1971

the italics are sung (marvin gaye, what's going on; bob marley, redemption song; lauryn hill, ex-factor; india arie, video)

my mother spit rhymes so elequently
so naturally
up next is me
i drop it truthfully
so all of you can see

what's going on
whats going on
whats going on

nineteen seventy one
and mother mother
there's still too many of you cryin
and too many young people dyin
and politician's ain't doing shit
but whinin
and Kanye was right
cuz Katrina showed us they
ain't even tryin

but everyday i see
shit that's inspiring

brother brother there's so
many of you smilin
sister sister sister so many of you
tryin

trying for a better day than yesterday
skipping lunch on saturday
just to find a dollar to brighten a day
by any means necessary

holdin it down on the block at night
stepping in to break up a fight
even when the combatants are
twice your size
you have the guts to look them in the eyes

won't you help to sing
sweet songs of

freedom, love, and redemption
of more youth than ever before
voting in the last election
of holding hands
and holding eyes
holding politicians and big media
accountable for their lies

making a difference in some other lives
getting up each day just to strive
for a better dream
than what may seem
the only way to get the means
to win this game that some call life
and others call strife
and even when it is rife
with shit that makes it difficult
they still say "the struggle is beautiful"

but it's not
the struggle's an ugly motherfucker
when you get caught
but the people that walk with you
make it worth what you're taught


it could all be so simple

but it's not
so you have to learn from the life you live
give all that your heart can give


put your salt on the shelf
go on and love yourself
cuz we can make everything just fine

love in the time of science

for every action there is an
equal
and
opposite
reaction

so I'm trying to break it down--
does that mean that if I
advance
2 inches to kiss you
you will retreat 2 more
to
reject me?

or does it mean that you will
advance those inches
in my direction
and the velocity of our
mouths pressing
will send shockwaves to
our fingertips

because I understand
the laws of kinetic energy
but trying to apply it to
double negatives
has got me trying to
decipher
language from science

and that's difficult for me
you see I aced English
but failed chemistry

so maybe YOU could break it down for me

see I'm trying to understand
if I take your hand
will you pull away
or can I convince you to stay
resist the magnetic
push
of polar opposites
and press your palm into mine

or does Newton's first law mean
that we'll always miss?
what goes up must come down

so does it even matter if we kiss?

I mean, even if we overcome that
other law
if we can convince science that
language is right
press our bodies together
and catch electricity
like we've got a key
and a kite

does that falling apple mean
that in the end
we'll still be reduced to
sorting records and books,
fighting over a wagon wheel table
and looking for that kite and key
desperate to recapture
the chemistry

maybe my
scientific theory
is just an excercise in
metaphors and similes

you need me like two molecules
of hydrogen and one of oxygen

your love is any object
falling constant at 9.8
meters per second
gauranteed in a vacuum

but we don't live in a vacuum
and while scientific inquiry
claims to be infallible
literary fantasy is anything
but

so where does that leave us?

sitting in this car at one in the morning
straddling Shakespeare and Einstein
I'm still not sure how to proceed
but I think you can help me

you see, whereas I have only Dorothy Parker
I feel like you have Slyvia Plath and Marie Curie
You understand both sides of this anomaly
So, I'm asking you now, without language or science
could you please just kiss me?