Nappy Roots

your thoughts curl around your hair
you dig into your matted wool
with an afro comb or pick
to reach down into your nappy roots
You brown eyes squint
your shoulders hunch up
move your head
left to right front to back
when that afro comb or pick
catches hold of those little curly naps
behind your ears
at the base of your neck line
tinder head is what you are
go ahead put in that relaxer
it’s going to burn your scalp
the tip of your ears
it’ll straighten those nappy
roots for a short time
it won’t last forever
those tightly tangled nappy roots
are going to grow back
they will be just as hard
to brush down
comb through
or pick out as they were before
you tried to change
what is naturally your roots
your people are going to
roll their eyes
smack their lips
shake their head
when they see
what you’re trying to change
All you need to do
brush it
comb it pick it
braid it
grease your scalp
just live with your roots

3/6/02/jrg Copyright© 2010 by Jeff R. Ghee

The sweat of woman

The sweat of women
Drench their face
Drip to the ground
Water the fertilized seeds
To grow new life

Women sweat
Working hard for the family
Women sweat
Cleaning house and cooking food
Women sweat
Making plates and cleaning dishes
women sweat making babies
And having babies
Women sweat
Keeping him happy and keeping him at home
Women sweat
Making that phone call to her to claim him
Women sweat
Going over there to get him
Women sweat being sexy and smart
Women sweat cleaning and dressing kids
Women sweet teaching and loving kids
Women sweat dancing and singing
Women sweet
laughing and crying
Women sweet sewing and mending
Women sweat loving the in laws
Women sweat remembering all the birthdays and anniversaries
Women sweat the small things that make the big things possible
Women sweat everything that everyone forgot
Women sweat through that time of the month and still function
Women sweat keeping the family together
Women sweat when they have had enough
Women sweat raising kids by themselves
Women sweat
being mothers and lovers sisters and daughters

The sweat of women
Drench their face
Drip to the ground
Water the fertilized seeds
To grow new life

And we thank you
And we thank you
And we thank you

4/28/11/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

Family of Mine

Brother Brother Brother

Come stand on my shoulders
So you can look out over this wall of
Injustice and map out our escape
No wait
Lest walk out this gate together
Your older you lead the way


Sister Sister Sister

Don’t let no man use or abuse you
Disrespect you or take advantage of you
Call me when trouble is near
Ill defend you fight for you if I have to
Be strong

Mother Mother Mother

Rest you weary bones, soak your tied feet
Don’t worry about make up
You natural beauty is inspiration for the sun to shine
We can sit and talk
Tap our feet, clap our hands and sing along
To old time church songs

5/3/02 Copyright © 2009 by Jeff R. Ghee

Bring me the Boy, Let me Teach

Bring me the boy
Let me teach him to be a man
Let me teach
Let me teach him to be respectful
Let me teach
Let me teach him to be responsible
Let me teach
Let me teach him that every action has a consequence
Let me teach
Let me teach him to that keeping his word means everything
Let me teach
Let me teach him that education always comes first
Let me teach
Let me teach him to stand on his own and not rely on others
Let me teach
Let me teach him to be humble
Let me teach
Let me teach him to ask for help when needed
Let me teach
Let me teach him that compromise is sometimes an option
Let me teach
Let me teach him to work hard
Let me teach
Let me teach him that nothing is free
Let me teach
Let me teach him that respecting yourself is your greatest asset
Bring me the boy
Let me teach him to be a man
Let me teach
4/24/11/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

Live and breath through your hand and pen

Live and breath through your hand and pen
Watch it all die on paper
suffocated between parenthesis
as it drags on and on and on
Bring it back to life
Reading it out loud
Listen to it die again and again
Flat words written on flat paper
Ink from ball point pens
Blue ink black ink
Smudged in laziness
Hands dragging across the paper
Live and breath through your hand and pen
Flat words on flat paper
Fold the four corners of paper
Bending the straight lines making
A gateway onto another page
All the words
fall to the center point
Into one foreign language
That everyone writes
Everyone reads
Everyone speaks
No one understands
Living and breathing
Through their hands
and their pens
Watching it die
Watching the words die
Watching the ideals die
Watching the thoughts die
Again and again and again
Watching it all die
Again and again and again

