$$$$$$

It never bothered me to hear about Wall Street decline
Talk of mergers, foreclosures
You'd think it was all over
But just cuz you're down to your very last dime
And that money machine's slower
No need for the four-leaf clover
Cuz having money doesn't mean it's mine
You heard me, having money doesn't mean it's yours
It's like air, you breathe it in and then it goes out the door
Can't save it, or find it underneath the floor boards
Take it when you need it, but remember it's not yours to keep
So don't weep, and don't lose any more sleep
Over these paper chains that try to bind
The minute you assert that paper is mine
They say health is one letter away from wealth,
so let's move along those lines.
Have is one letter away from hate
Material needs two letters to become immaterial
I don't mean this poem to sound spiritual
But if a camel can't pass through the eye of a needle

Then it's clear I don't need bondage in your paper chains
This money in, money out got us all insane
But if breathing in, breathing out don't much bother our brains
Then don't worry bout money, I'll say it again
It's very clear I don't need bondage in your paper chains
This money in, money out got us all insane
But breathing in, breathing out don't much bother my brain
So don't worry bout money
Set it all aflame

Some people dream of money falling down from the sky
Thanking their lucky stars, but you need to ask why
Why is it we're all slaves to the rye?
The government gave us money so that freedom
wouldn't open our eyes
It's only when you're not beaten by the dough that you rise.
It's not the size of the wallet that counts
It's the sense of justice, energy and freedom in large amounts
Get that fist out your purse and throw it in the air
Curse the societal urges that put it there
And ask those people making money without a care
Why their shackles so tight they can't bear

It's very clear I don't need bondage in your paper chains
This money in, money out got us all insane
But breathing in, breathing out don't much bother my brain
So don't worry bout money, I'll say it again
It's very clear I don't need bondage in your paper chains
This money in, money out got us all insane
But breathing in, breathing out don't much bother my brain
So don't worry bout money
Set it all aflame

I'm very aware burning money is a federal crime
And inciting riots with my words could get me some prison time
If you decide to report me, and they haul me to jail
I'll gladly pay bail
Just to continue to wail
These creditors sound so highfalutin
They turn problems into debt solutions
But these excuses are useless
Ignoring the real problems of society
Just for fame, wealth and notoriety
I want variety
Gimme fresh air, grass, a path to walk
Tomatoes fresh off the vine, corn off the stalk
It's all talk, they say, that old adage
Oh really? Tell me how our ancestors managed
They didn't have dead presidents always staring in their face
Making em think they got the most, so they won the race
What a disgrace we've become
Pathetic human race under the sun
Quick as we're rich, then we think we've won
And if we're poor, we're done
But I've come too far to believe the fun stops
Once the last dollar bill drops
So I say, put your money in the fire
The resulting blissful feelings will take you higher
Watch them dollars burn and pop
Oops, here come the cops.

Superficial Ppl

These superficial ppl look at me
And walk away like I got a communicable disease
They dismiss me very easily, an ability
Not lost on me walkin by
If they look me in the eye then they might see more
Past the messy mop of hair and my bare feet on the floor
Past the stickers on my car, and the beads on my door
There's other possibilities beyond trying to settle the score
The word hippie's just a label that's affixed
By the ones who think those unlike them should not exist
Even if you think you're different, they say just assimilate
If you stop loving yourself, then you start to learn to love to hate
Then you start to call us out, while we're walking down the street
Just because we nod our heads to an unfamiliar beat
What do they see? The person, the poet, the hair, the clothes...
I guess I'll never know.

The Golden Rule (written for UNI's Close-Up on Diversity)

The teachers always told us, when we were in school:
"Remember the Golden Rule."
Don't treat others cruel
In fact, treat em as good as u treat yourself
But once we're in the world, we see it put up on a shelf
There's some people who get no help
No consideration
In what's supposed to be the most diverse nation
Apparently, the prevalent Golden Rule line
is to only help out if your skin looks like mine
provided we don't cross the socioeconomic divide
and I don't have to get down off this high horse I'm astride
Here's what they should have taught us in the schools:
"Whoever has the gold, makes all the rules."

Slam!

