Highsmith Poetry, aaduna in exile, spring 2021 issue, Vol. 10 No. 1
ABOUT THE POET
 |
| Lu Highsmith (photo provided) |
Lu Highsmith has published extensively over the past 25 years and been featured in Western and Northern NYS newspapers. Highsmith, a Rochester, NY native is a poet, writer, publisher, promoter, spoken artist and designated Slam Master for Rochester’s first adult slam team, Roc Bottom Slam Poets. Lu has published two books of poetry, "Vicissitudes: The Ups and Downs of Life" in 2008 and "Ascension into Love" in 2010. No matter which genre she chooses to exhibit her creativity, each platform has been reflective of her passion for spirituality, sensuality, and social consciousness. She as performed at festivals, coffee houses, art galleries, and community events throughout Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Albany, Atlanta, and Toronto. She co-hosted the successful "Flowetic Rhythms" Open Mic @ Gallery One for 10 years. In October 2012, Lu joined forces with her Grammy-nominated musician/composer husband, Jimmie Highsmith Jr. on her first spoken word CD entitled “Ascension.” Most recently, Highsmith became a member of the Black women’s writing collective, “We All Write” performing in the 2018 Rochester Fringe Festival and 2019 Women’s Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. Her poems have been published in the “Colors of Light” anthology, “Simpatico on the Road,” the novel, Win-Win, and cited in the Baptist Peacekeepers quarterly. Highsmith was awarded the “Big Pencil” award from Writers & Books in 2018 for inspiring the creation and appreciation of literature among young people in the Rochester community. For further information, please visit www.lucreations.net
Some brothas call one another dog,
other brothers call each other god.
I believe we're all that something in
between.
We are the O-one in the middle
Some One in between
He was stabbed with a kitchen knife,
drug deal gone bad
they said
Stabbed in front of his house,
yet somehow stumbled back into his home,
his safe haven
Died bleeding-out on the floor
like a dog
right before his younger sisters’ eyes
while they cried
for God
Word on the street is
he got what he deserved,
weed deal gone bad.
Word in the justice system
says basically the same
No indictment for murder
No charges for manslaughter
The old dirty bastard perpetrator
charged with just
possession of weed
Explain that to his mother, sisters or
girlfriend
who will never get the chance to see him,
love on him,
marry or maybe even carry his seed.
His life deemed worthless
So just treat him like a dog
Our friends and family
will no longer see Wallace’s kilowatt
smile
across the dinner table,
see that one dimple
that only popped up on his left cheek
when he was being mischievous
or laugh at his quirky humor
that brightened this world every day
To them,
to us
he was a piece of god,
temporarily incarnated
here on earth
Was not Mike Brown treated
like a dog ?
Shot
for stealing cigars,
then laid dead in the street
for 4 hours
Maybe Eric Garner
was considered a god
to take down
for bucking the system
by selling loosey cigarettes,
a big and brown buck
bucking the system
for a few bucks
Verbally challenging them,
“Why y’all always bothering me?”
Asking on whose
authority these unknowing vessels
of injustice were perpetuating these
Inhumane and ungodly acts
His breath,
the breath of life,
breathed into him by God
to be like god,
they had to smother out
I still believe they are
somehow, the some one
in between
the O
- one in the middle
some One between
dogs
and God,
Humans
Not perfect
Yet still
Worthy of
Honor, dignity, respect
Compassion
And Love
The ones for whom I write
these poems,
for whom I meditate and ohm,
for whom I go so hard
in the paint,
the ones whose
severed spines
I try so desperately
to re-align,
Daily cry, and, pray for
Get incensed, and, angry
for,
The ones I try to empower
and shower with goodness
because they are the "O",
the ones in the middle,
caught in between this world
of dogs and God
Yes, Human beings
Hued men
simply trying
To be
* * * *
"Between Dogs and Gods"
* * * *
 |
| Artwork by: Nereida Vazquez |
You see the Yellow, Black, Green,
and, the Red
Uncombed locks, untamed
Unshaved beard framing lips
dripped in truth
Eyes enlightened by
the yellow sun
Sharing One Love
with Jah’s people
It was I who
shot the sheriff.
Before “Cop Killer,”
“Hands up”
and “ I can’t breathe”
rebelled against a corrupted
and corruptible system
I am Reggae
Island beats,
steel drums, guitar strums and,
organ hums
I am the green
Natural and pure
invading your nostrils.
Breathe me in
get high off music & love
A Natural mystic being
blowing through the air for
Jah
I am War.
The Buffalo Soldier.
Fiery red.
Still fighting for survival
I am “No woman, No cry.”
I have cried for my woman
and made many a woman cry.
I am the cry,
the wail,
the moan
Wailing guitar.
Steady drum beat
from Africa to St. Anne’s,
on to Kingston,
then worldwide
Trumpet sounding
signaling freedom
from oppression.
The calypso,
turned ska,
turned Reggae
We be jammin’
cause no bullet can stop us
so true love it is
I am Bob Marley
transcending
ascending into
music
fire
and love
I have found Redemption
in the songs we sing,
freeing ourselves from
mental slavery
I am the Rastafari,
the movement
The Black, green, yellow,
and red
* * * *
I Be
I be the Lu
In your Halle-Lu-jah cry
I be
The seventh angel
sounding the Seventh Trumpet
from heaven
I be the earth
opening her mouth,
swallowing the spewed river
I be
The joy inside your praise
I be
The salt inside your tears
I be
Martin’s dream deferred
exploding like brain matter
Onto Langston’s lyrical canvas
I be
the ancestors
scribing themselves
into strands of my cellular memory
I be
The ache in the crook
of my mother’s arm
as she cradles me
I be
the aroma
of olive oil
as anointed blessings
drip from my brow
I be
the lingering scent of burnt black tar
burning black flesh
I be
the healing salve
seeping into
your every wound
I Be
I Do
I Am
<><><>
aaduna - an online adventure with words and images - a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please share your comments, thoughts, feedback, or ask questions - thank you!