I’m leaving now.
Losing pages of my heat scorched passport.
I remember the worst of times, the Ballantines.
My life, My words, My strife, My awards, My sins, My achievements, My love, My all….
I’m leaving now.
Losing pages of my heat scorched passport.
I remember the worst of times, the Ballantines.
Words of an old wise monk.
Be wary of the man who rides a white horse.
He hits harder than the law, son.
Abe sinned like all other men.
He hatched a plan behind her hazel eyes.
Cain, you tell my brother’s reefer?
I’m engaged in a psychedelic war.
A lewd sip double they called it.
My double edged roll is now blunt.
It’s 4:21, blazed it and got got.
Enjoying the ecstasy at Newport.
Puff, puff, passed out.
I don’t believe that by this time I need an intro.
I am the voice of the people. The dead, the broken, the ones who have left us.
You may try your best to get rid of me but I shall live on.
Will what I tell you be disseminated for free?
Or will you bottle it and try to sell it to the next investor who is willing to pay a kickback?
May 16th; is this the day you would like etched in our annals as the day winter fell?
Changed our love, our hospitality to some cold-hearted, demonic hatred?
Just because I weep in my sleep does not qualify as a wet dream.
Oh my King can’t I just have your ear for these few minutes?
Maybe I can help change the mindset of our institutionalized people.
Maybe we could finally grow past the emotional whims of our ’08 adolescence?
I have been to Nyayo house, and if these walls could talk they would spew out quite the horror stories.
A tale of two citizens with the power to make the best of my beloved country.
Are you really listening?
Because whether God got us but you cost us are we really gonna be alright?
We have changed slavery and colonialism, packed it in more palatable chains.
The Fire squad carries batons and they aim way before we are even ready to run.
Just like our votes, has our peace and freedom really become for sale?
Has it really been that long since I checked in as righteous as a saint in Tropez?
Before my momma knew that I would ever find myself in the middle of this blood politics?
How much does a life cost? I dare ask you.
If you start by explaining which tribe or which faction the soul is from, I strongly urge you to:
Get off my…..
Definition, because you are no role model and have no right to advise me on matters humanity, complexion, religion and culture.
Hello.
Are you still on the line?
Have you decided to make the blacker the berry, the bitter the truths I tell you?
You ain’t gotta lie, I have heard that apparently it is inherently in you to only love yours.
In this regard as I hear you drop the call. I seek to remind you.
You are a mortal man. So are we all.
Mortal men.
I: THE COME UP
Oh be careful little eyes what you see.
I’m rooted in rocks.
Smell the scent of what’s cooking.
I’ve crossed the desert.
And sands are no longer sinking.
I remember the peace in my liver.
When I never walked alone.
II: THE WARM UP
Watch your actions for they become habits.
My voice is a lyre
My truth tugs at her strings.
My life is a hymn but I feel alone
You know like solo-ish
I can see the darkness at the start of my tunnel.
Lights, please!
III: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
C’est la vie
Got friends from Cana having a party in my tummy.
Vices abound and I think Roy has the spirit.
Following stars that are Westbound.
But not a wiseman amongst us.
I’m wasting my youth on the young.
I need something over 21.
IV: THE SIDELINE STORY
Yea though I walk…
I’m missing His presence.
Trudging over bits and pieces of my essence.
Her lies taste sweet like ice cream.
Her wake rouses me and I scream.
I’m flashing a full house.
At the chess table.
V: BORN SINNER
For God so loved the world….
I had a million dollar dream and a pyramid scheme.
Emerged from the battle but with a crooked smile.
No longer picture perfect but worth the picture still.
In the beginning was The Word.
It said: “Seek and ye shall find”
But I’m the one who knocks.
I: God
Take me back to a time.
When being good was as easy as breathing.
And my mama’s words resonated in me.
When her bidding was stronger than a belief.
Proud to be called clean, faithful, a follower of rules.
Take me back to Sunday school.
When I believed in forgiveness.
In King David after the transgressions.
Saul would become Paul.
And the past would be forgiven.
Early mornings, when I’d remove my socks and shoes.
