Black Skin for Sheets

 I've heard tales about life in those sun down cities. Don't get caught after dark cuz the sight won't be pretty. It got gritty when they snatched you up, rope choking your pride. A grimace on their face when they rule suicide. 

And I'm not from the South, but I can relate. Same story with a twist got me checking the date. 'Cuz I live in Philly where them guns like to bust. The murders in the city reached 500 plus!! In a land where the Klan look like us! 

See its hard to tell them apart could be your neighbor up the street. In Philly where the Klan wears Black skin instead of sheets. And they don't use rope but will choke you with your chain, just to get a lil bit of your change and women get raped on trains. No back wood lynching but they roll backwoods in the kitchen, say they're smoking on their ops. Then we protest the cops. 

And I stay far away from them boys in blue, cuz they snatch us up too, say everyone looks like you. Everyone fits the description from their hair to their sneaks. In a city where the Klan wears Black skin for sheets. 

Got you thinking that's your brotha', thinking that's your mans? Whole time this nigga OT, employee for the Klan. Snatching babies from their Mothers like they did back then. And everyone screams "NO SNITCHING" til its your kin. Power 99 say, "stop the violence, increase the peace", but then play Lil Durk bragging about poppin' his piece. 

'Cuz the Grand Wizard writes the checks and hides in the cut while they people claim they're hurting but don't really give a f*ck. Yeah those sun down cities don't have shit on us! Not Philly where we leave your brain scattered in the dust...in broad daylight with all the cameras watching. Face on Tv Y'all ninjas better than me!

I see passed the knappy hair and melanated exterior. Sun  shining bright but the days are getting drearier. We've gotten used to the killings and we are all immune. Got me thinking about selling balloons. Cuz we release them by the dozens screaming "gone too soon"

From the babies to the elders can't even walk down the street. Lest your get got by the Klan wearing Black skin for sheets.

-Hatshepsut 

Fourteen

Crumbled dollars from my pockets on the counter hand flattened straight,...
my period is late
and my Momma can't pay the bills.
They got dreams of me, fourteen
being a Scholar or Olympic Honor...
I maybe carrying one, but her eyes will never see the Sun
I'm fourteen, and my sister is already feeling the wrath
a path she chose, and as the months pass she can no longer fit her clothes
But that ain't me, no I gotta take a trip to the doctor
Sick to my stomach, but all is good
acting so well I deserve an Oscar
Parents asking where I been and I can't tell the truth.
Been laying on steel tables so I don't have to give up my youth.
And the tears never stopped falling but he told me to do it
But it was my choice never thought that I would be the one going thru it
And the light is shining so bright but all I can see is her face
and nobody understands, they keep telling me to have faith
I'm fourteen!!! And I can feel the flutters in my stomach
Walking hesitantly to the back what Im about to do I can't stomach
But the devil is in my ear telling me its for my own good.
Trophy child, turned another statistic in the hood.
And I can feel the life within me being ripped from my womb
Trying to be grown up experiencing life too soon.
I'm fourteen, but I gotta mask it so they don't know
Gotta annihilate the life inside my womb trying to grow!
Traveled here on my own and no reconcile ever since
And they wonder why my grades declined like its some type of suspense
I'm 14, so they think I'm just going thru a phase
They don't know I'm in the dark tryna see thru the haze
They don't know I'm lost tryna find my way thru the maze
I'm fourteen, and the doctor said he won't tell
but the voices in my head scream louder than my Momma could ever yell
But how was I supposed to know the scars would run deeper than the ones I can see with my eyes
Nobody told me that when I sleep I'd be haunted by her eyes
Nobody told me that the price would be more than what I spent
If I had known I would of taken back every red cent!
Im fourteen! And I cant be taking care of a child
I can't buy diapers and wipes I ain't got no job!
I can't go to school wit bags from being up all night.
I can't walk around pregnant in this town where all we do is fight.
I can't think of one reason I should take responsibility.
I can mask the hurt of destroying life that onced lived within me.
I can wait until they leave to wipe this smile off my face.
Wait until Im alone to cry in my own space.
Im fourteen...Im only 14!

