Enjoy these poems and please email the poets (where applicable) and give them some feedback!

I Loves me some Black Women

100% fine
always genuine
strong like oak
(not weak like pine)
from her roots to her vines
I loves me some black women

Jive-trippin, wine cooler sippin, in my bidness dippin,
wide-hippin, big lippin, got me payin fo dinner and tippin
I loves me some black women

Has always been my friend
will love her to the end
Here with me
(not gone with the wind)
I loves me some black women!

John Riddick, Jr. - JRiddick24@aol.com
Editor of Rhapsody in Black

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Untitled

Finally, a day off
Well, not really.
I shoulda been elsewhere,
Isn't that silly?

Guess you know my routine,
How she makes me change my mind.
But damn, when were together,
We're suspended in time.

By the way, TIME, what's your problem?
Can't you see we're not done yet?
But I don't think it heard me,
On that I can bet.

I was headed in another direction,
My pager went off, no need for discretion.
I knew it was, well, "You-know-who",
Her message said simply, "I LOVE YOU".

I was back where I started,
Rushed home in a hurry.
She'll be here soon,
No need to worry.

That's the part that gets me,
She's like my soul mate.
She took me back to the place,
Where we had our first date.

Hours are like minutes,
I know you've heard that before.
But I'm telling you the truth,
She had just walked through the door.

What's the deal with a day off?
How long does it last?
If I was where I shoulda been,
It would have NEVER ended this fast.....

Craig Gill - CGILL@US.IBM.COM

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Colored

I am blue
or red
Both due to the bruised of society
I am purple

I am green
Like grass they walk on me

I am yellow
and pink
Flushed of my natural color
As a result of disease
In the minds of the greedy
and the hateful

I am orange
You see me through sun rays
The light that gives me strength

I am brown
Black
Which variations of these two 
make up my shade of color

I am of no color

For in many eyes
I do not exist

Oui

You, me
Yes
We

How we fit together
naturally

The strength of your muscled mass
caress the curves of my slenderness

Ooooh weee!
Oui
Yes

We are in sync
as my body cups
your shape as you sleep
and when I move
you follow suit forming one

We
Yes
Oui

Your size, build, make
compliments mine

How we match in mind
and body
We are soul mates

Yes
Oui

We

Katherine Smith - ksa@ont.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dreams of Bob 

sky teardrops wake me 
               (you feel my emptiness)
no glimpse of sun to guide my way
               (I'll be home soon)

wheels spin closer to final destination
wind sighs through island trees
I hear you calling me 
               I'm coming,        
my heart answers your plea

listening to your words of love
                (anticipating our embrace)
they calm my frantic need
                (I see the house from here)
is that your shadow near the tree?

rushing through the doorway,
                (I call your name)
suddenly, our song begins
                (a muffled refrain)
bidding me, REMEMBER

though the love is real...
its all just been a dream

Dawn Landon
dawntanya@hotmail.com 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BLU

I remember
when I thought
Blu
was sad
Someone said
When you're sad
you're Blu

But Blu
is the end of the madness
a state of being
in Tru

Blu is the
vastness 
of the midnite
So rich
Almost black
Just being
no forward
no back

Blu is reflection
in water of sky
of everchangin' beauty
necessary to life

Blu is the depth
of the ocean
another world
where wonders reside

Blu exhales 
all the sorrows
breathes calmness 
inside

soothing soft
Intense brite
Luxuriant deep
in life
Complete

Vibrates
resonates
in special time
with me
flows thru my eyes
into my mind
waves of tranquillity

feeling Blu
sweet serenity

Susan L. Harrigan - Suli98@aol.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MY LIFE IN REVIEW

I lie in my fatal bed,
30 seconds 'til sleep.
There rests in my head
a prelude so sweet: 
A vision of life with
its meaning complete!
Surreal, Sublime
For real, Concrete

A man who ran from 
the fermented beast
he held captive in his
hand, but would not release.
He screamed and hollered 
and cried for help,
but no heart pitied 
the drunkard's yelp.
His reality, swayed 
his steps, dismayed.
To grain spirits he was a slave
even unto his untimely grave,
with no chance to ever rise again.
El vino was his only friend.
For it made him feel important.

As she walked the people 
they would talk.
The very air spoke of
her condition.
She rationed out her soul
for silver and gold!
without her Father's permission.
The buds of her youth
withered slowly away 
like a sun drenched philodendron.
Acquired, immune
deficiency...a damned killer
syndrome.
Her death was not
professed with the ringing 
of church bells.
But instead they shouted
to her corpse, "I'm glad you're dead,
now go to hell!"
El dinero took her life
as far as I could tell.
It made her feel important.

There was another woman
who stood by a tree.
A beast in its branches
spoke unto the woman 
and said, "Here, a fruit, 
for free!" and the woman
said, "No, that fruit has 
a price the farmer told me so."
The beast, "to that old fool
pay no mind he doesn't want you to know.
He's jealous of you and what you can do,
just eat it and your knowledge shall grow"
So she gave in to this temptation condemning 
her to strife.   As if that weren't enough she 
took some more and condemned her husband's life.
A shame, a loss
they paid the cost!
The land hated them forever
El diablo was their friend 
he tricked them again.
Knowledge made them feel important.

I beheld a
might less King
with an asphalt throne.
His dominion was over 
rocks, sticks and stones.
His countrymen were mice, 
his coffers would not suffice.
Honor, valor!
Glory, power!
His reign was a doleful bliss.
Emaciated from the meals
he'd missed.
A man shouldn't have
to live like this.
Forlorn, desolate!
Unborn remiss!
Ningun was his friend
 Insanity made him feel important.

I watched the clock tick tock.
And then I watched tick lock.
To my surprise before my eyes,
bewilderment and shock.
Fundamentally deceased with knowledge increase;
my mind at rest,
my soul at peace.
But posthumous wisdom to what avail.
Knowledge, wine, and insanity, lust
doth the soul impale.
If I only knew my life in review 
I could have saved my soul from Hell.

Jerod Frazier - jerodf@clemson.edu