"Motivation to Write"


Quiet girls
don't wish to talk
Silence
makes loose words stay
inside
Shy girls
use the pen to
SHOUT! Like
Gwen Brooks I don't
talk I
write.

"The Spotlight is On Me"
(previously published at nubianchronicles.com)


I want to be
a jazz singer
wear a sparkling dress
with sequins glistening
when the spot light shines on
me
I want a back up band
flutes, trombones, clarinets
high pitched instruments
harmonizing with my
contra-alto voice
I want my standard
to be be-bop, swing, scat
have Dizzie by my side
Coltrane in the audience
Incognito headlining
I want to be a star
my name outside the Apollo Theater
I want to be a jazz singer
I want to sing my song

"This is an Entirely Different Poem"


Initially, this poem was about
having the self-pity flu


but I remembered to take my
Reality-check pill.


The first line was confidence is a
party and I was not invited


Four hours ago I wrote loves
a gift and I never


received it. By then my medicine
kicked in addition to noticing


my previous poem used the noun
I at least 10 times plus


if I was busy doing housework
I would be occupied with


more important matters than
writing gloomy poetry.

"I Bore Quickly"
routine people bore me
took the first Greyhound bus
to New Orleans
rented a cheap apartment
in the center of town
sat in the middle
of the action got
familiar with all the adventurous folk
fresh people grow stale fast
took the first Greyhound bus
to reunite with
routine people

"The Pen Has Dried Up"


This is a tale about a pen
Who could not read or write
His ink was dry, his top was gone
And hence he was dried out.
A day ago, black ink would flow
From his tiny spout
Today only air pockets flow
Because he caught writers block.