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