iAmDiipo

No woman no smiles I remember When we used to smoke In the gazebo in my fathers yard Four friends we are (still) Mere boys we were and we brothers be Observing the girls that dance to tale-songs And chat on end under the moonlight About flimsy filigrees and us We made plans To take the world Share it to four empires And rule all our years That was long before We taste the Fruit and see our dreams Follow the stairs into curly air And our paths in a single fate's breath Diverged like ashes in the wind- One gambled, one worked One prayed and loved the gods The other tried substances We found ourselves Ruling no empire nor palaces But in the arms of the simple women who Loved and chatted about us.

They ask me why I listen to music of the old I answered “we will all get old soon” They say I live in despair I said “like miracles every man’s woes finds him eventually” And now they are asking “why can’t you find love” In reply I said, “Like every crook, like every saint, I love” I love to love I love the sons of men and theirs sons I love greatly their daughters too More than the common man could, I love And was and is always loved While I learned “twinkle twinkle” I gathered stars On cloudy nights I pluck these stars from the pockets of my heart and paint them on the pages of heavens I collected smiles on the path to my grand father’s farm and trapped them in the tenderness of my palms I fell in love first with the lilies then, the whiteness of their petals The cranes showed me the sun— I committed passing rhymes of clouds unto my eyes The orange of twilight showed me the ambiance of dawn and schooled me in the art of bringing forth what neve...

This morning I found blood Splattered on the railings, at the bus stop I was jolted “May this be not the blood of a man” I hoped silently “It is” A voice tells me “It is but the blood of kindred A man fleshed as those who thronged Through the haze and maze of getting by Oblivious of little shades of splattered fluids on tar” Thus entrapped I followed the trail And found it veered into a garden That same moment The voice of reason tells me “Clock-in is but in five minutes” I ruefully abandoned my quest I stood decidedly Then wished fervently- May it be not The blood of any of my acquaintance And may it be not The blood of any of my kinsman Nor the blood of my brother And if it is May it not be my blood I moved on Then heard that same voice Nudging. asking “Am I my brothers’ keeper”

7 THINGS THEY DON’T TEACH IN COLLEGES

Three Songs, Three Sleeps. Intro For three nights I slept the three sleeps of the wise I thought the three classic thoughts And became three times wiser As I rode Three beasts To three villages To learn three songs I saw Three hills Three heavens Three seas I heard Tree winds Three waves Three birds I sang Thrice in unison Some three songs In three verses I Three truths about lies; Men lie Women lie more and better We all lie sometimes Three schools of thought I totally embrace; Free will Predestination Superiority of now The three men that are always in my mirror; Me The man I want to be The man I think I am II Three things that never fail to inspire me; Blue sky Sea shells Green leaves The three sounds I crave; The sound of my pen on paper Of blasting reggae in the hot afternoons Of children messing around Three days I so love unconditionally; Saturdays Sundays Holidays III Three simple ways to answer difficult questions; Yes No I don’t know what you are talking about The three ingre...

GAINING MY MIND

Eventually he won That personality, the smiling me The part of me that is a baby That sees with hopeful eyes, won Yes I won yes. My future started when I found myself in this reality show a kind of a big brother house only this time I was the sole contestant in competition with myself. So Every evening at sunset Big brother comes silently And evicts slowly A certain Personality of me Away from the house Never to come back So for days I watched As parts of my person Were being sent off Out of my life Never to come back On the last day It remained only two mes It was the part of me Who carries my past Wherever I go The mule, who cannot see today But through yesterday Colored glasses That got evicted.