With these words I belt
gonna make your face melt
It's a race to see who's got the best speech since Roosevelt
I make the first welt
leaving you bloodied and bruised up
Ain't my fault your words are used up
Uh oh, time's up, find out did you lose? yup
Next time, make sure you come with it and stand up
Next time memorize, and make your words matter
None of this nonsense, we've heard it all before, it's idle chatter
What you dish out is only as good as your batter
I said what you dish out is only as good as your batter
Maybe a little honey or sugar would be nice
But I season mine with a whole lotta spice
Bring it all to a boil, then put you on ice
But I'm a bad chef; cooking with words is my vice
And it's only paradise when you've got other poets around
Lifting your words up, while shouting you down
It's that perfect turn of phrase to which I'm bound
And I won't stop writing until it's found
So if you'll promise to bring your game
Promise to stop spitting the same, same, same
Then I'll promise to stop equating the word "lame"
With your name.

Scarlet A

This day is almost faded
And my body no longer invaded
This is the ultimate act to make me feel jaded
And a little bit frustrated by how it turned out
Like I just went all 10 rounds of the bout
Tryin to show I got the clout
My secret's not out, but I did get punched around
Without a doubt.
And I still can't figure out
How it managed to happen at the worst possible time
And due to my inexplicable climb
And having to spend my last damn dime
Some call it a crime, but I say
You don't know me or what I do day to day
And I'm glad it's my choice, cuz there's no other way
So I'll stay feeling simultaneous uncertainty and relief
But missing are the sadness and grief.
You say your god punishes me?
Those aren't my beliefs.
It's time to stop acting like we've been victimized
Time to stop blaming the media for making us desensitized
Time to quit blaming the government just cuz we believe the lies
While we chomp down on our Happy Meal fries
Time to stand up, get on with our lives
The greatest prize lies when we take responsibility
And our eyes see past infinity
Do that, and it feels like divinity
Or at least like the real woman in me
Don't succumb to another's view
If your instinct tells u it's something u shouldn't do
Cuz you're the only one u have to be true to
Do that, and the sky looks a clear blue
No more looking always in the rearview
Cuz the woman in u knows her own values.
If u know what I'm saying, keep it to yourself
This chapter is closed and up on the shelf.

Streams of Consciousness

All emotions are pain
The sunshine just as bad as the rain
Trying always for happiness makes u insane
I guess I'll meditate.

People be frustrating me cause they don't see
How they're humiliating their own identities
Trying to be like what they see on MTV
Or BET, all that un-reality
Or they believe the hype
Putting themselves in the shoes of a fictionalized stereotype
But what's that like, living someone else's version of life?
It's you, but not quite.
Sometimes I lie awake at night,
Thinking how I could put the past right
If I only had 20/20 hindsight
It's cause secretly, I'm a people pleaser
A joker, a lover, a friend, a teaser
Always turning skeptics where once were believers
And sometimes I don't follow my own advice, either.
But neither should I get lost in the semantics
Don't give me a fever from witnessing your crazy antics.

If you're tryin to hate, you're only wasting your time
You spend precious minutes to berate somebody, drawing the line
Well don't cry to me, those minutes are mine
And I prefer spending them not hearing u whine
So why don't u take all that anger and go
Better yet, why not stay and just let your anger go
It's only when we let it all go that we begin to grow.
You know, I think I'm speaking too slow
This propensity for violence has got us all desensitized
We watch a rape on TV, a woman getting victimized
Does it open our eyes to abuse, or are we not even surprised?
We show it all to our youth, and we don't even realize
When they grow up, it's all lies, videotape and sex
They get to age 14 and know what to expect
Except to respect that sex is not about being kept
And for some unlucky few, it remains the best way to a slow death.
But for others, it's the best thing since sliced bread
And, still others, ambivalent, or he said, she said
I don't tell u all this to confuse you in the head
Instead, to ponder if being alive is the same thing
as being dead....

If This Was My Last Piece

If this was my last piece, if this was the very last piece
I'd say it all till I'm resting in peace
or until they take away my freedom of speech:
I think the government's deaf
Like landmines in a Dangerfield,
you get no respect,
If we had the best president he'd be Wyclef
And it's curious to think I said it all in one breath...

