The Color Purple

A(ubrey), I

was early to the party.... so I left— what a waste

Took the hate train home put the secrets in the safe 

Blood and bone but they called it water

Dear Heavenly Father,

You carried me…

Grew my nails when they buried me

Now all I need is a manicure

A poet without an auditor

Got over it for the overture

And again comes the train — Choo Choo

All a board on NuNu and the crew… 

I’d rather walk 

Step over the chalk

I balk at a Cold case 

Only give chase to crimes of passion and faux pas of fashion

"I can’t get no satisfaction"

“And that man comes on the radio telling me some useless information— supposed to fire up my imagination”

On some Mick Jagger

Guess I got back my swagger

From some other dagger

Can’t steal from me ni$$a 

Cause Ericka’ll s...

God made the platelets that coagulate

God made the platelets that coagulate

To get grown I couldn’t wait

To have my say 

To find my way

To not be berated on any given day

Iyanla said I needed to heal

Try explaining to the young what’s real

They only know magic… I only knew tragic…

And the path that beckon 

What is real

The old do not know

So some steal from their young 

Then bind their tongue 

and call it loyalty

Or religious royalty

And we all suffer in silence

Except when the violence gets loud

And the power makes them proud 

And memories curdle 

But no tears over spilt milk and wasted youth

A thousand little cuts— Death would be just

But remembrance lives on 

In defiance I am reborn 

...

The Color Purple

I just want SOMEONE to do right by me 

I Ceily

poor, black and ugly

At least that’s how they see me

Beat me

Brick throw-Hide hands-mistreat me

If only I could sing like Shug

Maybe my Daddy would greet me wit a hug

Protect me from these thugs

I Siren Lyric Muse scratched a song outta MANY heads

Yet EACH one left leave E for dead

But still wanna climb on toppa me

May be 

my daddy ain’t my daddy n there’s still hope for me—Long gone my baby’s Fada 

My sister, only somebody dat love me—on a Mackey-Dada

Even when the weather get twister 

Stay lookin in the distance for Mister 

To Bring my baby back 

We ain’t really gon sit around the table like that

I’m just so good at talking s...

Pride is King

And in this Man's world Pride is King...

the noise that drowns out everything.

How can I sing of love, 

when he places none above... his ego?

And if it were I that served that mighty blow

that demoted me from friend to foe,

a sacrifice of blood— wouldn't be enough… to save me from the flood— of his wrath—

It's Issacs’s math...

I still gotta write my epitaph,

and give the accounting on my soul's behalf

to The Great Mathematician in the Sky

and still, copy and receipt you as to why

I am soo undeserving of your love...

A love that pays a shilling and derivative

that subtracts the ability to forgive,

that divides my worth

from what I deserve…

I invest— 

and you profit off the inte...

Prodigal Son

I set off on a great journey

Bought some business

I thought was turnkey 

Only packed "What Momma Told Me"

—Then lost my luggage along the way...

Lied to so many people sayin' I'd come back someday.

Picked up some new wares

In a city, that auctions off the pretty

And when the hammer fell

In her Bible, she bookmarked the tale 

...And I remembered— to never forget 

The cracks in the driveway and the crumbling steps 

Of my old address...

She calls me a Gypsy

I call it "Synecdoche"

Me and Seymour 

Set out to see more

And collect souvenirs from the horror 

Postcards stained with tears

I's dotted— t's crossed and unsigned fears— 

Didn't want her to know...

...