lower case i

To remain grounded in a diverse world where violence and sexual

encounters are found astounding,

Like a prey, now a trophy showcase, on a wall mounted,

stood i, the lower case i, as a little brown kid.

Mentally disturbed, was i, from every self directed racial slur,

told to be a man and withstand this strike of Satan's hand

no matter what would occur,

watching my mother souls suffer... far from what i thought she deserved,

as i thought to myself how could a beautiful black woman have

so many of her dreams deferred,

little did i realize that her struggle was her triumph

artistically like Spoken Word.

So from a distance i observed trying to find my place,

i was a loner most of my life as solitude often stared me in the face.

Down my face even today tears can be found streaming

for the pain of reminiscing back on my friends & family

who were raped, abandoned, mentally tortured and murdered...

All surface & dagger my soul in the form of spiteful demons.

i can't change the hands of time and dictate the outcomes of those events,

i can't regret being seduced, breath by breath, by the winds of negligence,

i can't change the scars that bear seasonal fruit on my conscience...

i can only cry as eyes cry this lower case i lullaby

© Timothy G. Green