slummin

what's fun about riding through the slums?
it might be home, but it's a sign of the pain we come from
i go dumb trying understand why it's impressive
to show your date a scene that reeks of oppression
when will we learn our lesson?

stop letting the system rape our bleeding culture
stop selling our struggle
stop pimping our souls for disposable income
of kids living in the suburban bubble

just let it burst, it'll hurt
we owe it to our people for what it's worth
i'm done watching art pass by in a hearse

the crown

when you standing on the ground you looking up
you see the brow adorned with a crown
and drown your sorrows in a cup
when you're alone, the climb is twice as far to the throne
you thrown out in the cold thinking of giving up
on your own they looking at you like you ain't living up
to they standards you can't find the answer
at the bottom of a bottle of stout
or the end of a philly burnt and hollowed out
it's when the feet finally follow the mouth
they see the deeds do what your mouth is talking about
they see the seeds planted and now the plant is peeking out
excuse me teacher i'm sorry for speaking out
but i can't see the reason for what you're teaching 'bout
the truth is what they usually preach about
if i question what they preach am i seeking doubt?
if i see truth i believe i should seek it out
tongue loose preacher said i should watch what i'm speaking 'bout
keep kneeling down hail mary
repeat it or God is telling peter keep him out
no heaven when time on the meter's out
I'm a ride for the Glory and see the sequence out
and see sense in the Speaker on the Mount
now we back to the climb up to hear the Sound
we pick it up to keep from falling down

to my.......

to my people still pedaling holding stereos
to the kids without ipods playing music from cell phones

to my young dudes sitting by the train pan handling
to my mothers working three shifts while the streets raise the kids

to my families with one bedroom for ten people to live
to the minimum wagers that find change to give

to my daughters scared of daddy coming back so you hid
to my sons who went through what my daughters just did

to the parents who suffered so hard to give us this
but never talk about the struggle they try so hard to forget

for the children coming up that can't appreciate it and
take for granted that they're standing on the shoulders of giants

for my atheists dying daily through self-reliance
and can't see God blowing the breath of life that's inside them

for the pastor on his knees, in denial of the wolves
decimating his sheep and power of the Lord

as He who truly blesses and keeps the soil
of the hearts fertile for the harvest we reap

for the imams on jomeh protecting the believers, who hear
Allah call yet are too backwards to pick up the receiver

for fundamentalists preaching the return of the Son, that
burn in hell until its burned in them the Prophets are ONE

to my killers that took life with no value for their own
with a death wish for deliverance from being alone

to my doctors writing prescriptions for kickbacks on drugs
and taking long vacations to test new golf clubs

for the chemists that cook crack and others that cure cancer
and the students by day and by night exotic dancers

for the hopeless romantics and cheating 'gimme 1 more chancers'
for the passive aggressives to the eager to get the last words

to concrete jungle survivors and lazies grazing in pastures
to baby-boomers flashing back to '68 & thugs that bully for stature

to those losing their way and couldn't wait for the Rapture
what if i told you that it already came and had passed ya

would you open your eyes, or would you hush me with laughter?

the Blessed Beauty

the soul is limitless
living bliss living legend
living in the midst of murders, thieves, and peasants
dreams and forgotten hopes decay in the hole
the dungeon too foul pain impossible to hold
the last in society the first to see the light
a living song of God yet He was tortured through His life
these cowards dragged Him down to the lowest place
below disgrace and beneath the lowest eyes
just to turn around and bow before Him when we die
they chained His neck, shackles on His ankles
the fetters left scars time could never fully whether
still the Blessed Beauty, still limitlessly above
any humble expression of fervent undying love
dying of choke lungs die to walk upon the dirt
that was touched by His foot so i'm dying to prove my worth


..........touched by His foot, yeah i'm dying to prove my worth

under pressure

the pressure builds up i feel like i can't take it
so i fake it, sometimes it's the only way to make it
i feel naked, all alone with no defenses
racks my senses and comes out in my sentences
guess it's revenge against all the times i feel focused
wonder why it doesn't work out how i hoped it would
if i could i'd control every angle to make it certain
that the hurting was contained in a corner of my brain
conductor hold the train, it's a strain i can't rush

hush to all the voices

i find i feel best when i make my own choices
not with every direction that's pulling me
been a long time, been a long rhyme
feel the wrong enzyme release the wrong hormone
that's why i fall out the zone of coherence in my life

