we laugh- we cry- we sing: to set you free- words by Muhammad Raheem

Sunday, November 8, 2009

to set you free- words by Muhammad Raheem

poet of ruins old and new
lost and found
woman of good faith and virgin legs
i have seen why the evil breathes
obedient in the glory of what may be
she has kissed the rain on the mouth
sugar crusted on her fingers
life rides on her tongue

penelope liked to kiss horn players open mouth
hands up her abuela's summer dressed- passed down to penelope
her home was an oak tree
her neck dressed in manuscript
i am already dead
penelope was beautiful in the deepest sense
touch
smell
sight
sound
taste

she floated here on her abuela's boat
she loved american boys
dean morrison mcqueen
mandela taught her peace amin taught her passion with a fist abuela taught her

love art willingness she spoke in a soft spanish song like a song bird she said

poetry is when our souls try to understand the world
penelope cried it will kill me to set you free abuela

no justice

1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black community.
2. We want full employment for our people
3. We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our black community.
4. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.
6. We want all black men to be exempt from military service.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.
8. We want freedom for all black men held in Federal, State, County and City prisons and jails.
9. We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group, or people from the black communities, as defined by the constitution of the United States.
10. We want bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which ant black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate, for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.

women

she forgets who she is-
she could be so small, like a whisper
eaten away by outwardness
in love with herself but-
it is you she wants to love
she could be any women- and the opposite too
with her hands stroking or maybe strangling-
her intentions are half interred
she could have you thinking silence is what she wants
but no answer is loud enough to know for sure

when you walk she is drifting-when you sleep
she is sinking
but you can never catch her
you remember those types of women
Marie, Sandra, Patricia-they move like shadows
in a candle lit room

hiding behind names like
Devine, Penelope, Talvikki
full of the intention to be loved but-
full of hatred to her crowded bed sheet

with your name painted on the sides
Of space rockets-most men dream of conquering
you
they hate how you melt their resistance in
a timely fashion- it is your night to burn
however you choose-
now do it again.

morrison

Blood boots. Killer storm.
Fool's gold. God in a heaven.
Where is she?
Have you seen her?
Has anyone seen this girl?
snap shot (projected)
She's my sister.
Ladies & gentlemen:
please attend carefully to these words & events
It's your last chance, our last hope.
In this womb or tomb, we're free of the swarming streets.
The black fever which rages is safely out those doors
My friends & I come from
Far Arden w/ dances, &
new music
Everywhere followers accrue
to our procession.
Tales of Kings, gods, warriors
and lovers dangled like
jewels for your careless pleasure

stealing us

I stand on the corner of the block slinging amethyst rocks,
drinking 40s of mother earth's private nectar stock,
dodging cops, cuz' 50 be the 666

and I need a fix of that purple rain:
the type of shit that drives membranes insane.
Oh yeah, I'm in the fast lane snorting candy yams
that free my body and soul and send me like Shazaam,
never question who I am. God knows,

and I know God personally,
infact he lets me call him "me",
I be one with rain and stars and things
with dancing feet and watermelon rings,
I brings the sunshine and the moon,
and the wind blows my tune.

we laugh- we cry- we sing

Sunday, November 8, 2009

to set you free- words by Muhammad Raheem

Muhammad Raheem

Ayala Solis-Reaño

Evea Apple

no justice

the brakes

women

morrison

stealing us

praises

inspiration

listeners&readers