What you said last night

You pay attention to the cracks in the crevasse, 

to the intention in the innuendo,
and the song in the silence.You wait for the twill in the twilight 

the erotic sense of night time
clocks in
-
as the smoke rolls,
another long pull on the pipe
and the smoke flows
shrouding your face
as the storm grows,

are we biting off

more than we can chew
or are we just fools…
daring to dream another dream
than the ones life chose,

waking up as it seems
we’ve been asleep to

Each other’s presence
until we collided,

Like stars you said,
the magic ignited

A spark in me and you

And a flame was lit

The truth shone

Although not perfect,
We fit perfectly.

For I saw the God in you.
As you saw the God in me.

I can’t help how I feel

And you’re so helpless in it too.

You ask me what’s been on my mind,

And for the past two weeks, it’s been you.

I keep thinking back on last night,

Will it ever happen again?

Do you want me to be next to you?

Can we ever be just friends?

I can sincerely try my best

I’ll promise you that much.

But in the back of my head,

There’s always be an iota of lust

For that one little moment

Where if we could we would’ve

But you know it can’t be you

Because you know I’m keeping it safe,

For a man who’ll love me the way I need

Behold my rightful place.

I’m the shadow in your periphery,

A little bird, I am your friend.

I’m the name you call in your soliloquy

I’m the thirst you never quench.

Cloaked in bad timing,

I’ll stay faithful

Until the end.

But I’ll be living
while I’m waiting for you

If you ever come

To claim what’s left.

Sleepless on the Horizon

Cold cornerstones of this city

Are not a comfortable perch

The wind renders me invisibly disposable

and my heart in its desolation lurks,

waiting around street corners

For the first available turn

to declare its existence

Sleepless on the horizon,

purple, awake insecure.

Scraped bucket bottoms

To catch subway trains

Speeding against the concrete breeze,

Leaving behind specks of urban rapture

I’m running past my feet

Scream into the silence

Where no one listens

As Life bites at my heels

As Life bites at my heels

This world is not my home I know

Despite this I confess

This bruised beating heart needs its hope

In the assurance of eternal rest

Between the parted lips of heaven and hell

the water is so blue

Grant me comfort underneath the stars

A teardrop closer to you

A teardrop closer to you

Nearer my God to Thee

I’ve finally reached the shore

Borne all I could

I paid the price

To leave this body here

To be baptised

in the crimson of the sunset sky

Cleansed until

My tears were dry

No longer

Sleepless

Sing lullabies

Sink safely down to sleep

Sink safely down to sleep

Sleepless on the horizon

Your eyes they search for me.

Your eyes they search for me.

My Name is A Form of Resistance

My name is a form of resistance
Against the anglicanization
and exotification

Of a body and a struggle

You don’t even have the

Syllables

To comprehend.

My name is a form of resistance

Because my mother

Named me for my Homeland.

She named me

to belong

No matter where

my feet would find me.

My name is a form of resistance

Because I was blessed in birth

To embody an oral history
that was kissed to my forehead
like a prayer
joining

Air and Earth
to Flesh and Blood.

My name is a form of resistance
Because it means hope and aspiration

in Sanskrit

across the Crimson scars you have left

on the faces of those

who have tried

to Rise.

My name is a form of resistance so

just because

You cannot pronounce it

Does not give You the right

To dismiss it

Or erase it

And then make me feel like

Suddenly

It doesn’t fit.

Because I respond to my name,

Battle cries,

I take charge in my name.
I am blessed unlike those

Who don’t need a face and story

To ground them to a history they see

Everywhere

I am visible in my name

So no,

I don’t have a nickname.

For I will not shorten

Or adjust even a bit of myself

To fit the capacity

you have

To stomach Me.
And my nine letters

Can spell

more defiance,

more passion,

more fire

than you will ever be able to extinguish.

My name is a form of resistance

because I was named for a purpose.

And like all things that have a purpose,

I will not rest
until mine
on this earth
is fulfilled.

So I will tell my stories,

I will them for they need to be heard,

And I invite pride to come into the hearts

Of those who wait submerged

For my name is a form of resistance.

And in it, I am empowered,

Loud, and clear.