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Parent Category: Onstage

Marathon

it’s a strange time which finds me jogging
in the early morning
the deadness of sleep alive in this world
the empty parks filled with unloved strangers
buildings grey with solitude
now near the end of another decade
i am witness to the loss of my twenties
a promise invisible
i run with purpose
far from the north star
i run with the sound of barking dogs closing in
i have lost count of the miles
i am older and nothing much matters
or has changed

E. Ethelbert Miller

E. Ethelbert Miller was born in New York City, New York, in 1950. He received his B.A. from Howard University. His poetry collections include How We Sleep On the Nights We Don't Make Love (Curbstone Press, 2004), Whispers, Secrets, and Promises (1998), First Light: New and Selected Poems (Black Classic Press, 1994), Where Are the Love Poems for Dictators? (1986), Season of Hunger/Cry of Rain: Poems 1975-1980 (1982), The Migrant Worker (1978), and Andromeda (1974). He also is editor of many anthologies, including the highly-acclaimed In Search of Color Everywhere: A Collection of African American Poetry (1994) and Women Surviving Massacres and Men (1977). He is also the author of the memoir Fathering Words: The Making of an African American Writer (2000). His awards include the Columbia Merit Award and the O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize. In 1979, the Mayor of Washington, DC, proclaimed September 28, 1979 as "E. Ethelbert Miller Day." Miller is the Founder and Director of the Ascension Poetry Reading Series, one of the oldest literary series in the Washington area, and the director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University, a position he has held since 1974. – American Academy of Poets

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Parent Category: Onstage

The Elegance

 This morning was heaven sent
Me and my cuzzos balled last night
I ain’t goin deny it
We was every one of us, dirty-eyed and bent

 
Loud pack gamblers and schemers
When we hit that club and saw you ladies
We singled out the dreamers
Said ain’t nothing but a drink and an
Introduction standing between us

These marble staircases were designed
With folks like us in mind
And you wasted a lot of money on
That Hermes bag if you ain’t
Riding home with a nigga with Hermes swag

Now when I wake up in the morning
And all you’re wearing is a sheet
I guess I’d have to guess
That last night was complete
And I’m not really sure if you happy now or not
But like J Cole said, “It cost me a lot.”

So when it’s all said and done
and the consequences have sprung
Remember I told you I don’t do this
for the relevance …
Nah, I do it for the elegance

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Parent Category: Onstage

Shades of Winter

In the midst of the evening stands a man
Staring up at the moon and the stars that dance
The sky is frigid but full of wonder
That man knows his winter could be his summer

So he stopped thinking and just reacted
Because all of his pain was just a distraction
He walked away eager and with a smile
Five minutes later, he got shot down...

Details

Parent Category: Onstage

Wings Made of Wax

When you stepped
on the subway car
and those young boys laughed
it must have made you wonder,
“What’s wrong with these fools?”
If you’d been strapped
you might have popped off, huh?

But son, you got green hair
and an earring in your nose, and
a bright ass orange jacket with
something indecipherable written on it
And you’re Black, in case you’ve
forgotten…

So you sat over there sulking and
taking up two seats on a crowded train
drawing everybody’s attention
making old ladies nervous.
Boy, you a sight to see
with that throwback Mohawk
and cartoon lips tattooed on your neck

But it’s a long ride to the end
of the line if that’s where you
hoping to go.
Clever people cleverly figure it out
as they get closer to home…
If you choose to objectify yourself
you make yourself an object of ridicule

You can’t fly too close to the sun
with wings made of wax.