Hatshepsut Amun Re

Returned

I am the daughter of the Waters
Born from the pitch black with a veil to hide my secrets
I came back after my death in the flames
It was the fire that rebirthed me
Summoned me back here,
in the belly of the beast.
They call me High Priestess
The ones that hide between the winds
They told me that I was consumed in the fire and reborn
To avenge, to inspire, to create and be God
They call me the High Priestess
The ones who tip toe in the night
Who’s reflections go undetected in the mirrors on the walls
They gave me a gift when I emerged from the dark waters
Placed it into my hands, right here where no one can take it
Or see it
I am the daughter of the Waters
She gave me her eyes
cried waves of tears when I died in the flames washed clean
I made a covenant with the ones who hush the babies to sleep
the ones who guide us passed the danger and keep our hearts beating...
I am the child of the ancient ones; returned.
Descending from magicians
sorcerers
and medicine men
who stomp feet on hot grounds
and drain blood from sliced necks...
I have returned, they call me High Priestess

Hateshepsut Amun Re

Dear America

Dear America,

They said they want to make you great again, like their ancestors...while I still try to find mine.
Bones hidden in the land of the free and the Earth is still soft but
Shhhhh, don't mention it.
Sweep it under the rug or hide it in the closet with the rest of the skeletons, let the cobwebs multiply
don't teach the truth to your children.
Erase the stories from their textbooks, America's dirty little secrets.
Don't speak it in public they wanna make you great again
Buildings built on the backs of my mothers, mix the concrete with the blood but,
shhhhhh don't mention it.
Make the story sound pretty when the boats docked on shore, you can call it Thanksgiving
give em blankets as gifts
put rifts in the numbers, populations decrease, kill the men and the children,
give them no peace.
Send the missionaries first then flood the people with diseases,
shackle them by the millions, board them on Good Ship Jesus
do whatever your mind pleases nevermind the tension
just don't say a word
Shhhhh, don't mention it.
They wanna make America great again like when trees bore strange fruit, limbs blowing in the breeze
Billy please sing louder!
Cuz they've already begun, and I can still hear the shots from the barrels of their guns.
And the Earth still trembles from the murders unavenged
its like their seeking revenge, their still craving the stench of the burning Black bodies
Swamps filled with the blood of the young, they wanna make you great again:
Motherless sons, fatherless daughters. Let the waters fill with their corpses
they wanna make America great again, they have no remorse.
Let's make tribes extinct, forbid them to think, take away their books
Teach them to jive and jook.
And if they ever learn to do for self, we'll just bomb them like we did everyone else, but
shhhhh don't mention Tulsa, or the bombings in Philly
they don't want you to know that their laundry's so filthy
They wanna make America great again, someone call the new Jim Crow
Is Trump available? How long before we can get these walls built?
Get these penitentiaries filled, we can have em picking cotton by the time the deal is sealed.
Tell the police it's ok to put their sheets back on, gather the crosses for the lawns
Rally up the KKK.
Their sons will be to scared to be like MLK,
no dreams, no visions
cuz they'll be next and we won't about em speaking like Malcolm X
Cointelpro was beyond their comprehension, just don't speak of these things
Shhhhhh don't mention it
They wanna make America great again.

-Hatshepsut Amun Re

Dear Black Man

Dear Black Man,

I hope this reaches you in great spirits, like the ones of your fathers

They built roads over the bones

that we use to travel over everyday

And now we rush to the plantations,

except they got computers now,

We facebook you, like you’re far away from the land that they took you!

And your kids are grown now

And it seems they forgot

They once called me God when I nurtured them from my breast

That you lust when you see me, hips spread like the ocean,

That they dragged your Queen over, shackled her in chains and collars and now your sons won’t bother

Left us raising Kings on our own

Praying the streets don’t suck him in, auction him off on them blocks he stands on

Everyday I shed tears for you I recall when you were royal

When you would die for your Queen

The children revered your every step,

 and it’s like we have nothing left

But we still make due

True, we sided with the devil he gives us bread and cheese to fight the hunger

It’s no wonder why we’re here

Still, like deep waters that holds the souls of our mothers

We conjure them when we face hard times

and honor them when we awaken but most of us are still asleep

And we’re carrying this load but our knees are getting weak, been slaving all week!

