a poem about the things we all judge one another about

Advice To Aspiring Poets

Call This Judgement

My Nigga

Sympathy

#Ambush

Somedays

Ambush

Art Of Making Love (w Beat)

Nikki Gilbert's Album

For Black Girls When Beyonce Ain't Enough

A Running List Of Why Black Lives Matter  (final)

I know how hard it is,
Waking up every morning 
Wondering if you are worthy of love.
Wanting your existence to be validated by purpose,
You stretch hoping the spell of mundanity
Will broken by your reach for the clouds. 

Add to this a woman,

self- reliant as she may be,
She desires your affections,
Your validation of her divinty,
Cause she too wonders
And you know -will not openly confess it- but know 
you’d lose your head if it wasn’t for her most days,
Despite losing your mind because of her on others.

Add to this the children,

I’ve read the books about the difference between Venus and Mars
But nothing prepares you for the gravity of orbiting stars
That pull, demand, need, 
everything
From both of you.

Wake to sleep,
It is providing, protecting, preaching, prophesying, promoting.
In a world that has done everything in it’s power 
To stop you from waking up
Let alone having the audacity to move,

Forward,

A will to press, progress,
Beyond your grasp
Before you even knew of your own existence 
Before someone else knew of your coming
Systems were set in place to keep you from not only understanding
But from standing
And you keep getting up,

Reaching.

Into the unknown from some mirrored resemblance of a normal
With hopes of achieving the extraordinary
Facing the fact that you are plunging into darkness
Under the threat that death might be the only thing to reach back

Isn’t this is the frustration of it all.

Outside the car smoking gun still drawn
Over a bleeding Philando
He kept saying, “I told him not to reach,”

Despite the window being up and the door closed
His hands in the air
She said she thought Terrence was reaching…

Amadou, 
Black man with a wallet?
Reaching.

Sean don’t you know slaves supposed to get married in private,
Quiet? Secret like?
Reaching

Jordan you know you s‘pposed to turn that rebellion down
When massa come round’
Reaching.

Eric who tol’ you it was ok to feed ya kids 
With cigarettes rolled in white folk factories
Reaching.

Alton you gonna make music, flip ya gift, sell cd’s and feed ya family with the profits.
They said you was reaching, but the video…

Tamir you wanna be a normal boy,
play cops and robbers in the park
Like them white kids in the sticks?
Reaching!

Keith don’t you know reading is punishable by death?
Trayvon this was never really your ground to stand on
To think otherwise…
Reaching!

And we keep waking up every morning 
Convincing ourselves that our chests are not meant to be lead laced landfills
That there is more left of us than these razor sharp shards of heart 
They pray we slice our wrist with;

We may be broken 
But we are not barren 
we rise
Eyes toward the hills 
Hopes fill the heavens 
Cause we’d rather die reaching for the stars
Than live in misery claiming contentment with where we are

Reaching 

Cause there will always be a threat of death
Stolen life is a tradition of the living, 

Reaching 

Cause that woman got too much angel dust in her touch
Cause them babies need to know how bright they can shine
Cause any man worth his salt, worth a heart, a mind,
And some sort of spine knows 
That darkness is endless possibility

Whatever your mind can paint on the canvas of that eternity you can have
Even if no one is there to hold you up
You got two feet, a strong back, and fully functional hands
That’s all the support you need

You have the potential to pull mountain tops 
Out of river bottoms
Turn deserts into oceans
You are an oasis of inspirational fortitude waiting to be found
Discover yourself!

That darkness is just light waiting to be called forth
Open your mouth!

Make hard work your sanctuary

Its called a dream 
Which means you should be able to do this in your sleep

Visualize the finish line
And realize sometimes
You just gotta reach!

Thomas Tre G. Gilbert

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