Dirty Words

Kids say the damnedest things…
Like the time
one of my babies said
“shit”
at the dinner table
or
the time
my baby girl said
“booty”
in front of my mother.
Where do they get this stuff from?
I try to watch
what they
watch
and listen to
what they
listen to,
and we are all
careful
of what WE say…
but still
they come up with some doozies…

Yesterday took the cake.
My four year old
stopped me dead
in my tracks.
She said something that I will
never
forget.
And she smiled
and said it over
and
over
again.
My heart stopped
my breathing got shallow.
She smiled
like she was PROUD
of herself.
I think
that’s what hurt
most of all.
She smiled like she was
PROUD.
I grabbed her
and all I could do
was just
hold her
tight
against me.
A tear ran down my face
as she kept reciting
like some insane mantra,

“I pledge allegiance to the flag…”


© 2005 swing first productions

Turning Fifty

Peace and blessings from an old head I say old head cause I ain’t dead...Not yet, least I forget
all my friends who didn’t make it this far wherever they are…So, I’m blessed to still be alive. Talk was I wouldn’t live past 25. I’ve been through hell and back again. I’m so old I remember when…Movies only cost 50 cents to get in.
The projects were a nice place to live and the corner store would sometimes give your mom some credit when things were tight, they didn’t sweat the loot, just tried to do right. When everybody played outside all day with no videos to watch or X-Boxes to play. When street fights ended with the shake of a hand and shooting someone didn’t make you a man. When learning to dress was really cool and nobody wore baggy pants to school. We sang on the corners all night long harmonizing to the latest doo-wop song. We respected the old folks and stayed in our place because if you didn’t you’d get slapped in the face. I remember when James Brown was king! and you could always do your thing. When the Isley Bros. sang “Twist & Shout” and on Friday nights, everybody went out.
To Sunday School you HAD to go, Saturday night didn’t matter you couldn’t say no. If you called a girl a bitch, you better run fast or fight! Now, it’s in the songs they listen to every night. I remember the world before crack came around and turned our whole community upside down!
Drive-in movies, Cracker Jack prizes and cherry Sno-Cones. Chuck Taylor’s, and Shrimp Boat fish with no bones. Tricky Dick Nixon and the Viet Nam war. Partying, smoking reefer and trying to score. When we all LOVED being black and another brother you'd never attack.
But, now I’m fifty and I’ve had to chill. Sit back, relax and pay the bill, for all the fun I’ve had in the past. Those good times don’t always last. But I’m glad to do it, I would change nothing at all. It’s been a great run, I’ve had a ball. I would love to have another fifty years to spend with my family and all my peers. But I'll just celebrate today and thank God for showing me the way...