With your babies on our hips

No sleep at night when you’re gone

No forehead kisses, just wishes of you being there when it storms

And being there when its sunny

We miss you Black man, and your warrior stance

And we would have broken the steel bars if given the chance!

Beheaded the system but our machetes weren’t sharp

And I would give you my heart if I thought yours would stop beating

And I know you’re not beaten, not defeated or overcome

We just need you to come home so you can see the God in you

Streets got you blinded; a foot on your neck

Deck of cards stacked against you, the try hard to fence you in

Penitentiary filled

They said every 28 hours one of our sons are killed

And every day one of our daughters are raped

Left dead and forgotten,

rotten corpses and strange fruit.

Can’t you see the truth?

Nothing is ever what it seems

And the ancestors march with us, they assured me in my dreams

But we need you black man!

Sincerely,

 Your Black Queen

-Hatshepsut Amun Re

How to Raise a Queen

They asked me,

how can I raise a Queen

when I’ve never been one myself?

Low self-esteem

Had me sleeping with more than just one

Counting 5 kids later, with fathers on leave

How could I conceive

or grab the essence,

of such a royal presence?

To teach a child watching

With a brain like a sponge

When I’ve plunged into

hell and came back with demons

ran with heathens

and whores

and had to fight them too.

They ask how can I possibly

Without awkwardly

Being hypocritical

Teach a girl to be a Queen

without it seeming

fictional.

When I didn’t love myself

Till my health compromised

And I couldn’t be myself

So I wore a disguise

And guys would take advantage

I spent days getting faded

How can I teach her to love,

when I’m so jaded?

How can I teach her to value herself,

more than gold

when I was walking around pregnant at 15 years old?

And they ask me these questions as if I can’t provide an answer

Trying to spread their negative vibes like cancer

But I sit back and smile

While never minding their critique

Wait for the questions to stop

And then I proceed to speak.

Yeah I’ve ran the streets,

 with the good, bad, and evil

it’s taught me to recognize the plight of my people

laid with more than one man

and brought life to creation

it showed me to perfect the art

of building a nation.

Not to mention, the disguise I wore

It benefitted me because

It forced me to look inside myself

To find out who I was

I ran with the hardest criminals

Thugs and all

Taught me how to live my life

Based on Universal Law

Taught me how we all have flaws

And I know she watched me struggle

Watched me get hurt

Taught her how to be resilient

When she watched me rise from the dirt

taught her how to love herself first

you see I’ve never failed

I’ve only learned life’s lessons

And used them to avail

I teach her everything I learn in life

And how to chase her dreams

don’t let the obstacles intervene,

that’s how I raise a Queen.

-Hatshepsut Amun Re

Tragedy

Oh say can you see life on my side of the fence

Been bench pressing, the oppression and haven’t sat up since

Hence,

The day I was conceived

Mom on her knees to make a dollar, inherited her sin

On my third baby father

I been tryna holla I’m a Queen

But my actions show different

How I rip and run the streets living a life reminiscent

Of my father’s

Rolling stone with no hat

Left my children with my mother

So I could lie on my back

A victim of an attack

I never saw coming

Heard them screaming for me to come home

But I just kept running

Trying to be what they told me

And be what I saw

On the tv, I idolized the images

Before I could crawl

And before I could speak they condemned me to this life

Taught me everything I know

Except how to be a wife

And how to be a mother

Sat still and kept my hands folded

While the teacher taught me lies

And claimed my history

Ain’t no mystery

why I’m jaded

A crooked game and I played it

Never told it was rigged

Working on my fourth kid

When all I was doing was searching for Daddy

He told me to call him that

While he was hitting from the back

Couldn’t stand to see my face,

But I still was surprised

When he walked right passed me

Carrying the baby with his eyes

This no lie

They say I’m bitter but really I’m just numb

They think I’m dumb

But if I was, I never would have survived

Although I’m the living dead

Got nothing to offer

So I barter

my soul

Hit the pole every hour

Nikki taught me about dollars

And how I should get it

How I spend it

On hair that flows down my back

Black and cursed is what they called me

Birthed by America the Great

Plates are barren in my house

No spouse

and no structure

A ruptured heart within this cavity

The great tragedy

of a forgotten child

of poverty.

