Cardozo Slam Poetry Club

Three bottles and a box of chocolates

Thirteen hearts and we’re down to one

And I’m up here, trying to reach the sun

So catch me if and when I fall, anyone?

The thing is, the To and From have one name

It’s mine, and every year’s the same

Every Valentines is my SAD

My Single Awareness Day

But I don’t want to be in a game no one wants to play

And you know what?

That’s fine.

Because I’ve got a new found love

One with no fights and I need no globe

‘Cause this love is not a romance

It’s the closest thing to a bromance

My purely platonic love

And it’s not the kind of love where

Your fingers accidentally touch

When the butterflies flutter

Your heard melts like butter

His eyes, her eyes

They meet

No surprise

And it feels just like a dose or

Pint of serotonin running through her

moving, rolling

Then finally two lips meet and

No

This isn’t that kind of love

It’s when the other is more than your

brother, your sister, you know?

It’s when you can’t stand to not understand

And goodbye is unacceptable, illogical

But quite probable

Because you don’t care if you choose to not be there

When I am there for you with every stabbing pain

When you feel like you’re disappearing

You’re going insane

And you ask me to just kindly blow

Your brains out

But you know, I can’t do without thee

You that’s here right now

The you that will be, if one day you

Choose to be

There for me

When the devil takes over

When I’m far from sober

Right now much like that day

I’ll be higher than the sun

I need you to catch me

With my three bottles and a box of chocolates

I pick up that bottle and take the last sip—I just can’t resist.

It’s like floating on a cloud in an ocean of heavenly bliss.

As it touches my lips, my eyes begin to flick.

My head begins to spin and my feet lose their strength.

Why do you like to me my friend?

Why do you tell me that you care?

Why do you tell me that I need you?

Why do you tell me you will always be there?

It’s an addiction, a heightened sense of non restriction.

You’re the cage and I’m the pitied animal

I roar, I scream, I yell, I cry!

But now matter how hard I try,

I’m bound, I’m stuck, I can’t break this seal.

When I drink you, I no longer can feel.

I can’t feel love, I can’t feel joy, I can’t feel happiness, I just feel that void.

I’m hopeless and I’m empty,

But you don’t care, YOU KEEP COMING BACK TO ME!

With your angelic voice saying “Take me, Take me, Take me.”

And I the fool so weak, so broken, burdened and unspoken…give in.

You are that dry desert and I am that stranded kid.

I plea, I bellow, I howl, I protest

Bur it makes no difference because I’m drowning, I’m drowning, I’M DROWNING IN YOU!!!

That once seductive cloud evaporates

And I fall in and the mighty waves of your alcoholic merry

Collapse upon me

There is a grave waiting for me below and as I reach my hand up in a desperate final SOS.

Everyone just looks down at me and say

“HE’S JUST ONE MORE LESS”

Can one be a lion in sheep’s clothing?

Yes, certainly, you just choose not to fully see

Most people hardly even realize this,

That the lion in sheep’s clothing is me.

I appear to be quiet, innocent and harmless

I blend in when I don’t feel like standing out.

But when I feel comfortable or defensive,

My mane and natural color begin to sprout.

I viciously hunt and fight for my prey,

Like excellent grades, respect and success.

Yet I like to remain in the pasture,

When I’m feeling exhausted, uncertain or distressed.

I love to feel the wind in my face when I run

Because some part of me believes I’m free.

I wish that I can lie on my back all day long

Yet life doesn’t stop it continues flowing like the sea.

My words are fangs ferociously inflicting fear in people,

When they attempt to make me run or hide.

They try to control me like the rest of the sheep

But they only see my clothing and they don’t know whats inside.

Wearing a little trinket around my neck won’t wash away my sins

I’m not saying I’m the anti-Christ, don’t wanna reach Nirvana

Walk the Eightfold Path or not turn to Mecca

I used to praise Yahweh, bow down to the rules of Moksha and Dharma

But now I halt

I thought I knew how to love, thought I knew how to pray

I used to see the guiding light on the grayest of days

But as the nights grew darker and longer

As the beeps grow shorter and quicker

As your grace dug deeper and deeper

I began to lose faith

‘Cause when the priest was preaching over your bed

I felt like it was all lies

Who knew I would ever think like this?

But who knew life would ever come to this?

Now I believe in perfect symmetry, what I do back will be done to me

But I don’t want to believe in a false prophecy

Why do I have this sudden change of heart?

Why do I now deny the power I used to praise?

Why am I becoming what I once hated?

Is this what he has in plan for me?

To be a traitor?

I hope when she comes around

You’ll know she wears a crown

And when she sees you, she won’t care

‘Cause she’s smart enough to know you’re still in some other girl’s underwear

You’ll try and try to win her heart

But she’s smart enough to know you were shit from the start

A boy who chases just to pause, spread his seed, doesn’t wait for applause

And then. Goes on. To the next girl.

But no, this girl will make you quake

Make everyone bone in your self righteous body shake

Make the tears glisten in your eyes, make you take off your obvious disguise

The sound of her voice makes you want to pray

Her poetry brings you to see the light of day

Her songs make you want to fly away!

But no; you can’t have her

‘Cause she is smart and she is wise, she wears no disguise, she knows hows to compromise

She would be stupid to be with somebody like you

So when she comes around and you know she wears a crown

Don’t try to chase her down.

