Stand-Up

Jasmine Meli and I went to go eat pizza at a restaurant called Deco's

originally i wanted to go so Jasmine could see this cute waiter who worked there (my attempt to get her to like younger dudes)

He wasn't there but there was this stand up poetry thingy going on 

So we grabbed our drinks and sat outside to listen

there's something about listening to other people pour their hearts out that tends to shake you even when they're strangers

There was a man who didn't know Harlem who noticed that

our queens turned into bitches and started calling themselves kings

our kings turned into dogs and started calling themselves gods

There was a man that wanted water over blood

because even thou blood is thicker than water

your family can betray you and cast you out in the blink of an eye

that they begin the process of isolation when you are young

that all you are is a repeat of questions at family functions

 

There was a woman standing in heels

who says they feel the same as her combat boots

that they're are blind eyes to men who like their hands up women's skirts

and men who puff themselves up with pride and muscles

protecting and being rewarded for what women do

and there was another women with insomnia

who like me would lie awake at night eyes heavy but unable to fall asleep

who like me was up at ungodly hours

who unlike me had her own personal sleep aid

she talked about a man who's arms would cradle her to the deepest of sleeps

how's his scent would surround her making her feel safe

how she can always go to him and he'll be there

she then began to tell us how dizzying it was to walk to his house

how her heart skipped a beat pressing the doorbell down

how the dizziness intensified knowing that her sleep aid was a door away

she described her heartbeat as she heard the clinking of locks being turned

how she can almost taste her dreams and the man who helps her there

then the door opens

and a women is already standing there

it was definitely the last one that hit all of us the most even with a few days passing we still talk about what we heard that day

I feel like these things find a way inside you and stay there

they aren't loud they are speaking in whispers

i only wish i could express myself like those strangers