Two roses close enough to kiss;

Petals red beneath bone they drip;

Tattoos

One below each collar

Like beacons flashing across a milky sea

For those in search of Love

Is it you?

Or is it me?

Reaching out to touch

Questions rise and crash like waves:

Will it be death by a thousand

mistakes?

Or by a thousand wishes shall we be

saved?

Incapacitated by a thousand thoughts…

Only Chicago knows.

She loves me or she loves me not.

Mother child,

Father child,

Crying in the night,

There is no light, no light, no light

Mother child,

Father child,

Waking in my dreams

I hear your screams, your screams, your screams

Mother child,

Father child,

You gave me life,

But I chose you, I chose you, I chose you;

right?

Mother child,

Father child,

You are my children from long ago…

I know, I know, I know

Mother child,

Father child,

Crying in the night

Shh. Shh. Shh.

Everything will be all right, all right, all right

Mother child,

Father child,

No need for fears

I still love you after all these years, and years, and years

Mother child,

Father child,

Let’s turn out the light,

Goodnight, my Loves, Goodnight

Goodnight

Sitting in Paradise

My heart served on ice

when the heat came to me

Twice

I pushed it away

Twice

Regret filled my

Days

Dazed

Turned into

Nights

Dazed

Back to the nightmare of my past

Hands reaching out from inside to pull me far back

“You don’t deserve to be happy”

But I do

I do

You do, too

And so I wait for the self doubt to pass

I wait for the heat to amass

For the sun to again shine on my days

No fear of being tortured and burned

by its rays

And when the sunshine returns -

as long as it takes -

I won’t look away;

this time I pray the sunshine will stay

because as they say,

the third time’s a charm

☀️

Parks, museums, coffee shops, and restaurants

Music classes with Susie Sunshine

Movement classes with Dylan

Piano lessons at Harlem School for the Arts

Play dates with other families

Endless hours at Barnes and Noble

Playtime at the Harlem Y

Story-times at Bank Street Bookstore, The NYPL, Madiba Cafe, Sugar Hill - all so sweet

Therapy sessions

Dental appointments

Grocery shopping

Jogging

School drop-offs

School pick-ups

School field trips

School snack times

Then poof! I was gone

Hell is not knowing

if you’ll ever see someone again:

your Baba, your best friend

But I was not gone

I was here all along

Caught in a system

designed to destroy

Fighting for your rights to have two parents not one

Yes, entire parts of me died in the war that we won

But all the best parts of me thrive and live on

Like a garden hose once clogged with debris

finally! running free

And now you know

Love is indestructible