Nothing Stays The Same.

Everything changes.

As I sit in the car with the engine running,
Burning imperceptible increments of gas, 

The kind where you go from half a tank to low fuel warning
In just a few tire rotations…

An abandoned building. 
A vacant, dilapidated home. 
Often inhabited by drug dealers or the unhoused.

I stare at the structure, unsound. 
It’s weary materials ready to crumble
At the slightest gust of wind.

Succumbing to years of neglect and unwantedness.

…

It’s 50 degrees in February. 
The weather is changing.

Not a four perfectly delineated seasons
kind of change.

Where you know it's safe to put away
the heavy winter coat

and bring the summer clothes
front and center closet.

It’s…

One day, while parked in the parent pick up line, waiting for the kids to be dismissed from school, the divine writing spirit struck me. What better way to pass the time than to put pen to paper. I grabbed…

Hurry up! Let’s make this light!
I yell to, not at, my kids
Lagging behind 
Engaged in uncomplicated childhood amusement.

Who’s taller? 
I bet you can’t do this!
The world is their playground. 

But now’s not the time! 
Hurry up! 

…

100% Acceptance Rate
All of us will go to college
The school promised it

If we do our part
All 150 of us
Smart
Ready to embark

Day one:
First period.

Jermaine literally jumped for joy
Bounding high over the…

God

If I’m to be confined

To this dark room 

With a single beam of sunlight

Slicing through the black

Illuminating my shadowy corner

Then let me be a disco ball

Made of fragmented mirrors 

And shards of glass

Scattering…

Excuse me sir...?

Salamalayka. I see ya headwrap. You a Muslim?

I heard dat. Say brotha, I don't mean ta bother you, but can you spare a lil change?

I'm just tryna buy me sum'm ta eat.

Man yeah I…

The sunrise is the best morning news. 

Before the report about rush hour traffic
An outbound accident adding another hour to your commute. 

Before the report about the fire in an abandoned warehouse that raged overnight and claimed no lives…

Their Sign:

"Danger: High Voltage"

Me

I am voltage

Pure, unbridled energy

I am

Innately plugged in

To an infinite power source 

A force conducting flow

I am Raiden

Radiating

Raising vibrations

Their response:

"You: dangerous" 

Shocking.

This is probably the closest 
I’ve ever been
To a crime scene

The irony
Of watching blood and gore
Horror
On the tv screen
Jump scare

Startled as 20 shots ring
The iron

Definitely woke up the kids
Who run…

i hate you.

The words plain

But mommy said
The outburst was said
With vitriol 

I scratch
Deep into the reservoirs of my brain
For a definition
Processing

Bitterly harsh or caustic language
Stated with
No, flung with
Like mud

…