My Baby Don't Talk Much

My baby don't talk much,
I would say this to my mother
Over a plate of ackee and saltfish,
After she brings up Elroy,
The one from town side
Who could chew raw words
And spin them into fine silk.
Silk my mother would
Stitch into the tapestry of
Her imagination.

My baby don't talk much,
I would say this to girlfriends
As we drank rum and coke,
Watching the sun dip into
The cool Caribbean sea.
And when he does talk,
It is not swee and thick
Like molasses, sure
To give a person sugar.

My baby is not the loquacious type,
The type that fires out words
With machine gun accuracy,
Hoping to shoot me down,
Claim my heart,
And put it on his wall
Of conquests.

My baby don't talk much.
He doesn't speak
In flowery language
That blossoms beautifully
But dies and withers away
In a matter of days.
My baby's words are
Like the evergreen
In Ms. Evie's yard,
The one that is always green,
Always flourishing,
Always trying to touch the sky.

He is more the type
Who would consistently
Feed me kindness, respect,
Support, generosity, love
Until I am the one
Who follows him home
Like a love sick puppy.

My baby may not talk much
But he does much,
He feels much,
He loves much,
He is much
And that means much more
To me than mere words,
Than mere talking.

Green

source

You are making me angry.

He chuckled
As though I was a joke,
Some parody of the
Incredible Hulk.

You don't want
To make me angry.

H smirked,
The expression on his face
Daring me to do something,
As though I wouldn't dare.

You won't like me
When I'm angry.

Then he went and did it,
He tossed the glass bottle
Into the garbage instead
Of into the recycle bin.

By the time
He looked back,
I had him in a half nelson
And I was whispering
Into his ear.

"If you don't
Put that bottle
Into the recycle bin,
I will cut off
Your circulation,
Make you pass out
And dump you in
With that bottle.

Quickly,
He grasped the seriousness
Of the situation and
Followed my instructions.

I released him,
Dusting him off and
Fixing his clothes.

He was still catching his breath
As I walked away,
But I can guarantee
He was considering
Going green.

Untitled

"Lets run away together!
Lets pack our bags,
Jump on the next bus,
Train, plane, whatever
And leave this town."

I looked at him,
Once again
He was talking nonsense.
Once again,
I realized that he was a
Mistake.

"Let's do it!
You leave your husband,
I leave my parents
And we start a new life,
Just you and me."

I could never,
Would never leave
My husband,
Not when I was pregnant
With his child.

"Don't you love me?
Don't you want
To be with me?
I love you
More than he ever could."

The desperation in his voice
Was embarassing,
But it showed
How young he was,
How vunerable he was.

I should never have
Allowed myself to seduce him.
He was so young,
So needy for love
And so was I.

It was now or never.
It started with a chaste kiss
And now ended with
A heavy heart and
Endless tears.

I told him that
I did love him,
But our love was
Wrong, forbidden, taboo
And as such,
It must end.

I got out of the bed
And told him to get dressed
As I pulled on my clothes.
He did what he was told,
He was still a good boy.

In the dead of night,
We left the hotel room
And we drove for an hour
Back to our sleepy, little town.

I dropped him off
Two blocks from his home.
I didn't want his parents,
His neighbours to see
Him coming out of my car
At this hour of the night.

As he walked away,
I watch him.
Such a beautiful specimen
Of a male body,
But he was still a child.

I watched my 16 year old lover
Walk home, his heart broken.
From now on,
I will be Mrs. Daniels and
He will be another student
In on of my English classes.

I can only hope
This affair hasn't ruined
His ability to love again.
I can only hope
This affair doesn't ruin
My life in the future.

I drove home to my husband.



Submitted to dVerse Open Link.

Spoken Word Friday

Deserve

I deserve to be happy.

She said this
As she laid in her bed,
His bed, their bed,
Alone.

I deserve sanity.

She said this
As she made breakfast.
He had just walked in,
Stinking of booze and
Some other woman's perfume.

I deserve respect.

She thought this
As he yelled at her
After she asked
Where he was all night.

I deserve peace of mind.

She thought this
As she rode the train
In to work.
Still wondering where
He spent the night.

I deserve to never worry.

She thought this
As she filed away documents,
Operating on auto-pilot,
Always on auto-pilot.

I don't deserve this.

She said this
When she came home
To a messy house,
An empty house,
Their house.

I don't deserve
A man who doesn't respect me,
Who doesn't contribute
To the household,
Who is rarely home
When I am.

She said this
As she packed all his belongings
And put them outside.
She had the locks changed
And ignored the banging
At the door.

You don't deserve me.

Was the last thing
He yelled as he carted
Away his belongings,
Going God knows where.

I deserve this.

She said this
As she fell into
A fitful sleep
With not a worry in the world,
And not a pain in her heart.

I deserve to be happy.

Muhad

The desert wind shifted
And she could smell them,
She could hear them
Approaching and all
She could do was hope.

Hope that they would not
Find her hiding place,
A small cave
With only a sliver
Of an entrance.

She was grateful
That they were not like her,
They were not New Breeds.
They would not be attuned
To her unique smell
Or hear her heart beat
Paces away.

But their creatures would,
Their long noses sniffing the air,
Their keen ears sensitive
To the slightest sound.
She retreated to the depths
Of the cave.

She was the last
Of the New Breeds
And they wanted her dead.
She had heard it herself,
The New Breeds were
Far too advanced to exist
Among common folk.

She new her whole family
Was dead, one by one
Taken to the far side
Of the desert. Once there,
They were killed
And set ablaze.

Ashes collected and
Buried deep where
The earth was hard
And the sands don't shift.
Their essence shall not
Contaminate the common folk.

This was to be her fate,
But she fought back,
She killed a few
And she ran.
She ran till
She could go no further.

She new this cave
Was where she would make
Her last stand.

They were close,
Very close and
A creature was at the entrance
Of the cave.

They were close,
She could smell them,
She could hear their heart beats,
They were at the cave's entrance.
They were talking.

The entrance was too small...
They didn't want to lose
Their creatures in the cave....
The New Breed may have
Just rested here
And was long gone.....

The creatures whined
But they pulled them away.
They were leaving and
She released a breath
She didn't know she was holding.

Although her senses
Told her they were leaving
And in a matter of time,
They would be long gone,
She stood very still
Not believing her future.

Time passed,
The sun dipped low
'Til it was swallowed
By the earth.

She heard the night creatures,
She heard her hear beat,
The slight swoosh
Of her breath, but
She didn't hear them.

She waited three suns
Before she left the cave,
Then she walked
To the far side of the desert
Where the earth was
Covered by vegetation.

It was there,
She found water,
She found food,
There she felt safe.
This would be home.

The last of the New Breeds
Became the first
And the second was nestled
In her belly.

She shall never be
Known as New Breed,
That was their words,
Spoken by them.

From now on,
She and her baby
Will be know as Mohad,
And she vowed that
They will never be the last.

Need You?

Need you?
Baby, I don't need you?
I want you.

I want the softness
Of your lips as they
Tattoo kisses on my skin.

I want your embrace
At the start of the day,
In the middle of the day
And at the end of the day.

I want your strength
When I'm weak
And the world
Feels too heavy.

I want your name
So that the world knows
That I am yours
And you are mine.

So, do I need you?
No, Papi! I want you,
And I hope
You want me, too.


Submitted to dVerse Open Link.