-Hatshepsut Amun Re 

Sprung

What have you done to me?

Got me yearning in my sleep

Touching my every part

Got my heart

palpitating

Got me waiting and wanting

And licking my lips

Switch my hips a little harder

You got me

Tossing and turning

Heart burning

with passion

And licking my lips

Got me wanting to know

who you grandmother is,

who birthed the woman that birthed you

What did you do?

Got me up at night

Writing poetry and singing songs

Got me righting my wrongs

My heart’s palpitating and my stomach’s doing flips

Got me touching my body

And licking my lips….

Hatshepsut Amun Re

The Supreme

In the matriarchal society she reigns as Queen.

Deemed God by the people.

Consciousness rises to the heavens like the tip of the steeple,

of the highest Temple they built in her honor

gives birth to the fathers

that replant her seed

She's in need

of nothing

sun bows at her feet

breasts nurtures the babies

sits high on her seat.

Gives birth to the nations;

life to creation

gives souls permission

to come in fruition.

Speaks to the spirits

of the living and the passed

Alas!

She can turn plants into a mixture

that cures even death

feet conjures the predecessors

She is no less than God...

energy shines in her aura

they call her

The Great Mother

Warrior Queen held high.

She is infinite in essence

Angelic presence

encompasses all

within her Holy walls.

Omnipotent even when they shackled her feet

spilled the blood of her children

on the bedraggled streets

tolerant of the blasphemous

benevolent and just

plus

she causes the men to lust.

Encrusted with melanin

her womb proclaimed sacred

head held high, can see the souls with the naked

eye

Sun rise, just to greet her

needs nothing to complete her

but compliments a King.

gives life to all things

she is

the Black Woman

-Hatshepsut Amun Re

Strange Fruit

It's been a long time since the lyrics were written.
In the late 30's when it was normal for lives to be smitten
in the deep of the south, don't pass the borders.
When daughter's were raped
and it was just a thing
body's swinging from branches
in the warmth of the Spring
I think I'm tired
ole girl can't take no more
looking at strange fruit
the roots have been torn
Oh Lawd
they killing us,
out in the open
blood pouring so thick
like the pic-nic
nick picking
cotton don't grow here!
father's don't come here
tears feed the vegetation
and it's sad, they ignore the devastation
on stations and channels
TV programming
I'd be damned if my daughter falls victim
they damned
and to hell with them too
they scream Black Lives Matter
but I don't know if that's true
we throw cocktail bombs
at the white men wit batons
who cuff steal to our wrists
and if Hell's a fiery abyss
I'd like to be the one
who pushes them in!
Inside my sheets
I can't sleep
and it's pouring rain
trying to figure a way to conjure the spirits of the innocent slain
I know them by name
Treyvon, Eric, and Michael
Freddie Gray had the streets in flames
smoke caused the warriors to stifle
Tamir Rice was just a child
so was Aiyana Jones
got me stomping up spirits
to put back flesh on the bones
to avenge the death
then, rest in peace
no peace in the streets
just mothers in grief.
The taste ain't sweet
and the sight ain't cute
strange fruit
holds a bitter savour
waiting for a Savior
that looks like you!
No wonder he don't come thru
don't hear the cries
No justice no peace
no Apple pies
just old souls watching
the genocide of their children
we march in peace but the small riots
are all they're filming
we march in peace like we did
with Martin
no smarter than we were then
still singing the same songs
we blinded by the lie
running away from the same truth
the strange fruit boasting on the limbs
of the tree with no roots.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

What is Truth?

