Musica-ku

I still breathe music
Fading loud at his last breathe
I sigh breathe music

by Shonnese C.L. Coleman

Check out @SCLColeman's Tweet: https://twitter.com/SCLColeman/status/751644873032278018?s=09

First Day of Summer-ku

Very HOT outside
naked man sitting on grass
side-eyeing the sun

by Shonnese C.L. Coleman

Yo No Entiendo (I don't understand) for Mandela and Rivera

God...Friends...random people on the street...
I'm 19 years old in 2012...
please help me to understand some words like Freedom and Liberty
out of bondage independently
no longer controlled, how we choose to be
is too often and overwhelmingly interrupted by the powers
I see that systematically enforce laws that don't serve we...our society/community
I heard that before Nelson Mandela and after Oscar Lopez Rivera...
You and me...then and now...locked up or beat down...ignored...
treated less than human...in the hole-no-light...save my soul...I'm only 19...
this isn't justice, it's trickery...seditious conspiracy?  Really...
Ay...ahhh Dios Aidame a entiendo words like la Libertad y Independencia
as I stand here with those who say everything that you're thinking...
when did it become a crime to love one's home
and the preservation of that home...tell me again,
mi besinos say I'm American...don't you know...but I'm still not clear...
is it what he said...who he led or a nations fear...
I'm 19 years old in 2012 y yo no entiendo

by Shonnese C.L. Coleman

Conversation piece: Big Plastic Ring

There are letters of the alphabet floating around in my head
hair follicles string a to z splendidly into words of clarity
as new audience peers at me through the cracked door
eyes sore from looking so hard and so long...
...what is she doing and what's with that big plastic ring?
Ha! Before we go any further audience, let me say this one thing...
...come here...yea come on in...I see you, yes come on in
listen, this is my notebook and this is my pen...I write

by Shonnese C.L. Coleman

Body Snatcher or Here Comes Lady Macbeth...Run!

No I was prepared, I was...I was prepared

then I got in the audition room and suddenly

without warning the character who I was not

auditioning for took over my body and voice

seriously, some other character who decided

she was needed in that moment started talking

and walking around and making up words that 

were not on the paper...

gesturing to imaginary people 

breaking the 4th wall and ignoring the reader

who was great by the way 

laughing where it wasn't funny 

dancing when there was no music 

crying for no apparent reason and then it was over

I got my body and voice back 

stared at the casting director for a few minutes 

who stared back at me...then simultaneously 

we said thank you and I left...I left feeling like I did that...humph

that's what happens when you haven't auditioned

in over a month and the 1st chance you get 

that role you played of Lady Macbeth back in 1996

seems to be the only thing that makes sense...

oh that don't happen to you...

oh so I'm the only one channeling Lady Macbeth at the exact wrong time...

oh ok...but I was prepared for that audition...I was...no I was

by Shonnese C.L. Coleman

Delusions of Grandeur

Honorable, Honest, Virtuous & Upright
titles or identifying words associated
with you or who you want the world to see
you be...go on for pages and pages but sadly
don't describe the true you, authenticity compromised
too many surprised by the title-hog mentality
no integrity but tailgating not waiting on invitation
but declaring an alliance not desired or required
please...slow your roll...what's destined for you
already paid in full, packaged and awaiting your pick-up
every shiny stone on which you stumble does not belong to you
strive for your Honorable, Honest, Virtuous & Upright...self

by Shonnese C.L. Coleman

Thinking about James Baldwin

In Giovanni's room we all wrote notes
native sons we are to Harlem
about to go meet the man
but the price of the ticket
well that cost more than Sonny's blues
cramped up quarters sweating walls
just above my head, oh yea the devil finds work
no name in the street but if Beale street could talk
Lord have mercy on my soul, the fire in another country
will tell how long the trains been gone from 5th Avenue
next time we'll write about the evidence of things not seen
forget your blues, I already told you 'bout Sonny dem
Jimmy and Mister Charlie will carry that cross of redemption
I see you through the keyhole little man little man
go tell it on the mountain while I shout Amen
over here in this corner

by Shonnese C.L. Coleman