Excuse me while I write between the treble and the bass clef
The audience waits with bated breath
But there's no happy ending left
Feels more like an intermission
But there's silence cause the government's listening
So read between the lines to see what's missing
If you're a Patriot today, you're Actin up
It's only if you're corporate that you're Built Ford Tough
Take someone else's library card to check out your stuff
It's all too much and we need a change
Much more of the status quo and I'll be deranged
Take your Hummer SUV and switch outta my lane
They call me a hippie cuz I'm way too hip
Call me sassy and sarcastic cuz I give em lip
What if this was my last piece?
Then I'd get lit
And tell em all precisely where they could stick it
Just playin, but really, I'm all too serious
We self-medicate till we're all delirious
When really, we should open our eyes and get furious
They're doin us like we don't even matter
Shoulders so cold it makes your teeth ch-ch-ch-ch-chatter
We're falling on lean times, but we keep getting fatter
"That's America," we say in mock laughter
You call this a country?
Everyone ignoring everyone like we think they're worth
We're all taught to settle the score from the day of our birth
What if this was my last piece ever on earth?
Hopefully I'd stick around to hear your retort
But don't give me no bullshit, cuz life's too short.

Both Sides

I walk the halls, wanting the sadness
Willing my despondence to linger
My fingers trace the painted drywall
And stop, of all things, on the mirror
My eyes refocus on this hollow shell of a woman
I am disheveled, I am alone.
What is it about this life that makes you decide?
Mere ambiguity has no place, only time
The face in the mirror is indeed mine
But the voice she uses, a mask
And her lone task is to make it through one more day
Without her mask slipping, giving herself away
She can trace the creases that the mask has made
Battle scars from the wounds she'll never let fade
Because to do so would require exposure
And she's already spent years as an unwilling soldier
Her mother told her don't let nothing or nobody make
you get older
Cause it's soon enough that your ashes get colder
So why do I let the mask put lines on my face?
To perpetuate the lie that life is nothing but great?
What a sad state of affairs
Closed doors, no one's there
Locked up, no one's aware
Now my spirit has fallen into disrepair
Too scared to admit the truth to anyone
They say we're living in a new millenium
So what am I running from?
I'm fleeing from the goddamn mirror
Afraid what I'll see if it looked a bit clearer.

American Dream

I write to escape the pain
Though I'm supposed to be living in the game,
I'm drowning in it all the same
And since I got a good job that's payin
I feel ashamed
I'm supposed to be middle class, higher ranking
Instead, I'm fallin behind on my banking
Havin to get on a payment plan for any bill
higher than a Franklin.
The economy, they tell us, is tankin'
And while I sit here ranklin', another bill comes
due and another two are late
It's past the date for a national conversation on
class that doesn't involve hate
Your neighbors drive Cadillacs, but inside, they wait
For payday to come three days away
They say everything's OK, while the Visa bill stays
at nine thousand, ten thousand dollars
Never answer the phone, the bank's the caller
And your house is the last shred of hope you have that
links you to the fictionalized dream world they call
"middle class."
It ain't the haves and the have-nots
It's the "think they haves" and "don't gots"
Nobody's poor as long as we can still go to the store
and get a bit more so our kids' tummies
are not sore,
What are we kidding ourselves for?
So we smoke and we drink so we don't have to think
about how close we are to the brink
And we sink further, believe the conservative furor
that we could only make it if we pull ourselves up by the straps
of our boots.
That's uncouth, and they're playing us fast and loose
Here's the truth: our wages aren't enough
To get us through the month without having to sell some stuff
And my life isn't supposed to be that tough!
Put off paying for the air and heat comin out my vents
A dollar bill found on the street could be heaven sent.
Sometimes I can't take it.
Even Clark Kent had to be Superman just to make it.

Too Hippie 4 U

I eat organically.
When I tell that to people, they look at me
Like a hippie, a yuppie,
a treehugger, a "green."
And all these labels are supposed to be mean
But I wear them proudly
And I'll say it loudly
I eat organically.
You go to Aldi so you can buy food for cheap
But remember that you are what you eat
So don't wonder why your kids are obese.
Buy em fruits and veggies every week
That are grown at a farm near you
Or at least without using much fuel
Or grown without getting sprayed by chemicals and pesticides
When you eat, they enter your body, cause your cells to die
It's not theoretical, these so-called incredible edibles
Are marketed and sold like it's all copacetical
But we should know better than to fall for these fakes
They're slicing up cows so fast they're getting
feces in the steaks
It's make it or break, the agribusiness gettin
fat off the false profits
The false prophets say, "eat up"
Their disgusting, cheaply-made stuff.