(Thank u Marvin Gaye for the inspiration)
War shoots at the core of my existence
Cuz we got weapons of mass destruction at the local café
Right next to red white and blue YMCA Rec centers
Fatigues tire me
And men in blue tote quiet machine guns to unsuspecting victims
Crack cocaine is the lullaby
Surfers/wiggers/tweakers/breakers/hustlers/players/
politicians and CEO’s
Rock on…
The president has gone out to play
Golf balls hit my favorite tree
And it has invisible lynch marks on it as ancestors watch on
Brown boys hang themselves with phat farm belts and cell phone chargers
Where have all the elders gone?
Pre pubescent shawties push baby carriages
while they pop bubblegum and scoff at chipped nails
Babies come pre-disposed with heifer tendencies
Cuz mama grazed on government owned hormonal farms
13 gave her ironed new growth, hip-hop hips, C cup breast,
BeyonceBritneyJlo booty and newly covered Scooby snack coochie
And folk, my folk, our folk, your folk laugh, point, stare, glare,
be furiously fumin’ at them B.E.T. clothes she wear
But…here’s the catch:
pops picked em out,
he be scout of all exotic clothing for HIS baby girl
pimp with the plan, curator of the seed, the reason for the bleed,
daddy’s lil girl be doin’ homework after oral sex and u, we, us always ask
“ chald yo parents know u dressed like that?”
Elementary teachers sayin’ the world is not black and white but shades of gray
does that mean there’s no room for brown, for colors, for rainbows?
Where have all the elders gone?
Millennium kindergartners are clueless about big wheels
Half can’t tell you nuthin’ bout 2 plus 2
But 80 percent can school u on PS2
Books are on the endangered species list right next to world peace
In times of depression I ponder being a couch potato but
There is no more good television
Or maybe filling my frustrations with good but
McDonald’s fries are still the best but not like they used to be
Voodoo Princes I’m not but I been tryna conjure up a spell
For happiness
Yellin’ 108 mantras for 45 days
After I pray
Knees bare from THANK U JESUS when I’m able to crack a smile
I keep stirrin’ the pot but pieces of joy keep stickin’ to the bottom of the pan
Optimistic spatula already been reality melted down
Some rich robe wearin’ leaders be conservatively preachin’
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy while they
make alter boy’s stay after
but I know a local headliner who gets no story leads…
father “Leroy Jones” don’t neva make the news
although his lil shack in the village be savin’ souls on the daily
he don’t make alter boys stay after, cuz he makin’ alter calls
he be janitor by night
playin headphones songs of “Victory is mine…
victory is mine…vic to ry today is mine…”
but u, we, us
don’t know who Brother Leroy is
cuz his donations come in the form of thanksgiving baskets
for his flock
or love offerins’ of OJT while doin’ OJP, ie;
(on the job trainin’ while doin’ on the job prayin”)
and it’s not important that next door is a liquor store
cuz them cats on the corner are always there for Wednesday night Bible study
Where, where have all the elders gone?
Use to be chico stick, now o lator,
later gater corner stores and miss Johnson would always
Peek out the door “baby, you on your way home cuz
u know yo mama strict bout them street lights,
now come get this sweet potato pie I cooked
for ya Aunt Mackey’s funeral
and tell e’rybody the Johnson’s send there love.”
aint no more elders doin’ that no more.
Hell, we don’t even know our neighbors
I don’t even know my neighbors
Do you even know your neighbors?
Who are your neighbors?
WHERE HAVE ALL THE ELDERS GONE?
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