Decades From Now

 Strangers,

decades from now,

will stumble upon the echoes of my life—

My blog posts,

Facebook musings,

TikTok desserts spun with care,

Instagram snapshots of edible art,

Amazon pages of short stories and novellas,

Pictures of me, smiling with family and friends,

Draped in compliments,

DMs,

and countless hearts.

They’ll wonder,

peering through this curated window,

why life felt so heavy on my shoulders,

why loneliness lingered like a shadow,

why success danced just out of reach,

why companionship slipped through my fingers,

why love, so deeply yearned for,

never quite stayed.

They’ll wonder,

despite the effort,

the trying,

the longing—

how it all still felt so far away.

--me

Black up

this is for some of you.
You forgot what it was like to remember
what your parents said.             what
                                       it was like


to grow up in the 40s and 50s;
some of you
you act as if we’ve always had the right to swim in the same pools
to drink out the same fountains
to love their men and their women.
to shit in their toilets

get together folks:

our parents were only qualified to clean those toilets


black yourselves up
or it will be done for you.

on a lower scale.

retro-
actively.

--AlexGeorge

Up In Flames

Dear friend:

         While I do appreciate your love for me,

          It

          has taken on

          a different

          form.

          Frustrated.

         Unrequited;

         what was once

          a

          small  sparkle in your eye

          has now

          spread

          like a fire,

          growing.

          expanding its boundaries.

          consuming  everything                   in        its path.

          nothing is left behind.

          not

          even

          me.

 --Alexgeorge

A Note to Donnie, the Barber

Yo Donnie wassup??

I know I said I wanted dreadlocks
this time
(last time)
and I still do.
I want’em tight & neat
crowning the top
of my nappy head with frizzes at the ends,
and I want’em growing down my back
like Bob Marley’s, but this time
I can’t do it;
I gotta establish
myself again
as an intelligent educated black man
for an upcoming interview,
and I can’t give them any extra excuses
to prejudge me that they will already use,
despite my being more than qualified for the position.
so, cut it shorter this time, man.
Yo, Donnie, cut it real short and even.


But don’t cut any of the soul away. 

-- alexgeorge

tell your husband to stop calling me

                                                         click here

Lord, can i have this mercy

Lead me in the right direction,

Lord-

via each prepositional phrase

I’m being proactive-

In

out 

under 

over

about

around

by

through.

through You,

Lord

through you.

Please?

Lord?
I've been good.

may I have this mercy?

                 --alexgeorge

The right hook

Some people play with fire without knowing that the fire is hot.

                                   --George Orwell

(you don’t notice my right hand

but I do.
I can feel it.

you’re too busy trying to stir up shit on a daily basis
on the down-low

to realize

that the palm of my hand is slowly collecting each finger

to form a fist

with your name on it,
on a daily basis.
feeling like a fifty-pound weight.
on a daily basis.

but the fingers on my left hand are peeling back each finger

to shake your hand instead.
on a daily basis. 
you're pretty versatile;
you have  perfected the art of hugging 
while stabbing
but my eyes are open.

&  I’m not about to let everything I worked so hard for go down the drain in seconds,
over you.
and that's all it would take.
seconds-
 5.
that's all.
it's not even a challenge.


so every morning, 
I take a deep breath,
I pray for protection,
&
I continue reciting Isaiah 54:17
until I can smile.

I’m not a violent man-

but I can dream,

can’t I ?

don’t tempt me, though)

Have a nice day!


  :)

--alexgeorge