If I told you the truth, would you recognize it's features
deny the preacher in mid sentence?
Leave him sobbing in repentance?
I've said to you before,
how you're like sheep led to slaughter.
Blind following the blind
who you let stand on the altar
but our daughters
and our sons
look up to us with eyes that glisten.
All they need is the truth
from elders not willing to listen.
Covering their ears to a message overdue
Consistently fighting truth
but what is true to you?
what exactly can you prove?
So adamantly they deny
choosing to be sheep and stay blind to the lie.
A lie that seems to be so perfectly rehearsed
and faith got 'em believing the lies within the verse.
The lies within the pages, got their minds
locked in cages
trying to pull mine in too!
They have no clue!
What is truth?
Usurping it like children,
no research no proof
sold hope for 10% and wonder why they're so aloof
The noose wrapped so tightly it causes
mental mutilation
pure devastation
conscious asphyxiation
No stimulating conversations
they're emotions run too high
and they'll lose their last breathe
trying to defend the lie.
Dangle that book in their face
they're sure to follow like bate
too confused to comprehend
belief and truth don't equate
it ain't the same, and I get it
you do you I do me
but I can't stay silent
I'm trying to get you free!
I'm trying to get you to see
what this truth is all about
better to have the truth
than indefinite doubt
pure truth like water
but you're living in a drought.
Trying to lead you to the right path
because you're on the wrong route.
unknowingly following evil
who plagiarized stories from your people.
if I told you the truth, could you accept the words
could you properly deduce the information that you heard?
Build on conversation without being uncouth?
Could you impartially separate a lie from the truth?

-Hatshepsut Amun Re

Before They Let Me SaveYou

They would see me dead before they let me save you,
break you out of the spell of those that enslave you.
They would literally send me to my grave
before they let my words inspire you
but I still chose to be brave.
Speak thoughts of mine
from the mind
of the Creator
guide you to the right path
make you walk a little straighter.
They will fill your head with garbage
before they let me set you free
vilify my image
to keep you struggling and pillaging
They would literally see to it
that they continue the abuse
before they allow for my words
to untangle your noose.
Keep you waiting on a ghost
to avenge you with his rapture
keep you captured and obtuse
keep you confused.
They will keep you sedated
a zombie or robot
slander my name before you take heed
and place my body in a plot.
Shit, I'm telling you man
understand and be sure
you see they did it to Huey Newton
Tupac Shakur
they killed a King
JFK
Malcolm X
I mean the list can fill nations
They'd put a bullet in my head
before I could give you the information
before I could push you so we could get ahead
they would leave me breathless
before I could resurrect you from the dead.
acknowledge you
give you knowledge and truth
plug your ears
straighten your hair
lighten your skin
till you look like them!
They would like to change my vision
before I could snatch you out of their cave.
They will see me to my grave
before they ever let me save you.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

Like Sheep

Thou hast given us like sheep
appointed for meat
and hast scattered us amongst the heathen
breathing in lies like oxygen
Oxymoronic, living dead
dry bones in the valley
probably never come to life
But I
am Ezekiel prophesying
Hear the words and rise!
Crucified
like the one risen
Horus, Krishna,
Osirus, Mithra, Jesus!
Hear the words and rise!
disguised in flesh
yet I attest
You are God,
children of the Most High
open your eyes
I see,
you're asleep at the wheel
playing follow the leader
lead into the slaughter like sheep
Reaping
the consequences
Quenched thirsts are momentary
monetary delights replace
knowledge unsought
truth untaught
equals history repeated
Kings defeated
and Queens dethroned
They said the Lamb of God
is the light of the world
while young girls bear
children
still seeking in the wilder-
ness
just
follow the Sheppard
follow the leader
unconscious deceiver
for the keeper of the gate
burned at the stake
our sons our daughters
while we're being led
like sheep to slaughter
where are all the
fathers?
to bitter some to be one
to blind to see
that the Son is the Sun.
deaf dumb and blind
and a game's being played
on the conditioned minds
and survivors of the slain.
Remaining silent and
confusing it with peace of mind
but the silence is so loud
and the soul is confined.
deaf dumb and blind
just walking asleep
sweep the dirt under the rug
following like sheep.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

Do You Know What It's Like?

