Ringleader

Had    me    fooled          I   got  to     the  auction     and     left    talking     windows                a   little   less    broken   than    Angela Yee                Minty        had        sold      me       for   Sandra’s      leased      freedom        on         lease      with   no     option       to     buy.       See       my    name       on    the    bill        in       lead         in     Flint        in         innuendo                  the  soda   dimple      coming    up   even     when     he    frowns           folds        amounts        into            months      and     bloodhounds,       and      bloodhounds     

Sandra, run

You know what’s more important     that  candy   painted   cadillacs?                   And       the    cactus   saddle  of        raspy       husbands                     that     piety         strummed     with   ride     and     dread                                       The       p  o      l    ea  se         please     don’t     call           no body      free       ‘til                  we   keep    visits      brief            strict        records                 of         dismissive        twirls               of    all     that     hair      in   a   world    of    ropes              a      garbage    bag     around   the  throat           because       she    goes          hard                          or   goes    home        

Then  it  was   time   for   love

 

                                                       Then  it was time   for   action      

Shook

Like the earth    is    rocking     a   baby    in    the  bosom of   a    cage     and     I’m    hugging  the    vagus   nerve     to    play     crowns           I’ll stay              with      the     frayed    reluctance         of      jade    eggs          perched    on the        bed      gripping      the       break             The   weight     of    another    man   on   top   of    me     crushing    the     ache     into    these     sweet   blooded   lemons       I     can    taste    on      the     edge    of     every     tremored   scream    a   sermon          I swallow        for      spoken     language           or    languish    in      not   so  silent    pleas        I    shall   be        released      Stanley   Turrentine   version      I  overheard      Minty  had    a  bill     of    sale   on      me    I   believed       I     was   really        traffic     that    moving   loss   swimming  in     black  lights           It     was    terrific  ly      sad         hips     gathered    at     the    risk    of   flight         of       floating        off     a     billboard         Ma a    f  a           so       missing            she’s    a  lounge    singer    on     the    strip        Her    sister’s      a     stripper      in     texas        Her    wrists     hint      at       yes     crosses        yes        Ma   a    fa      so    lost         and   pregnant     in    las   vegas            and       from      the       snowy  sheets    confesses        less    sacrifice     than      readiness       I   come to   these    dark   places     to    find    this    medicine      

Go forward to meet the rain

Bratty Niggas

There’s this  trend   toward   oblivion      and bourgeois   establishment    condescension   paraded around like  a  new fangled  remedy  for   blackness         as     if      to  have  made   it you  have to back sideways into   a  stupor    of  access  and hide from yourself  there          There’s   this    excessively   well  adjusted    affect       to  match          it  questions    nothing     predicts   immunity  to all sorts  of   catastrophes  of which  it is    a   symptom     hunts  for dashikis    to  wear   in the  club    titles   to  rub   the   eyes   with   like poison   ivy      IV  truck outside  after  the  party    Tick  Tock    rubber    meets    Hitchcock  road      leap   from   so   what     to    egypt  strut      amnesia  so  cluttered  it’s   near   remembering       it’s   near  slapping   some   sense    into  the   feigned  contentment   of   derailed    exponents    of   that   dreaded    and  deadening   anointment  men   call   fame      No    name    in  the street     ass niggas      it    lasts     as  long   as  paychecks   in   casinos     it    lasts     as   long    as    the   end  of   the world        You’ll  hear  the  fatalism   twirling    like   spades   in   the    last   lung  of    capital      breathless  with  act     and    cold    as Michael       an  air   of   battered   ego    veiled    by     sailboat   in   the    NASA   greenscreen  moonlight       I  love  you    in spite   of yourself  you’ll      say      as  they   trade   that    in  spite     and  sway   off  the  platform  just   in   time   for   the     train    to mangle   all  their   self-flagellating  elephants    These  suicidal  men   looking    for    respectable   ways   to   die           Looking   like   lies     when  they   shatter            Don’t   let   it   happen  here