There have been several occasions where I 
would be talking to my friends and they would say something like
“Wesley, there’s no way you’re black, you’re definitely white.” 
Or “We all know you’re really white on the inside.”
And I’d laugh along with the joke like it was alright.
But I’m never quite sure what to make of this
because the color white has more positive connotations than black
White seems to symbolize purity, holiness, light, and what is right.
While black is attributed evil, darkness, dangerous things lurking in the night.
Now in that sense of the words, what I am to think?
Should I take this as praise, not meant to offend
Or abhor such comments made by my friends?
Who find it amazing that I have no bullet wounds or mug shots. 
Don’t wear jeans down to my knees or durags and whatnot.
But I’m confused as to why this would come as such a shock.
Regardless of these things I’m still black, am I not?
Ironically enough, back in the day I’d be called an Oreo and take it as a compliment
Nowadays I’m trying not to get insulted and understand what they really meant.
Because in all actuality I’m as black as they get.
Having been born of pure African descent. 
So what is it that sets me apart from other black dudes they’ve met?
Is it because I sit among them in their AP class
and not outside by the trailers smoking blunts and grass?
Alright, I guess when comparing me like that
There are some noticeable differences, like the fact
That I prefer the button down shirt to the wife beater
and prefer soft silk ties to glowing silver chains
prefer basic black vans to hundred dollar high top sneakers
and prefer the acoustic guitar to the turntables and rap fame
But this does not make me any less of a black man.
Some think these traits can’t coexist in a person but I know they can.
I can very well like The Beatles, Billy Joel and Eric Clapton
And still sing the soulful tunes of Mary J and John Legend.
The fact that my iPod is filled with Coldplay, Beethoven and Rascal Flatts
Doesn’t mean I don’t bob my head to good hip hop and rap.
I’ll choose basketball over baseball any day
And I love me some fried chicken, that I’m not ashamed to say.
No, I’m not a hoodlum, but not all black guys are that way. 
Sadly most are viewed as gangsters and thugs anyway.
So, whether or not I break the stereotype
I don’t care if I am “black” or “white”.
Next time I hear that joke I’ll still laugh with them and
Just be glad that they’ve taken me as a I am.

DAMN


WESLEY: Man, it’s getting annoying seeing them together all the time. They always just happen to be going my way on the way to class. There they go, he’s holding her hand in his and she’s got that look in her eyes, and he’s smiling down at her looking up at him with that look in her eyes, and she’s giggling as he’s joking and smiling down at her looking up at him with that look in her eyes, and now he has that look in his eyes…you must know what I mean, I see them together and I’m just like…

Damn.

KOSTA: Yeah, I know the feeling. I’m seeing them everywhere, too. He’s standing there outside her classes, and standing out in the cold at five o’ clock waiting for her to finish practice. And I’d be there waiting for my bus and him and me are talking and joking and waiting and laughing and chilling waiting, and then she comes and his face just lights up and she’s there by his side again, now they’re talking and laughing and I feel like I’m intruding and it’s like… 

Damn.

WESLEY: I remember when it was just me by her side. I came to school looking forward to seeing her run up to me and embrace me in a warm hug. I used to go with here wherever she wanted to be, and she would stay behind at band practice just to be with me. I look back at how we used to be on the phone for hours just talking ‘bout this and that, and when I’d flirt with her it seemed like she flirting back. But now there’s this new guy in the picture and… 

Damn.

KOSTA: This new guy’s ruining everything for me. There I was thinking maybe we could go steady, got all excited just to hear that she wasn’t ready. I was mistaken, fooled by all the things that she would say, but with another dude after her, how will I know if she feels the same? She got my hopes up, but before I know it I’ll be giving up. What if he takes my place? I can see it on his face, he looks at her the same way I do and I’m thinking to myself… 

Damn.

WESLEY: She got him sprung. I notice the way his eyes and his voice go all soft when you mention her name. I can see she got him under a spell. The same spell I’m under, but dumb as I am I couldn’t spot the blunder. She has this way of making guys fall head over heels, but she doesn’t always know how we really feel. And even though they’re not together its still making me wonder… 

Damn.

KOSTA: I know what you’re thinking. Who’s she gonna choose? What’s he doing I’m not? I’m wondering the same if you can believe it. Him and her, her and me, there’s a difference I see it. I guess he just makes her feel a certain type of way. And the way they look when they’re eyes meet, there’s no way that could be fake. I can’t look at them without feeling bad, that affect he has on her is something I wish I had. And I hate to say it, really hate to admit it, but it’s got me feeling jealous like…

Damn.

WESLEY: But it’s all good. Mean he’s a pretty cool dude. Good thing that despite it all we get along the way we do. But I hate that I’m always to see the warmth in their smiles and the light in their eyes, the laughing and playing and lengthy goodbyes, and I’m thinking to myself should I even try? I don’t wanna be the one to lose out to another guy. 

KOSTA Yeah, I still wanna win her heart, but I should have known there would be another guy from the start. 

WESLEY: This feeling’s something I can’t ignore, never thought this would be something I’d be competing for.

KOSTA: Don’t know what to do…

WESLEY: And I wish it weren’t true…

[Both] But it kills me every time I see her with YOU.

WESLEY: What has this girl done? 

KOSTA: Who’d ever thought one day we’d be after the same one…

[Together] Damn.

Yeah, so this is our official blog for Slam Poetry Club, a perfect place to showcase our collective genius :)

I’ll post the first few pieces that will go into the book.

By the way for a book title (instead of my stage name..don’t think I need one) I was thinking we could call it Epiphany. Just because it’s such an awesome word and it has so much meaning when it comes to (a lot of our) writing. Let me know what you guys think of that.

I’ll give you all the info for this asap, and start posting right away!