You say you understand,
you feel the pain
have immense remorse for all the lives slain
you want to stand beside us
fight for the cause
but it could be your guilt
looking for an applause.
You say damned if you do
and damned if you dismiss
so if you speak the truth
then answer me this...
do you know what's like
to travel across seas
far from home but your not feeling the breeze
and your stomach won't hold because you don't travel like this often
trapped in a space no bigger than a coffin?
Can you feel the oxygen leaving
the pain just from breathing
to your left, a corpse
to your right a body seizing?
Scraps for food
forced to fight to live
and the only thoughts you have
are of those of your kids?
You can't understand the language
but they force you to listen
taught you're cursed because your black
but in the sun you glisten
Do you feel the pain of the whip on your back
cuts like glass
and you better not react
when they're raping your wife
while she carries your child
strange fruit on the trees
while your son screams loud
a last memory haunting you
your wife kneels down to pray
to the same force that
embedded hate in your dna
And here we are centuries passed
Do you know what it's like
to have the memories passed down
like they've stolen the lives
of those who have yet to come
a reminder like memorabilia
subjected to genocide,
mentacide and pedophilia
I want you to imagine
that you no longer remember
the sound of your native tongue
and it gets cold like December
on hay with rags to keep the baby from crying
left with scraps from the pigs
and wonder why we are dying
in numbers off the chart
they care not to jot
and no I wasn't there
but my dna never forgot
all the things my mothers
had to do to survive
imagine teaching your child
to stay dumb to survive
can't risk selling him off
to a place I can't protect him
trying to trace the blood back
so that I can connect him
to something he had
before the chains were shackled
teach him how to act
when the cops come to hassle
the same boys that wore sheets
in the streets at night
do you know what's it like
to not be able to fight
because the drugs have numbed
everyone surronding you
and it's no surprise
because they're just as brown as you?
Do you know what's it's like to
be told that you don't belong?
Just trying to make a way
but they singing the same song?
And you try to explain but
they just don't feel yah
and the face of the beast
looks so familiar
same look in the eyes
and they don't hesitate or pause
when they're shaking your hand
say they down for the cause.
Do you know what's like
to have your babies
hate their skin
hate the very mirror
they're looking in?
Taught that black is a curse
and I swear I could've died
told me it was my fault
it was ordained by God.
You know the same white man
picture hanging in my mother's home
so frightened by the face as a child
I couldn't be left alone.
And now centuries later
the souls still weep
Do you know what it's like to have
your children murdered in the streets?
For a crime no bigger than
the melanin God gave em
and He gave it not to oppress them
but gave it to save em!
Can you feel the attention
when you're downtown?
Feel the energy of those
who don't want you around? like
When your blood built the city
from rubble and dust
Can you understand why your
complexion I can't trust!
And you reap the benefits
of my grandfather's sweat
it's like you live in his house
and you're getting his check!
And do you know what it's like
to have dreams at night
nearly 500 years later
getting stopped at the light
for a tail light out ended up
in a loss of life
and a few forgotten marches
that didn't mean shit
he was cleared of the charges!
And I can't find employment
better chance of being killed
when the companies I apply for
are the ones my grandfathers built
but you reap the benefits
and say you standing with me
stolen birthrights the reason
the descendants can't be free
so if you really against
this thing called oppression
if you need a explanation
for all my aggression
and you wanna do good
you wanna come to the light
you wanna stand front line
if it comes to fight
willing to lose everything you have
just so you can make it right
Close your eyes and imagine...
Do you know what it's like?

-Hatshepsut Amun Re

Drinking From One Cup

The night is still

quiet

all except the rain beating against my window

sound of the breeze

whistling through the trees

yes the night is calm

only missing one thing...

Fresh from the shower

water beading off my skin

peanut butter brown

Shea buttered down

the smell of jasmine and eucalyptus leaves

no radio no TV for me

tonight

on this calm night

I can feel the wind has found its way

through the window slightly cracked

and the smell of the rain

has got me slightly relaxed

just chillin

in an old t-shirt

in my room

where

I have no use for panties

Shea buttered down

on this peanut butter brown skin

of mine

feeling so divine

in a candlelit room

I reach over to grab

my glass of red wine

and realize

there is only one cup.

