[Black] Privilege

Knows to call someone before hand, know someone before hand, or someone who knows someone before embarking on anything required by the government. [Why stand in line when you can afford to pay the necessary bribes to get the documentations you need?] Convinces me to pull out my English when asking for a service so…

Acholi Chants

Alokolum yee!Where we sitKnit table clothesThese days we chant dirges in EnglishAcholi  has become too difficultWe speak Acholi with a twang like we are speaking English The English do not chant dirges in AcholiThe English do not speak AcholiBut us, we speak English like we are eating sweet potatoes No one can defeat usWe defeat…

Rebel Queens

Milky waters crawl down my fingers As I discover layer after layer Of flesh Of tightness Of beauty My garden wets as I gaze at her delicately sculptured folds Her fruit bursts with juices and flavor I snake lower charmed by her feminine aroma Lips plant kisses on petals Beautiful black petals, pink on the…

You Are Woman

For a season barely eons old Immersed myself in quietude Awaiting the day woman shall step into her own Trapped in this cloud of silent obscurity How does the world blithely pretend? For all the good there is out there Permit me to lay it bare How they sweetly make compelling claim Liberate the woman;…

Let me

Should I use my pen or lips to talk about the things that trigger me? And if I talk will you be able to listen and discern? But why is that my gender intentionally creeps and mocks at me? Maybe I should be silent like a dead bell but How am I going to change…

Love

She is beauty She is love She is the queen and then some Her love goes out to the fields and the oceans Her love goes beyond the sky and beneath the earth She runs after her shadow to break the chains of sorrow She hugs the universe To her, its for better for worse…

When God Makes Love to You

When S/HE enunciates I Love You It can take you a lifetime to really believe IT As to accept this endearment Is to learn a whole new language Altering the rhythms of your heartbeats forever As you now appreciate subtle motions of Love In the mundane & profound Much like clouds wafting, mutating Yet serene…

Greet Africa when you return

I greet you AfricaI greet you from Cape to CairoI hug you with arms of my sister from SomaliaShe implored me:        Greet Africa when you return. At Southern Theatre we metOn a gray Scandinavian eveningBut the African sun still shone in her eyesThe effusive Nile flowed into our handshakeConnecting us in an…

I Don’t Ever Want To Get Married

– I don’t ever want to get married Waking up every morning and seeing mama’s face being painted with high resonant slaps from dad’s palms hurt my soul He’d wrap his hands around her neck in preparation to take her life heaven knows he beat the hell out of her My dad doesn’t eat stale…

Sometimes Love

Sometimes love Is running for your life When your tanks are still full Of oxygen, When your heart is still alive, When you can still hear its sound Lub dub Lub dub Sometimes it’s saying “No more” And run for your life. Sometimes love Is choosing yourself, Is Loving yourself, Forgiving-yourself, Mending your own scars,…