to chaos in my thoughts

no way to settle down when the maze leaves you lost
sometime when we pay we don't realize the cost
it can be a lot how do we know it's enough
i pray to recognize when i'm spending too much

walkin

the world will swallow you up whole it you let it
watch the road, try not to get too close to the edges
some people on the path might try to push you off
but if you make it i heard the goal is worth the walk
so i'm walking on pushing through the struggle of living
yet after every long night the bright sun again has risen
and lit the way, so we walk another day
one foot after the other hoping that they don't stray
lead me right, i keep trusting and i'm praying this life
for all its burdens is just a part of the price that we pay
for everlasting and a slice of paradise and that's it's
more than just chance in rolling the pair of dice
or playing the hand it dealt me and i'm searching on the side
for another who truly felt me to walk this path with me right
to hold me up when i'm falling or down when i'm floating
and i'll use my last strength to help you too in your coping
because it's heavy all alone, so many end up lost
or sell out for dreams of comfort getting swindled by the frost
you know the cold that grows slowly
and covers diamonds with moss

hindsight

at times i look back at the times past
but lack the looking glass to see past most of the trash
that littered streets, and ask why we let it last
when we couldn't get past the beef
and silences would speak instead of laughs
and shattered glass was mirrors for the fact
that we each had demons that would harass
and defeat our chances to craft
the kind of love that made poets past pen odes to better halves
and coldness stole the warmth we chose to let the moment pass
when love is broken it limps instead of strolling fast
so we end up slowing as the heat grows dimmer
till we simmer and the flame subsides to just a flicker
of the fire that burned to symbolize how we yearned
to hold each other ever tightly as hands turn the hours nightly
clock faces race by politely and remind us
that time doesn't take our wasting lightly
it's likely that you'll find me on the other side
of the stream that's now a river mississippi wide
a second city where the healing is a home
from the fights that kept revealing
that the shelter love tried to provide was in decline
are you fine?

open wide

on the edge of sleep
thoughts run deep and
conversation tends to threaten the secrets
that consciousness keeps
so it's the most revealing time to speak
or listen, guess it depends on what's your mission
listen twice and talk once if that's your disposition
this position i find myself in of asking questions
often have to wrestle with another's suggestions
the whispers in your ear from the heat below
tempting you to walk across the coals
contrary to the softer call from the soul
reminding of purpose and directing you to slow
its real easy to trip if you push the tempo
but can you maintain your grace if you simply let go
i've been wondering about that since the get go
if you have any ideas i've got a paper and a pencil
i'm happy to take notes of course this life is full of learning
and i only know i know nothing yet inside i have this burning
urge to be submerged in all there is or was or could be
but suppose there's certain woes if i stray from where i should be
i don't feel restricted by knowing my limitations
there's beauty in discovering eternity through patience
so i can hold on a little longer as i need to
and share you a perspective from the eyes that i see through

another poem? umm...yup

i blow thru like a wind in the trees
that brings you to your knees, and ushers in the storm
that fertilizes the seeds that i planted
it's magic their fruits nourish the needs
of the famished souls diseased
with a sickness of the eyes that
makes food appear poison like cianide
so we're eating arsenic and dying inside
but reaching up like we're dying to rise
quicksand is keeping up, trying to drown the problems
we're deep in a cup, knee deep in a rut, the more we struggle
the quicker that sand be seeping up
i've seen enough to know how the story ends
so i'm hoping its an end to purgatory
when it ain't no choice left, we lay pain to rest
and start to count how many ways we've been blessed
and hold our faith so tight to the chest, welcome the tests
we do our best....yeah and God does the rest

marching orders

i'm not a night creature, i'm just a street teacher
a poet, empowered with a voice so i'ma speak out
you hear the poison that a lot of people speak bout
you know it, so you'll forgive the pieces that i leave out
i'm only interested in truths that i seek out
and sparks of inspiration my creations might leak out
been patient for a while quiet waiting for permission
but my mission is to speak to the sincere who choose to listen
given to give my heart through the words and the music
from the grassroots in the trenches with the troops
fighter for forgotten hearts and downtrodden youth
champion of justice and conqueror of oppression
enemy of ignorance and nemesis of obsession
paladin of peace and destroyer of the weapons
healer of the sick and surveyor of His blessings
rider for the people seated firmly on the steed
in opposition to the armies of lust, hate, and greed
how many rising with me, how many casualties we need
to recognize the acid eating us and spreading disease
a humble soldier in His Shadow praying softly on my knees
to send the strength to overcome the inner demons and lead