Day...not sure, I am two poems deep and two poems behind. I am however playing catch up tomorrow. Bare with me??


'I dont know why nobody told you
how to unfold your love'

The walls still screamed
of days, weeks, months past
terror in its purest form
a child's wail

crimson carpet careening
from a home turned on its side
every day a blessing
in its progression

this house
with barbed wire legs
was trying to run away
from itself

So mama planted a garden
replaced the premature deaths
with petals and foliage
as our blocks body count increased
so did the size of her bushes

The youngest person
on our street
was 30 the
year she planted
sunflowers

They're towering stems
not sturdy enough to hold
the legacy they represented
they swayed at twilight
and sometimes, as if
to replace the eerie quiet
you could hear their leaves rustle

Our block was never this silent.

Hyacinths,
the month Andre was
lost and found
on the Potomac river shore
eyes wide and bulging
his forget me not smile
still faintly visible

She planted those shortly after

For Isaac
and his stride
too full with pride
and self assurance
He bought me blow pops
When we ran into each other
And always made sure
I made it home safe
I wondered who
did that for
him

Malik was a giant

'Giants fall hard'
Floating through fields
of cornrows and haze
Whispers from Fatima;
My auntie could only
love him in the dark
he was a cluster of Impatiens
in the most shaded
part of front yard

The day
bike tires
scattered stems
soil and roots
mamas memorial garden
became nothing more
than a pretty piece
of landscape
to passersby

Who appreciated
the silence of their
newly discovered
jewel of a neighborhood
and its welcoming
umbrage