The Word of Bird

for Charlie Parker

as he flew, Bird blew
Trying to play clean, looking
For the pretty notes.

In the voice of the
Coolest breeze, the Apostle
Of Hipness hovers

Like a satellite
In orbit of mother earth
& the universe.

©2014

Eternity By Infinity [the final cut]

in hopes that we would go

the depth over the distance, growing
deeper than the roots of a tree

i took for granted that we would be
as one
for eternity times infinity; yet,

love is a feeling

memorized, destined to
immortality–

never forgotten
even if & when it dies
as it does sometimes.

& though yesterday is a memory, your soul
still gleams with the same brightness as the sun.

you were the total conjugation

of my entire language
& the music playing

in tune to moments
we’ve unhappily
lost in translation.

& our embrace,

a universe within itself
to call home, alive

archived in my mind
–that always refuses to go
quietly, already too late for a graceful exit.

©2014

Curators of the Lost Art

for Amiri Baraka & Albert Einstein

We are curators
Of the lost art of thought, forced
Into existence
By revelations of mind
& the imagination.

©2014

Circa 2000: Reminiscence

Raised up with the rhythmic
instincts of mayfield, marvin
& P-Funk

i rode the love, peace
& Soul Train
through city, country, city –

excavating the articulations
of orchestration lost ( then
found again) in translation

when the 80s came and went
digging in the crates of M.F.S.B.
(mother, father, sister, brother)

looking for the perfect beat
in search of the perfect blend
of knowledge, wisdom & understanding.

©2014

This Is America

Excuse my French
As my mama would say.
But, Corona can go
Straight to hell. The real
Pandemic is racism
& a vaccine for this virus
Remains to be seen
As does liberty & justice
For all…united we
Stand, divided we fall. It’s, 
Still, the choice of
Wrong versus right, but
Hindsight is 20/20.

©2020