Maya

Whose nose ring is
The trademark of Millennial  girls
Sits across from me
And we discuss poetry
And one side of her head
Is shaved like
Lizabeth Salamander
From "The Girl With The Dragon
Tattoo" movie,
Hidden under a baseball
Cap, which she wears
Backwards.

Boyish butt hidden under
Baggy jeans
I try to gauge her smile
And see which way she
Swings.

Tells me one day we'll have
To read poetry to each
Other,
Then discuss it and see
What it means.
I glimpse at her breasts
Underneath her t shirt
And she smiled.
I look inside  her and find
Flowers, growing underneath
All that steel.

Amerasian

She sits on a park bench
And watches a man throw
Bread crumbs on the ground
And her body is the same
Color as the sun
And her eyes are taking
In the world as it awakens
I look at her and i'm grateful
Two worlds came together

She is what makes America great
I watch her as she walking
away, lovely as the sun

Coffeehouse Poem # 296

A woman waits online
As i get a cafe au lait
She's wearing a "Mumford
Phys ed t-shirt," the one
Eddie Murphy made
Famous in " Beverly Hills
Cop"
I point it out to her
And she tells me, she
Wore it, knowing
Only the cool kids
Would get the reference
She comes closer
Her curves, more womanly
Than when she was an
80's teen, but she's still
Easy on the
Eyes
If i had a Delorean, i'd
Ask her to travel back
With me to the 80's
So we can do the neutron
Dance

One  Christmas

my mom's friend, elise

came over and she brought everyone  gifts

and no one thought about daddy

not being around anymore

my brothers and i,  played and rode

our bicycles,  with her kids

and we forgot blacks and whites

weren't supposed to get along

and mama and elise cooked christmas dinner

the way only single moms  could

and visions of empty rooms and closets

where daddy once was, dissappeared

and the world will one day

live up to dr. king's dream

and left and right will only

become directions

and me and friends will celebrate

the holidays

like i did when i was a kid

naive and happy, and there will be

peace on earth

Christmas, cambridge, ohio, 1998

it was blue eyes, red hair and a scottish accent

that reeled me in and lured me

from maine

i played surrogate dad to 3 sons

alex, loved using my laptop and my library card

joshua, caught the football passes i threw

michael was three  and  just michael

we were as rare as the snowflakes

that fell in cambridge, ohio

i temped in a plastics factory

wore flannel shirts, jeans and boots

and channelled my inner springsteen

our only christmas together, maureen's sons

strung popcorn into jewels

and wrapped it around a tree

maureen and i spent some night

in a two step at local bars

tryin to figure out what love was

every time i came into a bar

the dj's offered to play r and b

as a way of making me feel at home

but i liked all music

maureen and the kids

put a black angel at the top

of the tree

they wanted to let me know they accepted me

A spy in the house of love...

I am a spy in the house of love

A 70s wah-wah guitar riff

Signals my arrival

I want you like an

Old school dodge charger

 I want to feel your kisses

Honey sweet

You're as pure as Pam Grier

Lay down on the couch

Like youre in a  Players magazine

Spread

Im a spy in the house of love

Im so bad, my elvis sideburns

Are registered lethal

Weapons

I use my platform shoes

To call you

Tell you to get here!

Pose for me in Daisy Dukes

Flex the LCD digital watch i gave you

We were Bling, before it was

Called that

Walk around in fuck me pumps

Then love me like a Charlie's Angel

Im a spy in the house of love

A Disco soldier of fortune

Ride with me baby

I'm a bad motha...( shut yo mouf ! )

We'll make Technicolor dreams

Even Martin Luther King wouldnt

Imagine

Im a spy in the house of love

Be the Anais Nin to my Henry Miller

The Adrian to my Rocky

Be a Bond Girl in my dreams

                                                                Melania

Doesnt care about the world

She  hates the sight

Of it, from her birdcage

She gave a homeless man

 Money, he turned it into

Origami

Cake would have served

Him  better

She lives her life through

Another man's dream

And another woman's

Words

She tried to make money

Her slave

 But instead,  she became its servant

But she's just pissed because

Her better half's  holding and kissing

Someone else in stormy

Weather

                                                            Laptop charger

Unfortunately, i dont have a

Laptop charger for an

Apple computer, otherwise

I would let the lady a couple

 Of tables down use it

I dont want to put a nationality

To her face

I could care less about that

I dont care if she is one

 Of  the ones that people use as

As a scapegoat for the worlds ails

I dont care if she is one of

The ones  people

 Say keep america from

Being great

Im only sorry i cant help

Her out

Im not going to put a name

 To her skin color ,even

 Tho its like the coffee in my

 Cup

 A little more tan, and it would

 Be as lovely as a coconut

 She probably wont die the way

 Eric Garner or Alton Sterling

 Did

She'll just sit at her macbook and type

And hope it lasts as long as it needs to

I just hope she gets her work done

Like i hope she'll be able to walk

The streets or travel

And not have to worry if america

Still belongs to her

Erren Kelly