I'm starting to hate poetry slams
because poets are becoming too
predictable poets are like diapers you
open them up and it's the same shit for
instance I know what you expected me to
do a poem about black lives matter or a
love poem or a list poem with metaphors
and analogies or maybe you want me to
transform my mouth into a eulogy and
throw a couple of lines about Mike Brown
or Trayvon or or maybe a poem about God
and faith and just wait maybe that would
offend some of the atheists look I'm not
saying it's not cool to talk about
what's real around you but sometimes
people just want to hear what's real
inside you what's real about me: my
life is fucked up bill collectors blow
up my phone like we're fucking my
ex-girlfriend tried to separate me from
my son felt like the Atlantic slave trade
I'm fucked up I pass out business
cards and I don't even own a business
I have no business doing that word shit
I'm fucked up my friend
committed suicide my brother committed
suicide I'm tired of wearing suit and ties
to funerals I'm fucked up you know it's
fucked up the industry and what they do
to us we hit the stage every week but
never get paid what's really due to us
that's fucked up how 60% of this room
is one check away from being homeless
to homeless it's never check what's
crazy is one check of a CEO can feed the
homeless ain't that fucked up just last
week I was playing hide and seek from
depression and it felt me hiding behind
my smile and I've been it ever since
my grandma used to say for every cause
there's a reaction but why do cops think
being black means probable cause to
cause action I hate the fucking
police I hate the fact that I only have
three minutes here to speak in this poem
Wait y'all remember that diaper I
was talking about earlier I'm starting
to look like one
and what I learned is that I'm just like
every other poet we all gone through the
same shit
