New Name and New Piece

So... I've changed my stagename yet again... LOL... I know, I know... this is like the fifth time but I think I'm stuck on this one because 1) it's doper than the others and 2) it fits me way better than all the others... the new name is:

veRBoSe

That's dope right? For my vocabulary-challenged folk verbose means "using or containing a great and usually excessive number of words..." and that is me to a T... the first poem I ever spit went WAAAAAAAAAY over the 3-minute time limit... and I find that most of my poems are usually about that same length so I think it fits me perfect... if you're wondering why the R, B and S are capitalized it's because it stands for "Real Brothas Spit" so I think I'm SETTLED finally... I don't plan on making any more changes to the stage name...

Now that we got that out the way, I've been writing like CRAZY since the poetry slam back in September and I've written about eight or nine different pieces with another twenty (yes, twenty LOL) in the works... but here's a piece I spit tonight at the W.o.M. meeting... to my surprise it was well received (I am TRULY my own worst critic) but I'm still not completely finished with it... just wanted to throw it up for my poetry fans out there... I always welcome feedback... I am by no means, a professional poet... I'm barely an amateur so I want to get better any way I can... ok, enough talking... here's the piece...

It's a response to a few videos and events, most directly this one:



“I am Not a Righteous Man”
I am not a righteous man
I drink whole bottles of 151 on random Wednesday afternoons, smoke a lot of weed and watch entirely too much pornography
Like I said, I’m not a righteous man, but
When I see something I need to speak on, I speak on it...

Derrion Albert was killed in broad daylight on September 24 with dozens of witnesses in Chicago and it was caught on videotape
Let me repeat that:
A sixteen year old was MURDERED in broad FUCKING daylight with DOZENS of witnesses catching the footage on VIDEOTAPE…

It’s an amazing irony when you consider that my first reaction to violence IS violence
The rage that builds inside my ribcage overflows like volcanoes
Putting pen to page is not helping quell this anger but to do anything other than this would be a
Sad misjudgment of character on my part… but
Lord knows had it been my brother, sister, cousin, or best friend
These assholes wouldn’t have the pleasure of a life sentence in prison…
There would be hearts ripped out, crushed windpipes, nose bones pushed into brain stems, eye sockets filled with heated battery acid
I would grant them the one opportunity they’d been searching for: to prove how hard they were
There would be wrath inflicted beyond comprehension that no video game or movie would dare showand
As an act of fairness between good and evil, I’d go medieval on these motherfuckers…

But I digress…

I’m tired of news stories that begin with murdered elementary students walking home from school and raped 19-year-old nursing majors who deal with mental anguish by lacerating wrists
It’s the world’s fault for mass-creating this obsession with all things ugly and hateful
I’m tired of news bulletins full of useless suspect descriptions
“Looking for a black male, 16 to 35, 5-6 to 6-5, light-skinned or dark-skinned wearing a t-shirt and jeans…” That’s every male in this fucking room! And
Now there is mass hysteria and all that does is cause us all to be disrespected and hemmed up for being black and walking down the street and
I’m so sick of mothers excusing their children’s actions
Acting like he’s not a bad kid even though he just killed somebody with his bare hands
If taking someone’s life doesn’t make you bad, then what the hell does?
My mind grows weary
Hearing about neglected 12-year-olds by way of 12-hour work shifts
I understand that it’s necessary sometimes but
You are doing your child a disastrous disservice if you work three jobs to keep lights on but don’t use that same illumination to illuminate your child’s mind by reading to them

We’re now in a state of emergency where women are afraid to have sons because they don’t want to raise gangsters
The dreams of Martin and Langston have imploded upon themselves and now the world has convinced us to choke hope like ropes around the throats of Tuscaloosa slave descendants
Black people, get your shit together!

Let me know what you think...

Peace and blessings,
Your boy veRBoSe