Never Fall Off

BACK ‘round stomping grounds

whispering like a true ghost

poking this brand new bruise

as if— brandished, I—

suddenly remember every pain,

everything I work to forget and

pray to misplace, become a stranger to—

Oh, but then, you call my name… and I’m

sweet-faced, again… BACK to my rooted

ways, where joy-colored glasses never

fall off, where I’d recognize everything

by the bounce or the bass, where— everyone

got weight, to hold and a scale to balance

got the smoke for your mirror and the

signal for your smoke, twin flame, consider

both eyelids, ancestor-kissed for a glorious

sight such as this… YOU, moon-shadow,

you… brown sugar, you… rhythm-lover,

Remember how we rapped the bars that freed us—

East Coast incantations, already in us,

to break spells with every curse, ASÉ…

journey-footed, the festival hills remind us

where, and when— blood shed/flows/knows…

somewhere (off) in the distance, I hear

BACKS breaking when we snap to this——