The Break Up

Late night, Unable to sleep,
Looking at the time….
Wondering what you’re thinking,
What’s on your mind…

Why you don’t pick up the phone
I mean, I know something is wrong…
Yet here I sit, twisting in the wind
Damn, just tell me what the fuck is up
Let the suspense end

Why do women so this shit?
Must be the nice guy curse…
I feel bad…I don’t wanna hurt him
Just making the shit worse

I mean dammit, I’m a man, I can handle what you gotta say
Just don’t play, make me wait day after day
When it’s clear you’re no longer down
And want this to go away

I know what’s coming, just waiting for it to come around the bend
The hurt, the pain are already starting to set in

You’re as good as gone, hell I already know it
Your body language, your voice
They already show it

Just be decisive, direct…make the killing swift
Don’t delay the inevitable, throw the damn switch
My heart already locked in the chair
No need for last rites, or feigned extra care

So just step up and do it
I’m fed up waiting,
Just go through with it

Round Midnight (The Degree, Now What?)

Stranded.....
Stuck......
Life at a dead end....
Stuck in a desert of uncertainty

After years of hard work, bustin' my ass
Pullin' all nighters, going to class..
Pilin' up loan debt with each course I pass
All in hopes of reaching my dreams, at last
Instead optimism has landed with a crash
and I sit here depressed going nowhere fast

So what about the AMERICAN DREAM???
Live right, work hard and the world is at your feet?
Well this shit is a nightmare, all I see is defeat
Two degrees and can't get a decent paying job
so frustrated it's hard not to sob
Overqualified/Underqualified..no positions available
Tempted to go find money under the table

Is this what I worked so hard for?
Just another brotha locked outside the door
Of opportunity, given no chance to make a living
my confidence shook, so hard to remain driven..

And I wonder if it was all worth it
or if this so called golden path is really paved in bullshit
A life of fulfillment that's never arrived
Left to struggle just to survive....

© Copyright James Leon Smith 2000 All Rights Reserved

Endangered Species

I've taken up residence
In the state of confusion
Though not of my choosin'
Wrapped in frustration
My mind free? Never
Cuz inspite of activist endeavors
young cats who think they clever
get locked down in cages
for what seems like forever
Lured into the pitfalls of a system
that targets/profiles/has it in for them

Yet they're blinded by ice,
the money to spend
rims that spin
fashion and status
pussy and fast friends
Unaware that the life of pushin' white
Is destined for a brutal and unfortunate end
with mamas cryin' at the sight of their babies dyin'
in the street, or juries in courtrooms deliverin'
verdicts of defeat

Yet in spite of the end of this tale, it never fails
that as one life is lost to the grave or to jail
another steps up deceived that he can prevail
deal with the devil on the highway to hell
vicious cycle never curtailed
generations lost like a child down a well...
creating an endengered species...
the black male

© Copyright, James Leon Smith, Jr, 2005. All Rights Reserved