My Color

“Stick with your own color”
Said the angry black man on the train
Peeking over my shoulder at the photo of me and my Caucasian lover on my phone

My own color?
Aren’t we all just different shades of the same color
Lets break it down
My mother is white
Her grey eyes sparkle with tears because she feels all the pain in the world bottled up in her big heart
Beware she will hug you
She will feed you
And before she ever meets you
She will love you

Is she my color?
After all she is my mother

My father is a black man from Brooklyn
He preaches rock and roll and encourages you to follow your dreams
He hasn’t let a brain injury slow him down
He has an inner strength balanced with his cool Jamaican roots
He will find the silver lining and rub it til its gold

Is he my color?
Well he is my father

No
I am not white
I am not black
I am a piece of every person in my life
They mix in me
They blend so perfectly
They breathe color into my lungs through their compassion and strength

So thank you to the angry black man on the train
I will take your advice
Lucky for me everyone is my color

Lemonade

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade
But what about when life gives you shit and takes everything away

Here, have a love so strong and blissful
Sing those happy songs
Whistle while you work
Cause soon it will be gone
Like a headline train wreck I will break your plans
I will crush your love and leave you all alone

What? No lemonade?

When life gives me shit and I pray the end is near
Googleing, how many Ambien does it take to end this fear
that’s when I make the sweetest lemonade you will ever taste
Secret ingredient?
Blood, sweat, and tears

And I will crawl up
I will kneel up
I will stand
And doing so I realize standing is all I have
Shaking like a baby learning to walk
And I will shine
I will go on
I will make a new path

I triple dog dare you
Try to knock me down
My roots are stronger now
My legs don’t shake no more
This is human strength in its pure form

How’s that for lemonade?

Mutual Earthquake

What did you do to me?
Last night
From the outside everything looked ordinary
Last night
How did you make my back arch and my hands grip your skin?
How did you make my thighs squeeze like a champagne cork?

I should apologize for biting your shoulder
Like I did
I should apologize to my neighbors for waking them
With my screams

I don’t remember how we started
But the end is so clear I can still feel you surging through my veins
Our tangled limbs
Our mixed sweat
We earthquaked together
My feet up
Our eyes wide

We laid there lingering
Stunned

I don’t know what you did to me
Last night
But can you do it again?