Jessica Care Moore
War
War
Bass line - ba da ba ba ba ba da da ba da da
welcome to this new world
black american girl
wipe your feet
left my blood on the shore
so i'm swimming back to survival
gonna hold a ghetto princess revival
so i'm swimming back to survival
tie you down-make you wait for my arrival
gonna make you remember
where the front line
was born
I don't know why I was born in the year of survival
1971 guns gave me revolutionary reasons to run
sleepy time woke me up in a nightmare
that couldn't bare to watch my brothas die
in my arms again
wipe off my weapon and ascend
celebrating the end when shit's about to begin
i grew up a woman with fresh blood and voices
left on detroit red streets
found little time for little girl choices
It wasn't long before I was confused
by square shaped cement blocks
but daddy worked his whole life
to make sure I was made of bricks
realized warriors got new names in this
tar baby covered road
ain't no place like home
don't work
when you wearing shell toe adidas
still, i got to carve my name in this foreign land
while it was still wet
this before boys, revolution and being born
in a female fetal political position
didn't make sense yet
I started loving you early
having big brothers and pisces daddy
helped me remember you
despite the way they worked to turn me against you
despite the times i watched you do the same to me
I never stopped being your eyes
struggling to find your dark reflection
in the nile, black sea, detroit river, lake minetonka,
barbie, mississippi massala, brooke shields, corn fields,
fish gills, atlantis, indian ocean, red sea, niagra falls, poland springs,
the river sticks, whatever myth fits
cause i know you like cornbread and grits
spun you from my body traveling cool silk
nursed you on chocolate milk
yellow girls still brown on the tips
from my body you were ripped
still we siamese trees free to climb
out this madness reciting childhood nursery rhymes
ene mene mini mo
catch a beautiful brotha walking right past you
by his cornrolled faded locked afro
if he forgot you were his queen
then simply let him know
ene mene mini mo
tell him you speak Yo!
yoruba/ french spit fire/ down south dirty/ guyana gold teeth,
patwah/ creole country/ swahili slang/ backyard bar-b-que/
watch your back/cinnamon dominican
and he will again
recognize his sistren hot sauce tongue
we date duality blind to
love by birth right
at first sight
a jet plane coulda been a kite
but one of them is gonna get you back home faster
you wanna know your answer just ask her
they're killing my forest
so i'm saving my seeds
got black men growing out of yellowstone trees
planting them back in my soil
make our rivers boil seven million degrees
after all the destruction
saving my family is the goal
we know the young is old
we know the young is old
what if I told you I grew up on corn flakes?
found out I was related to oshun by mistake
discovered diamonds under my fingernails
while getting my weekly womanicure
statistics tell me you aren't available anymore
25 percent of you are in the anti-melanin penis system
harrasment tactics for enlistment
resist like only your sista would
I wait by windows praying for your return
I know you hate that word
the way I easily make you feel loved
in a place that told you your momma is
greasy, gold digging and easily replaced
permanent marker can't be erased
as you search for yourself in somebody else's wall
ignoring the mirror like a little boy
who's has grown to tall
to tell the difference
I want you to know I see ethiopia and bahia
walking down st. nicholas everyday
searching for a brotha who
speaks the same sign language/ prays five times a day
never loses at spades/got jokes for days/rides the d train
he remained muted by his brother
Cain
she wants to tell you her
round the way girl wish
struggling to find lips
that'll understand her kiss
he missed the point all together
and he'll continue until he's
Able
Me?
Me?
ME!
I'm that nappy head girl who can
tell you your future
in a jar of blue afro sheen
written off ghetto carolina geechie neatly
naming your fears by first name
representing the best of game
hot mouth brings it like she got some
honey wine in her pocket
hiding poetry under her old silver locks
growing roots under her bushy pony tails
and this is who you'll marry
Mary
the woman who you found to familiar
reminded you too much of what you represent
in this country
Ain't it hard baby?
being as beautiful as we are
masquerading king camelion skin when
african canvas glows in the dark
I bit off a piece of that ark
that's why black woman's mouth are
doubly smart - doubly smart
be cussing you out in pairs
got ivory growing from under our hair
damn, jessica, don't you smile child?
for a little while
this morning i was firing on the frontlines of the fruit stands
for selling our babies fruit covered in plastic saran
make your own men ashamed to hold your hand
combat casaulty casually deserting the desert
to taste exotic waters
when i'm the well, well well
now I need new religions chakra protection plans
maps to the center of the earth
make a right at the birthmark
accelerate when you smell fresh air again
speaking is a sexy breathing technique
So i'm a silent freak
a slow leak
you can easily ignore if you're not listening
for the drip in the middle of the night
give me a reason to write
this is my vow to fight
for you lover/language breaker
american stranger/suburbanite danger
international invader/knocking on all the wrong doors
for you i am always at war
always at war
always at war
always at
war