4/5/11/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

This perfect moment

Lie in the stream
Waters rushing by
Basking in the glory
Of this radiant sun
This moment is perfect

8/17/10/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

Late day clouds

Late day clouds
Drifting into
The evening sky
Night time approaching
With open arms

8/16/10/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

Walking through the water

Walking through water
Almost waist deep
Finger tips just on the surface
Creating ripples that go unnoticed

8/16/10/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

I walked away from the sagging moon

I walked away from the sagging moon
I never looked back
My gaze draped across the end of the day
I have seen the moons
Glare hide so much truth
In plane sight
Do you still love me
Have I been worth the wait
Love is so scorned
I am
I am with you
I am the sleeping bird
Curled in your lap
My wings are soaked
In the beauty of fire
Burning
I am your love
In the weakest part
of things to come
I hope to witness
The leaves turn
Will I stand in the snow flakes
I am drenched in the spring rains
The long days of summer
Shall keep me
Warm from the cold realities
Of patiently waiting
I see the reflection of
Past seasons pressing against
The passions of love lives
These trees bares no fruit
Barren of any reason
Only rooted in cold hearts
My hair burnt yellow/Orange from the fire dancers slow embrace
Smothering
I hope I am worth the wait
I know without me
It is so
It always has been

1/11/11/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

I have not slept in days

I have not slept in days
I have not slept in any nights
I am like a small sail boat drifting
On calm waters after the storm
The sandman is at the helm
Refusing to set sail
My feet dangling over the side
I am jerked awake by the fish
Snagging my toes with their
Fish hooks trying to drag me
Down into a slumber

I am wedged between
Sleepless and insomnia
There are no cool spots
Left on my bed sheets
Every space has been
Previously occupied by me
Sleeping a moment ago
Awake again

I search for
Another cool spot
This is as consistent
As not being able to sleep

jrg 1/1/11
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

Freedom cost to much

And freedom cost to much
Their eyes hollowed out by time
They can see into the past
But can't see now

They road in on white horses
With the staff of Moses
To show their might

Throwing it into the sky
And 1000 wooden creatures
Splintered off into the night

Their hands arms feet and legs
Bound by their children
To keep them from spreading
Their war bound ways beyond
Their own existence

Their mouth sewn shut
with the thread from the
uniforms of dead soldiers
They cannot talk their
Way into the future
No one is listening
To what was written yesterday

12/31/10
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

Birds of Prey

The pigeons will come
A message tied to their leg
You have to decide

All the crows will fly
Spread their wings turn day to night
The warning is clear

On your way to hell
The raven will be preaching
This will not save you

White doves will appear
Spread their wings gather you up
Your last salvation

12/31/10 jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

Palms to the Moon

I read my palms to the moon
My life line is celestial
Pieces is my zodiac
I should
Swim and be free

I cannot escape the
Gravitational pull
Of your heart strings
Connected to the end
Of Halley's Comet

That love won't
Swing back by for
Another 75 yrs

We are on the dark side
Of sunrise
And the light side
Of sunset
Lost in eternal darkness
light years from here
we may never see the sun
crest the horizon
At dusk and dawn

We will use the moon
As our compass
Floating in the middle
Of tides rising and falling
synchronizing
With the menstrual cycles
Of Greek goddesses

causing the moons around mars
To retain water
Become bloated and angry
Falling out of orbit every 28 days

From my archaeologist mentality
I push myself upright
Pushing my palms
Into the wet cement
Of cave walls
My life lines won't be discovered
Until now

I rush out of the dark cave
To read my palms out loud
In the moonlight
Realizing my ten fingers
have been encoded with the
last ten Numbers of infinity
I start to count backwards
Realizing I am running out if time

1/1/11/jrg
Copyright© 2011 by Jeff R. Ghee

See The Moon

The moon reflects
on the water
the true humanity of
every human being

However

We have lost sight
of that lake

1/1/11
Copyright© 2010 by Jeff R. Ghee