1/30 A Dilla Piece

Diligent

Break Beat Benevolen,

If you don't know why you're here, it's to hear a story everyone has heard

James Brown's "King Heron"

Told from the view of Rosenkats and Gilidenster

See, that's the way Dilla made music

Much like the passing of oral tradition

The arrangement is changed around but the moral of the story is never missin

Dilla was inspirational, got Hollywood tryin to walk that walk

Redoing Hansel and Gretle, Jack and the Beanstok

What he did on the MP(C) you can't describe with verbs

What he did with music you can't really do with words

Whom so ever can recreate the Funky Drummer...

To most people, it was just another Friday

To a few, it was the day J Dilla died

To fewer still, it was the day the music stopped at an gut wrenching point

You can still hear his voice even though you'll never hear it again 

Heavenly

Make a cage bird sing

Do you think they'll defy me, I who am king? 

Nah...if anything

That would bring gold like flows wisemen bring.

It was Dope 

Sky High, Hanging without a rope

No first class glass, just put me coach

In honor of those we cherish, we recite songs and hymns

Even the dead pay homage to him

seduced by the melody, see what it did to (Mi, Re, Do)

What he did on the MP(C) you can't describe with verbs/ What he did with music you can't really do with words

Audition Pieces

I remember the last night of the last performance

Starring up at the lights like it would be the last time
I shouldn't have done that
I should've closed my eyes and refuse to look
In hopes THAT would fuel my progression

Up at 5am to donate plasma to pay for voice lessons
Dumpster hop for bottles and cans
For dance shoes, dance class payment plans
Stand at the corner of "Can't & Hack-it" taking handouts for headshots
I should've NEVER looked at those lights

Starred at those angels so long I learned their names
Burned into my retina, I'll see ya in my dreams when I sleep
I didn't develop the "need" to see them anywhere else
Forgetting that I shouldn't have been in a position to see them at all

Wore that privilege on my shoulders as if I truly earned it
Ironic
How I pranced around professionals like I was one of them
A true testament to my acting ability

Those lights, those angels
Have become a memory
Scar
Picking at the scab after I got cut
Use those songs/
Bang my head against those audition pieces
Broken into a collage of "almost got it"s
Sung for different directors and assistants
An accompanist 
Who is familiar with the music but never seen it infront of them
Spark a fire in my chest and let GO

BEHOLD!

This is Benny
In this room
Almost performed on that stage
In my life
Left only to reminisce over the story as if suffering from dementia
Things that never happened
I'm slowly remembering
The pieces
Puzzled 
By the picture I see
These aren't like angels I see in my dreams

Dancing With The Devil

"The devil you know is better than the devil you don't"
... Looking over my shoulder
Eyes reminiscing over foot prints
The grappling that took place
...laughing and crying
Bleeding and sweating

Eyes
Dancing along the foot prints on the ground
Teaching the steps
How you got from there
To here
The wrong decisions
Balled up and littered along the way
I stand
Barefoot
Covered in dirt and cuts
Looking just as cherished as your childhood
That wasn't an ideal
But was still YOUR childhood

Claiming it as yourself, careful not to hold on too tight
Oils, sweat, tears, blood on your hands distorting it
Changing it for fear of being known
Not for the better
You tuck it into your backpack
Give me one final look
One final smile
One final tear
Then continue down the way
Walking to the rhythm of our song
I sing
With you

By The Power Of Cracked Skulls...

Give me strength/

Give me freedom or death or both/

Give me land labored on, labored for hope, fertilized with my blood, sweat, and tears/

Give me a chance/

Give me a hand/

From an untampered deck/

Give life, liberty/

Just us/

Not them/

Give me a blind fold/

Give me a .45/ Give me a taser/ 

Let me see which one is heavier/

Deadlier/

Let me see if I mistake one for the other/

Give me a gun, place it next to my body/

Place it at the crime scene/

Place it in the report to justify a coviction/

Justify no parol/

Justify the chair/

Justifty not overturning the death penalty/

Give me a flag/

Give me a ballot/

Give me a candidate without a "team"/

Without a logo/

Without colors or a American Flag pinned to their jacket

Give me a smile/

Keep it there, on your face/

Keep your pockets empty/

It's not a place to keep your hands/

Your dreams/ Your I.D./ Your Gun/

Your smile/

Keep it on your face/

Quick!/ Give me some money, I want to buy that smile from you/

Keep it with me always/ Wear it around my neck/

No...smiles are not accessories/

Keep it, I need to find my own/

Give me hope/

Give me a mirror/

Show me what you see so I can see it too/

So I can fix it/

So I can enhance it/

So I know how to describe it to the cops rather than say "He was black"/

"He was suspicious"/

"He was wearing a hoodie..."/

Give...me... a reason/

Give me my brothers so I can give them hug without the phrase "no homo" being involved/

Give me a (straight) answer/

Don't duck and dodge my questions/

They won't hurt you....just your career/

Your title/

Your image that you portray/

NOT THE ONE YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR/

IT'S THE ONE THAT YOU FIXED/

THE ONE THAT YOU ENHANCED/

THE ONE YOU CAN DESCRIBE TO THE PUBLIC RATHER THAN SAY/

"VOTE FOR ME, I'M HUMAN. I MAKE MISTAKES JUST LIKE THE PERSON IN OFFICE BEFORE ME AND BEFORE HIM AND BEFORE HIM AND BEFORE HIM/

...give me...a fucking break/

"Get me a iced tea and a pack of Skittles since you're making a run."/

Give me a smile...so I can put it on my face and keep it there.                                                                                                                                                                

Don't Speak

I hold in my hands
Palms pressed together in prayer

They are not mine

Found in the lap of another

Carelessly placed in my care

I wish only to return them

A burden of closure

Drawing me closer

To the caricature of who I was

Rather than who I am

Out dated programming

Needing human input

My reaction is unexpected

Yet understood

Receiving kudos under the table

Disrupted by fist pounding the top

Labeled a villain 

Status Quo keeps turning on the spindle

Say nothing

Don't make it weird

Use this time to smell fruit

Flowers and the like

Don't look for peace

It will find you

Just hold still

Close your eyes

Say "Ahh"

But not with your mouth

Kiss as passionate as you'd like

But not with your lips

Use only the palms of your hands

Pressed together in prayer

Til they are take from you

As you have taken

Thief

That Thing Poets Do In April: 27/30

I can create a scene
A moment that's captured
With an old oranges box
Propped up by a stick
Triggered by a string
Trickery
Maybe
But all the more real
If you believe it is

I can summon an environment
Made up of the air you breathe
Engineer it to connect the mind
With the present
Have them speak in two different languages
Understanding one another
Perfectly

I can
I shall
I will
In time
Create Rome
When ever
Where ever
Just say so
Say
Anything

That Thing Poets Do In April: 26/30

It's like working with Mercury
It's high science
It's an art form

It's mathematics

Character + History + Plot = "Scene"

Tradition + Situation + Evolution = "Conflict"

Absence + Love + Weakness = "Desire"

To understand the meaning of life, you must live it
Over and over
Filter out the bad
And the good
Keep what's alluring
Compelling
Art