To be equal to the other village kids.
When my lullaby was the thoughts of heaven.
And not finances, planning on how to break even.
Take me back to being what they called a junior youth.
Looking forward to a life of serving not mastering.
Living for Him not aspiring to attain.
Take me back to the Bible not the blogs.
To learning rather than just reading.
II: Love
Take me back to the fairy tales.
To dreams grand and of sunsets.
When love was a gift and not an achievement.
And a source of never-ending happiness.
Not a path to probable pain.
Take me back to when today mattered.
To when the future was always bright.
Not a reflection of past mistakes.
Take me back to Celine.
To Luther Vandross and ᗅᗺᗷᗅ.
To staying alive and celebration time.
A fulfillment of the life that would be mine.
Take me back to hand sculpted gifts.
To names carved on trees and doodles on my books.
When the thought far outweighed the cost.
And the character way better than looks.
Take me back to primary school.
When affection made my heart skip not beat faster.
When I’d be transfixed in moments not lost in the next.
When what I felt was said and not lost in text.
Take me back to just being divine.
Before I let in the bandit and stole more hearts than one.
It’s been a while since I went out of line.
Lost the chance to enjoy the moment and ran after the fun.
III: Author
Take me back to senseless writing.
To holding a pen and trying my best at cursive.
To when the ink was the blood from whence poured my soul.
And truth riddled every sentence.
Take me back to basic lexicon.
When being deep was not the goal but a happy coincidence.
To when morphemes and synonyms did not matter.
And rhymes came out as staccato as a stutter.
Take me back to real poetry.
When my life leaked with every phrase.
My thoughts and fantasies saturated every page.
This gift was not even recognised as one.
Take me back to grammatical errors.
To a period way before the nazi era.
So I can write away my troubles.
Let the paper fade away my pain.
Take me back to Wordsworth and Frost.
Before I end up on the road least taken like Poe.
Lost in my melancholic notes.
Of the writer I could have been but never became.
Take me back to Shakespeare.
From thence I can find my path again.
Still a poet by any other right or how I write.
Immortalized in my own song of La “Wino”.
IV: Life
Take me back to singing and dancing.
To India Arie and Maxwell on a sunny afternoon.
To ill-fitting earphones and cassette tapes.
To bitter lemons without a tequila shot.
Take me back to addition and subtraction.
Not regression and plans for my progression.
To learning how to draw, no matter how badly.
Rather than designing a dream house in every reverie.
Take me back to freedom.
To aspiring to be President.
Proudly sitting at the head of the class.
Rather than murmuring at the back row.
Take me back to undefined genius.
Rejoicing in completion rather than competition.
To figuring things out not judging them.
To creating and not just utilising.
Take me back to long walks not quick rides.
To sun basking and making images from the clouds.
When I’d revel in heavenly splendour.
Not lost in thoughts of what tomorrow will bring.
Take me back to open spaces not closed walls.
To old friends not new acquaintances.
When I’d play in the rain rather than in its after-scent.
Enjoy every living minute, make it a lifetime moment.
Take me back, just take me back.
This last lighting up won’t last the trip.
Becoming the Lordy Vordy of this car.
The phoenix rises, a basilisk needle stuck on its wing.
Looking for healing…huff and puff..
Smooching this feeling…rough and tough.
Ruby ruby ruby red lips was what got him about Stacy’s mum.
He liked that she was still preoccupied with 1985.
And as he pulled off in his station wagon.
Alice just watched from her bedroom window.
He waved at Frankie by the YMCA.
Wondering whether he’d ever come back before the clocks stopped spinning.
All was yellow, autumn was creeping in and he knew it was no longer just his life.
He’d met a girl. Thought she was grand till he found out her love was just a lie.
And now as his heart was going under.
He’d pretend that the airplanes in the night sky were fireflies.
Lighting the perfect path to what she reminds him.
Someday he’ll be the hero who can save all.
But today he’ll just go somewhere only they know.
Soak up the sun just like animals do.
Smiling at these twisted turns of fate.
His small words now just a whisper.
Life just got too complicated for the skater boy.