Only one glass sitting beside the bed

on this still night in March

rain beating against the window

and the breeze tickles my skin

and I think of him

the man I have yet to meet

yet to converse with

laugh at

flirt with

tease

a touch of warm skin

to combat the cool breeze

no baritone voice

or rough hands with tender touches

just me

laying here alone

in an old t-shirt

drinking from one cup.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

City Hall

I can hear it,
walking down the streets filled with the bodies of the slain.
Nameless
we should be put to shame.
The ancestors' blood flows aimlessly in City Hall.
Past the skyscrapers and vendors
lenders that won't loan love
and I can see the sweat dripping from the building up high
built on bones of those who passed
blood excreting from the grass.
I can hear the voices crying,
for their childrens' lives stolen
stomping up spirits until feet are swollen.
And the trees they speak,
and weep for justice
strange fruit indeed
and the branches still bleed.
The roots they drink from a pond of tears
cried from fatherless children
just look at the buildings!
I hear the whispers
and the energy is thick
energy sucked from my mothers embedded in every brick.
No wonder why I have this connection
windows when I passed bear a different reflection.
And I can see clearly from head to feet
The spirits of the slain
who won't claim defeat.
In City Hall
where the ancestors call
where their blood flows thick in the middle of the street.
The nameless ones
who died for me
who built this town
and died defiantly.
And they shun me daily, and have the gall
to say I'm not welcomed in City Hall.

ReIncarnation

Have I been here before?
Traveling this road it seems so familiar
passing faces unfamiliar
but the energy is strong
like Siamese twins connected
Eyes staring at my soul
like with you I'm whole
with skin like mine
hair far from fine
wolly; defined.
In this time and space
and I question this unfamiliar face
Do you see me?
Because I see you
I see through the garments you wear
Polo and Marc Jacob bags
to disguise you
your cologne
but the souls remain the same
a different face a new name
so true
no deja vu
in this space and time
we existed before
together
maybe you were my sister
a prisoner
in this flesh
Reliving my death
until I get it right
I swear I was just here yesterday
maybe in a different form
but I was reborn
and I recognize you
stranger in the street
that walks pass without speaking
but the vibe is so strong
Have I been here before?
Looking in those strange eyes
like staring in a mirror
like staring at myself
three hundred years in the future
or the past
but we stand here today
yet walk right pass
Why?
What if we're the same person?
existing at the same time?
in two different spaces?
two different faces?
More than just fate
more than reincarnation
in this body of flesh
made from atoms of light
that travel faster than the speed
of the sound coming from my lips
means I can travel space faster
than the time it takes
for my words to reach your ears
But most won't understand
that we could be the same person
We're more than just man
More than just a person
in this body I reside
more than just a nation
more than just creation
bigger than an enigma
deeper than reincarnation.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

Re-Run

Momma, tell me what I see is an illusion, tell me why we still fighting for our inclusion?

My skin is brown and they hate me, what have I done,

To make them so filled with hate? They want me to bury my son.

It’s like a re-run

Tell Junior make it home before dark

If the sun sets on his skin, he’ll feel their jaws like the shark

They told me it wasn’t them, their ancestor’s sins

But I can see the resemblance, it’s hidden in their grins

The same smiles they wore staring at black carcasses hanging from trees

And the streets are still burning, three thousand degrees.

Tell me that we’re not still marching for the same fight

Assure me that my father will make it home tonight

In this land of the free, and the price isn’t cheap

Like the Movement meant nothing, still being put to sleep.

And it hasn’t yet been 50 years that’s passed,

since they killed a King

No “Free At Last!”

Still the target of the system, staring down the barrel of a gun.

I’ve seen this before, America’s sick re-run.

Same fight, same enemy, same lives lost

Same marches, same hymns, same lines crossed.

And all we want is peace, but it seems we’ve sinned

To have the nerve to be born in this land, with this skin.

I’m living a re-run, tell Paul Murray I too have the scoop

Like Groundhog’s Day, we’re stuck in a time-loop

So I wouldn’t be surprised that if your skin is black

You didn’t wait for the Equinox to set your calendars back.

No progress has been made, it’s twenty-fourteen

And they still treat us like dogs and spit slurs obscene.

