I Waited For You
There’s nothing more beautiful than spoken word poets in love. I mean who else could have vows like this.
love
My Love When This Is Past
My love when this is past
and you have turned away
–or I
and we are no longer
as we are today
I will be more
having known your love
I will be more
and not alone.
–Stephany
Don’t Forget Me
No one will ever replace you inside
no one will ever erase you from my side
as the dawn breaks into light
i promise not to hide from your sight
as you turn, walk away
i can hear something say
don’t forget me
i won’t forget you
even though the distance in my heart
just pushes us apart
if you love let it go
need this time to grow
but this feeling i’ve never known
and the further you go
i can hear my heart scream
don’t give up on me
i can’t let go
even though we’ve been led down this road
because of the hardness your heart holds
maybe in another life
you and i can
make it right
right?
Ginger Bread Mama
i love you ginger bread mama
ginger bread mama
all sweet and brown
love you
more than tired boys
love collard greens and candied yams
more than new watermelons
do the sun.
before you,
i was older
and owned a sky of sleep
and not even cowboy dreams
were poets enough to wish me you.
now in brownness warm
everything is everything and
our forms move in soft affirmations.
trying not to wake up the sun.
–Doughtry Long
Poetic Justice & Maya Angelou
Janet Jackson’s character in the film ‘Poetic Justice’ recites the poems ‘Alone’ & Phenomenal Woman’ by the poet Maya Angelou.
He Hasn’t
He hasn’t messaged you,
don’t look at your phone, don’t dream about him
so loudly that you can taste where your ghosted lips
met his, don’t expect a text at four in the morning
even though you know he was wide awake, don’t
wait
he doesn’t think about you as often
as you think about him.
His heart beat and yours
are no longer
in sync. 
this living hand
This living hand,
now warm and capable of earnest grasping,
would, if it were cold
And in the icy silence of the tomb,
So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights
That thou would wish thine own heart dry of blood
So in my veins red life might stream again,
And thou be conscience
calm’d–see here it is–
I hold it towards you.
–by John Keats
Sweets
the laughter just eases out
we live in a capsule
time slows down
I breathe you in and out
People could be conquered,
galaxies lost,
cities ploughed,
we’ll still be here smiling that damned smile
like we’ve got a secret
and have had one for awhile
hurt piece done
the bad blood boiled, gone
together we fit
puzzle pieces
or dark chocolate in reeses
this little hand in mine
In case I never get to tell you this
In case you forget who I was
In case we have a fight or stop speaking
Or you have questions
I have always loved you,
Not from the moment you were born or
When you threw up on my favorite shirt
But forever
From the inception of my existence
It was intrinsic that I would love you
Cradle
Hold you while you cried
Sing Marvin Gaye songs to put you back to sleep
To dream of how much we might look alike
And threaten your first date
To tell you that ma is the best person you will ever meet
Daddy always tries to help you navigate a world of bullshit and lies
In my short time I have failed to change it for you
So I have tried to change myself
I have been fallen been broken lied to lain with
Kicked down left lifted up cherished
I have seen beauty beautiful people ugly things history unfurl
Conspiracy and the truth get rinsed out in the wash
I have hurt people been hurt cried lied been found out abused
I like to think that I know some things
But the brave admit what they don’t know
Openly brazenly and without fear
Because there is no shame in not having all the answers
Learn to cook and laugh at yourself
Find someone who loves to be bored with you and go on an adventure
Know where you come from
Look to the moon for humility
Look in the mirror for strength
And just in case I am not there
When you leave for prom or
Learn how to ride a bike
In case I am not there for your next birthday or class trip
In case I am not there when you need me
Know that your little hand in mine altered my destiny
I love you more than
Peach cobbler collard greens and chinese chicken wings
Past all reason and cognizance
I’d hold on tight and die for you
Because that
Is just what big sisters do
For Nazir Samaira Rachel Rebecca Jazmin and any others after…
Gravity and Center
I’m sorry I cannot say I love you when you say
you love me. The words, like moist fingers,
appear before me full of promise but then run away
to a narrow black room that is always dark,
where they are silent, elegant, like antique gold,
devouring the thing I feel. I want the force
of attraction to crush the force of repulsion
and my inner and outer worlds to pierce
one another, like a horse whipped by a man.
I don’t want words to sever me from reality.
I don’t want to need them. I want nothing
to reveal feeling but feeling—as in freedom,
or the knowledge of peace in a realm beyond,
or the sound of water poured in a bowl.
–by Henri Cole
The Poetry Corner 