kumtia siku - seize the day in Swahili

Am I just a hair wiser?

Gray hairs are...

Like grains of sand falling in a hourglass

When they appear

Marking the passage of time

Predictable, yet surprising

Never quite sure where they will appear

Or even when they will show up

Like some type of 'Body Bingo', and my face is the ‘Free Space’

They don’t lay down or blend in, do they?

No, the stick out, no matter mustache, eyebrow, inner nose, or outer ear

‘Bingo’! I got five in a row!

It was not there yesterday - B12

Or even this morning! - I17

Look at this one, it’s half brown and half grey - N33

Rolling down a pile of other gray hairs - G47

Proof that another moment has passed - O55!

And I have lived…

Taken up space

Created, loved, praised, learned, listened, read, laughed

And perhaps, now am I just...

Monopoly

Turns out those old American dreams

Were just nightmares, it seems

Strange what ‘democracy’ brings

To our huddles masses 

Races, parties, and classes

Just like the game of Monopoly, do you recall?

Rolls of the dice and that one player who manages to own it all!

The utilities, railroads, properties, and apartments, while your money always gets spent

On jail, fines, insurance, repairs, and expensive rent!

Hoping to just pass ‘go’, avoid taxes, trade or make another deal

But you're never in control, can’t even enjoy the game, because it all just feels so real!

Why all the angst and regret?

Reality is nonsense

It feels like January 6th

But somehow we’re all Mike Pence!

But they ain’t storming the capital (no, no)

The government and media are spewing lies instead of reporting what’s factual…

Firing federal workers and teachers?

Fans in the stands threatening athletes from the bleachers?

'Shut up and dribble,' but you call yourselves fans?

You called him a (again), so he rushed up into the stands!

You 5’8” dummy, he’s a foot taller than you!

Your neck’s in his hands and you can’t breathe, so now what you gonna do?

We're in the age, when misplaced rage just might get your a$$ kicked!

All that money and security is just an illusion, my conclusion, just don’t be a !

Why in the hell are y’all so upset? (Anyway)

Your ancestors weren&rs...

Life.time.water.waves.sand.one

Notice… how time moves in waves

Like water at the beach

Slow, until the sand shifts

That soothing spritz

Tickles your feet sink as the water retreats 

As it always has done

You are already one

With both the water and the sand

Understand?

appreciate all of the lessons yet to be learned

The mistakes that you make today may seem heavy

But when you take time to relax and are ready

To understand the ways that this lesson will assist

Your future perspective, I guarantee that you won’t want to miss

The chance to appreciate all of the lessons yet to be learned

Do what I say, not what I do, your current error is no reason for concern 

You like me, tend to overthink things and are way too hard on yourself 

I hope this wisdom that I’m sharing with you today will be beneficial toward your heath

Tell me this is real?

Tell me this is real?

Not a dream or the truth, but how you feel

All our time and history can’t be fiction! 

Memories together just a plot or description 

Of a cruel author’s pen

Characters doomed to paradise or hell, may all depend 

If I’m awake or asleep, but I only care

If you’re really real and I’m actually there.

They turned ‘DEI’ back into ‘DIE’

When there’s no there there, what should you do?

When love, friendship, goods and services aren’t equally exchanged, you already knew!

After 1865, our ancestors couldn’t get a fair wage or a loan

Without chances and opportunities, they made a way on their own!

Before the invention of the phone 

Until their black Wall Streets and churches were burned

They said to hell with other cheeks being turned

American governments and businesses discourage diversity, equity and inclusion because…

Honestly, I don’t even care to know what the oppressor thinks or does 

They turned ‘DEI’ back into ‘DIE’

Because black, brown, and red bodies are just fossil fuel for America’s engine 

Centuries of Native America bones and nightmares 

Misspelled in cities and states as brazen dares

Slave labor...

For real, for real, for real, for real?

For real, for real, for real, for real?

That’s the cost for just one single pill?!

A new house will cost you over half a mill?

$300 for a summer month electric bill?

Don’t even think about the lifetime price of a thousand fast food ‘value’ meals!?

$5,000 for a set of braces

$300 for an analog wrist watch faces

A dozen dollars for a dozen eggs?

$200 for my daughters braids?

$50k for a brand new car?

$50 for some drinks at the bar?

All of those streaming services set me back a grip!

$6,000 for a family trip?

$60k for a year of tuition?

You need $50 dollars to go with this slip of permission?

For real, for real, for real, for real?

Gas cost me $60 dollars today, just to fill up my tank?

The ATM charged my three dollars just to pull some money from my bank?

See you when the light’s bright!

I’m so apoplectic, I'm overcome with anger

With the last inauguration, my nation became a stranger

Presidential pardons, billionaires bending backs and knees

Cryptocurrency and AI, inflation will drive up the price of eggs and cheese

The middle class is last, replacing omelets with corn flakes and water

My mother and wife’s past was brighter, compared to the dim future of my only daughter

Trying to make heads from tails, but my conscience asks why bother?

Wild fires burn in California, as snow falls in Louisiana

Used to be a fan of Nelly and Snoop, but I deleted Doggy Style and Country Grammar 

Up is down, wrong is right

Our sticks and stones are useless, as America challenges us to a automatic rifle fight!

So we’re hibernating for the next 4 years, see you when the light’s bright!

Time, water, and sand

Notice… how time moves in waves

Like water at the beach

Slow, until the sand shifts

That soothing spritz

Tickles your feet, as the water retreats 

As it always has done

You are already one

With both the water and the sand

Understand?