Mama Moses on the A train

And this too shall pass
She laughed out loud
told stories from beneath potholes
where children slept naked
in downloaded poison
prisoners of light
wearing high heels on black hearts
strings attached to their limbs
dangling in drag

She laughed out loud

And this too shall pass
She told stories of women

who walked on water
wearing Chanel shades

micro mini's
On the Boulevard
making love to Burger Kings
fallen from grace now they sell

slim white lady
in bus terminals
wear Adidas
no socks
and cocked Kangols

Used to be kings, now their queens
wear sling back PayLess pumps
blond wigs to work
17 stacked back

clean, enough
sold man's dream

foxy brown bitties, lil' women, with no words
just long tongues
big lips
hips

And this too shall pass
She mocked the madness
whispered words to Jehovah

on the A train
sittin' in some slain man's seat
stomach full of hot air

weary wisdom
too much talking landed her on the street
now

She just speak to herself
Slouching
across from the middle class Mandingo
waxing bald head
with
Merrill Lynch kerchief
listening to Exodus

wouldn't ask him for a dime
She says through corroded teeth
his 5'10" thick silhouette
exists on Wall Street,
he neatly tucks in his ass
strides onto the platform

used to fight long-side pharaohs
now draws arrows on plastic boards
hoards money for the lords of the underground

Wouldn't ask him for a dime

She used to have a black fist
raised in protest
when brothers got shot in the war
world was tryna be righteous
She was sexy southpaw
down for the struggle

Write On!
used to have a black fist,
long brown arm

full of pure red blood
strong bones
Hair
She used so have that good time hair
brothers would stop her
you
half Indian?

Cuban mama

Was bitten by NY lonely frost
left her left fist
in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Brooklyn Community Hospital

Write On!

Her hair
She sold

wanted to recite poetry
but trains were always

crowded

sinister

wanted to write about butterflies,
She saw behind her eyes sometimes
babies kept coming,
ones She had lost in melting pots
babies kept coming

ones she gave away to vultures
how many babies, how many hits

coulda been middle class mandingos
or maybe murderers
or Malcolms, Martins
Mine

She spoke in tongues when

She was under
the influence
warriors would come
and sometimes
prisoners who died on cold floors
drenched in urine
but She knew their lives

wore their clothes
they came

She dressed for the occasion

And this too shall pass
She sat whispering
to cute girls
with their cornrows
and loose curls
one hiding black eyes
behind
other facing time for

his heroine

less then 21
tears years wasted in
subways and hospital
hallways
no sunlight for pretty
ones
all shacked up with five souls
to care for one
on the way
"Don't call me mommy"
She, beaten one, say
one with gun
strapped
just shake her head then
"That's why I don't fuck with men"
"Can I get a witness"
girlfriend cries

amen

And this too shall pass
She know too
She big
took up two seats
smell real bad
don't come close

"I refuse to be close to the demons"
She call out

laugh at her own foolishness
was able to see
through the darkness
now clouds, anger mixed with
Camel Lights
get in the way

"So who makes the sacrifice
when the rain comes in?"
She calls out to the Manhattan wind
"Is Jesus here again?"
She wants to know
keep seeing his face on wet pamphlets in the snow
sighs from within

"Yes.
Only he rest in our chests
not in our wallets."
 

She lies in the middle of the mess
makes excuses for our cruelty

"whirlwinds,

She says

took me by surprise."

her eyes glassy
kept falling asleep in the street

Strung out
hooked and lined
strung out, mommy
walking by
can't get a dime from her
babies
no more
even if she is
Strung Out

And this too shall pass
She wants to know why
pain stay stuck in the ground so long

we walk around
try not to worship it
Why
we don't just
Go
Jump into the sky
Blind
like God's only children
living for each other sins
For what reason

Why heart attacks at 24?
What then are we living for?
Mo' Money, Mo' cash, Mo' hoes?
Slang She quote

To make it visible she knows

I am preacher?
She on platform
Wet

only one
Shoe
Am I a preacher?
Voice say
"You only preacher when they listen to you"

So She throwin' it away on
concrete fantasies
little rocks the spot to go
when life gets too hot
 

And this too shall pass

son ran away
looking for a better mother than the one he had at home.
used to beat him with
his daddy's belt
for looking at her with his daddy's eyes
no surprise then when he
got high for the first time
on some suga-caine
from a high school friend
liked it
loved it
even

wanted to score more
ruin his own life
just to even the score
tattooed across chest
"Lived at Hell's gate. Die at Heaven's door."

I can take you through it
She say
She is screaming
Silent
You pass her
On A train platform

sandals you rock
cost more than a smile for the mommy who
waves dressed in garbage bags

And this too shall pass
And this too shall pass
And this too shall pass

She knows
know why?
cause She rose
this morning
greeted her maker with a smile
say "you can win child"
wanted to tell
you wouldn't listen
hard headed children
but She ain't mad
She knows it's a phase
She gives us sunlight
through her glazed gaze

She smiles with her eyes
say "excuse me" "thank you"
even when we spit
on the carpet concrete
She sleeps on at night

She know it ain't right
She still fight
back when

the light
gets dim
She'll watch you
from the side
wandering all alone
in the sea
of suppressed
we want to be oppressed maybe
the martyrs die nothing

maybe the food She ate was bad
tonight
got it from
the garbage tin

On 10th and Broadway
didn't make much money today
sway down the street
laces untied
long night in New York
She wants to cry
don't got no tears left
She just curl her love up
underneath her breast

smokes a Newport 100
halfway
Say
loosing another battle
still fighting the war

And this too shall pass

She glow when no one's looking
She glow when no one's looking

Maybe a butterfly last time
now sleeping beneath
torn
cardboard
makin' plans to win the lottery
'Cept She don't have no address anymore
She know She ain't crazy

just bored

used to read Socrates in the 10th grade
before daddy was drafted, mom maid
into
house slave
letter came back
say "Sorry"

mommy now empty
get to drinkin'
Stop feelin'
Stop thinkin' </P>

She lost her innocence to a young man
mommy called a rusty nigga
he was her lover for five months
left her pregnant, for some money in
Virginia slim girl

wore Lee jeans with a lot more hair

was alone then
torn between many a man's sheets and the middle of the street
miscarried

wanted to tell her story
maybe kind men saw glory
never said so
so

slowly She dying
right here on the A train
looking for the future
in a long past universe

And this too shall pass
She speak in verse
curse a lot
cough now
wheezing
these word her last
She wrinkle up a smile
on her pretty brown face
say with uneven grace

And this too shall pass.

by Ihsan Muhammad copyright 2007