Still staging the scene

Wonder why we react, think we should be appeased

Because our President is black.

They’re still killing us daily, barely keeping afloat

But say we shouldn’t complain, just got the right to vote

And they gloat in our faces, I thought the war was done

Around the mulberry bush we go,

another re-run.

And I can hear the Earth crying, tell me its a hallucination

That got us falling to our knees, praying for salvation

Praying that someone will solve the mystery

Black bodies filling the morgues, repeating the history

We must have forgotten, the justice undone

no remote to change the channel from this sick re-run

Trees whispering secrets of nooses and blood

Dirt spilling up blood

Rivers pouring bodies from the floods

And the stench is familiar I’ve smelled this before

Like the burning gun powder or the blood on the floor

And we keep asking permission

Victims of the Inquisition

Where they smiled when they glanced at our bodies dead and rotten

Fed our babies to dogs

But we must have forgotten

The hoses, the rifles, canines at our flesh

The terrorist acts, yes they did it best!

And we got the same solutions expecting different results

Watching the same episodes, of the same assaults

the same murders, same people, the very same gun.

A revolving door, America’s sick re-run

-Hatshepsut Amun-Re

Someone Else

You were given a job, by a Being; Supreme,
you either do it alone, or you work as a team.
And money for the bills don't grow on trees
if it did the grumbling bellies wouldn't be so hard to appease.
And the job isn't easy
sometimes it's so tough
and the world's so greasy
the streets are so rough.
Yet the clock is ticking and time is flying
babies crying
for attention that you can't give
working 12 hour shifts just so y'all can live.
But if you don't teach your son
the dope-dealers will.
They'll teach him how to rob,
and teach him how to kill.
Teach him women are the enemy, and how to use them at his leisure
Cuz his mother was just too busy to spend time being his teacher.
But you spend money, don't spend energy and time.
Oblivious to the injustice, blind to the real crime
being committed everyday, the situation is so dire
All you know is you're a man, and you're a provider.
Gotta make the money,
put food on the table
cuz it sure ain't funny
when you're just unable
look your lover in eyes and tell her you can't cater
to a life you conceived, that's supposed to be greater.
I get it!
You have no choice but to work like a slave
and hope that the pension's enough to offer, when you're carried to your grave.
And whatever she needs, you will get on your grind
you can spend all your money, but can't spend time.
But if you won't teach your daughter
a prostitute might
teach her to harden her heart
and walk the streets at night.
Teach her all men are dogs, they all cheat and lie
Cuz her father wasn't there to teach her otherwise.
wasn't around to guide her, show her the truth.
Teach her why she shouldn't walk around so loose.
Show her, her mother's a Queen
and she's one too.
How real men act
and what real men do.
and all things righteous you have to instill
if you don't teach your child
then someone else will...

Hatshepsut Amun Re

Unexplainable

I can't find the words to explain
to describe
or provide
an explanation
a justification
I can't.
But baby you do something to me
so sweet
so sour
got me wanting to devour you whole
got me lusting your soul
like a bitter taste
on the back of my tongue
but I keep sipping from this vial
this thing's so foul
but the stench ain't vile, it's subtle
an energy or a feeling
so magnetic
like polar opposites
attracted
got me all distracted
and in fact
I'm infatuated
can't leave him alone
it's unexplainable
in love with a man who has a home
with a bed
laced with sheets
that don't carry my smell
don't carry my aura
they say I'm going to Hell
but if there was such a place
my soul would eternally reside
would the flames burn the desire
for what he provides?
would the craving subside?
Can't find the words to explain it
unintentional, unconventional
so reluctant to abstain from it
They say that I'm wrong
but it feels so right
though he lays with another
when he closes his eyes at night.
I try to justify it
convinced my mind to push back
these feelings knowing their unsustainable
adulterous lies I condone
and it's so unexplainable.
The touch
the feel
the connection's so strong
so how can they convince me
that what I'm doing is wrong
that what I've done ain't right
I've indulged for the wrong reasons
the deceit, the treason
nights alone
body's freezing.
It's unexplainable
can't find the words to describe
or provide
and explanation
a justification
I can't....

Hatshepsut Amun Re