hour…for as long as we could stand the trite chore of force-feeding. We feel vindicated knowing revolution is supreme. The bold feelings of the mind alter fades as the hour passes. At the exit we feel a harsh wind from an invisible boot knocking us on the outside once again. We clasp hands in defensive solidarity without the laughter this time. Determined to march through the crude looks and disgusted snorts from full metal combat on all sides. With fervor we stare back at the roving eyes convinced that revolution is the only choice.

The only choice…

Her hand begins to lose its grip…when white foamy spit falls in our path…I notice… so we stop at the nearest streetlight…to share a kiss in the spotlight passionate enough to invoke the conquering thought, “Just as long as I have you”. Hate and ignorance die metaphysically. We enter home…peaceful space…our revolution was not televised but it was seen and between us that is enough for now.

For

Now

We feast as if we won the war.

Copyrighted 2003

(c) Talib Jasir                                 All rights reserved.                                2016

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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