leave it to me and this mother's day gift

nothing really matters
not slam
not poetry beef
not hip hop beef
not wanabees
not lip synching
not image friendly-marketable treason
not babies gone wild commiting suicide via MTV

no reason for laughing
no joy to the world
santa's coming
he's got the easter bunny
with a mulatto sidekick
no hate on hate blackness
brown-ness
humanity's crying
pick at their tears like a parent
and see the horse with a mouth wide open
gums bleeding our flags waving

tell me this ain't teen spirit

suicide note prepared in the GOV'T's scripthand
food stamp scars tattoed across the wrists for
every single mother turned away
she's only allowed one day to breath
today is her moment
to forget the cable and light bills
the kids' school clothes
the laundry, the man that left her - the man that wants to leave - the man that loves her regardless of her heavy womb
this is her moment
to disappear behind the smiling mask
make it geisha
comfort women
hottentot
pocahontas
mary magadelene
proper whore for today

before the abortions
the miscarriages
the stairway to heaven
the this
the um
the bap
the this
the um
the bap
the birth

the mother
holding masking tape against the corners of liberty's mouth
teaching her to take notes
sideline silenced
wooden sticks with rubber slip grips,
standing pretty