puzzling

Where do we go from today?

How do we fit together now?

Puzzle pieces falling into place,

Start with the edges and work our way in.

Start with the frame and watch the picture take shape,

because we don't have the box top to show us

what the final result will look like.

Frustrating to put it together

without a guide.

Holding a piece that seems like it doesn't fit anywhere.

Obsessed with that piece, unable to move on

until we know

where it goes

Because it must fit somewhere.

The pieces are all here.

But what does the final picture look like?

some questions...

Where does it come from?

This I'll show you attitude,

this cuttin' off my nose to spite my face...

Where does it get me?

Doing silly things at you,

that only hurt me in the end...

Where do I come by this urge?

Being outrageous and whatnot,

all out of character to prove...

What?

Thoughts that make me profoundly

uncomfortable in my own skin...

Behavior that makes me want to hide my face...

Words that spew like bile

out of anger...

That don't form themselves well in my mouth

or my mind....

And lastly...

how do I make it go away?

The Moral High Ground

If I wanna do wrong, I could do so wrong.

It wouldn't be hard or take much effort to go astray.

Just a decision and some time on the phone...

a few minutes and ambiguous words

in the right ear.

If I wanna be wrong, I could go so wrong.

I could find someone to help me in my wanderings.

A partner in crime isn't all that hard to come by...

someone willing and able to fill the bill

and drive the getaway car.

if I wanna I could

Do I wanna go wrong?

Wander down a path of bad choices and easy trouble?

Sometimes it looks like fun

like it could be an adventure.

I could take a journey to the rowdy side of town.

Would my conscience desert me?

Would my spirit continue to abide peacefully

if I gave in to the temptation to give in to temptation?

Would the day trip down shakedown street be worth getting lost?

When the greater journey is abandoned and my progress is thwarted?

If I wanna go wrong, don't get me wrong, I can.

Any time, any place, any way.

It's so much harder to stay on the road that takes me where I really wanna go.

I don't wanna go wrong, see, I been there before.

And getting back is much rougher than the neighborhood.

Wrong is where people desert you and leave you for dead.

The people who encouraged you to come for the ride...

your get away driver and partners in crime,

they're the ones who can't get away fast enough when going wrong gets wrong.

And it's so hard to find your way back from wrong, because the road twists and winds

back on itself

snakey

shifty

shiftless

to a dead end.

But still...

If I wanna go wrong, I could!

Don't think I sit here being good because I lack an alternative.

Don't delude yourself with the illusion of my saintliness.

Don't for one minute believe that I have no choice but to be good.

Don't forget that I have options.

Don't dismiss the fact that I've been there before,

and I know my way around.

My choices keep me in the right.

I choose not to pick up that phone

I decide to kill the other options,

to rule them out like no parking zones.

I opt out of the day trip down shakedown street.

I pursue the high moral ground.

But still...

Don't take my good sense and self-preserving instincts for granted.

Because If I Wanna Go Wrong, I Could!

On Love

Because you know the right thing to say,
and because you don't have to say a thing.
Because you can tell what I feel, and already know what I think.
Because the yours are the arms I need when the world just ain't right.
Because of the way you make that precious time.
Because when we met, I felt something click.
Because you felt it, too. No shit.
Because you help me be something more than I am.
That's why I love you. Just because, man.

May 12, 2009 1:06

Originally posted on Alise's blog on the Slam... check her out Black Woman Lost & Found.

Numbers

When I was one,
It was easy to please me.
Now I am two,
Me the mama and you
My little man.
Answers that came easy,
accountable only to me,
Now escape me,
Because of you,
I am now two.
My first thought
what is right for us.
Don't think "me" much.
And that's how it should be...
Now, though, the two
are on the brink of three.
And is that right for two?
Proceeding slowly, we shall see.

June 9, 2009 5:52 PM

Originally posted on NaturallyAlise's blog Black Woman Lost & Found