this chance

i used to want to grow up
to be just like you
all apple pie sugar and spice
and happy endings too
but then one day
i saw you through the mirror
the looking glass reflected
a truth i didn’t want to see
so here i am
struggling
fighting you
oh Amerika
how could you make me feel
so black and blue
watching things change around me
watching blood flow
in the streets
watching alley ways become home
to a little known thing
called Shame
my afro wild
rings on my toes
see Jane run
but Tyriq get run
down that lonely railroad
what does it matter
how many times a day
i pray?
want to label all unknown
the enemy
because things in their tongue
you cannot say
the ink you see
relaxes me
i bought life into this world
you owe me
for my shattered dreams
but your bounced check
was marked
“paid in full”

buggin’

you wake up every morning
at the first sign of light
peeping at the skies
searching for the
sophisticated satellite that’s
stalking you watching you
chasing you through the streets
spying on your meets and greets
nowhere to run nowhere to hide
nobody you can trust
nobody on your side
even the librarian
with her glasses on her nose
keeping tabs on your loans and
banned book requests
to your personal files
the G-men have access
the bigger your anger and mistrust
the deeper your suspicion
who do you expect to conquer on this mission?
clinging to special hatred to fill the empty spaces
feeling cheated
of your mule and your 40 acres

I was going to save this for the 4th, but what the heck:

nightmare

my final tenuous grip on reality

starts to slip i’m in danger

of losing all control

losing the battle against the hurricane

that’s thrashing my brain waves

trashing my common sense

decimating my innocence

tearing down my picket fence

it’s stifling my voice

i grow hoarse with the effort

of making silent screams

that don’t reach

the ears that have already closed

how many victims have fallen

nobody cares and nobody knows

zombies roam the streets

infected by viruses disguised by clever beats

and weeks go by

before they notice there’s something wrong

the leaders have been replaced with

cookie cutter shapes of double talking heads

free speech free think freedom to be

is dead

the hive mind has taken control

of the public sphere

individualism has become something to fear

watching those who watch me

talking sh!t and taking names

disturbed enough not to sleep not to eat

no talking on the phone

sitting in the window with no lights on

so my neighbors won’t see the glare

this f**king Amerikan dream

just turned into a nightmare