30 Days Of Jaye – Day 15: Resurrection

The one that

Swore that you

Could not live

Without them,

Will always be

Mystified that

You didn’t die…

Especially, since they did all they could to kill you.

-JBHarris, April 2021

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30 Days Of Jaye – Day 14: Garden Poem

There was a wise man

who said

I would rather be a warrior

in a garden

than a gardener in the war

when I was a young woman

a little little girl

we were taught

the nursery rhyme of

Mary Mary quite contrary

how does your garden

grow

well they don’t tell you

is that Mary had to be

contrary to make their garden grow

so well

she had a break up ground

she had identify

and dig out Weeds

And some thing

she had to let grow

together in opposition

before she ripped up

what might’ve been good

a woman’s heart is the same

to be contrary in order

to grow

nowI being a love poet

in the time of war

a warrior in a garden

whom is constantly

at war I put down

The ho to pick up

the sword on a daily basis

I wonder what seeds

can grow from the soil

as I go through the narrow

barefoot

hat down to keep

the sun out of my face

light colors to reflect

the heat of the sun

like my grandmother

and her grandmother

and her grandma

before her

knee deep in the dirt

and all the other ugly things

that the world has thrown

upon me and inside this garden

by which I now have control over

fencing put up

the scarecrow put up

to ward away all those

who wish to feast on

what I have put time

And love and blood into

then I see the tomatoes

come up

the hot peppers

Soon after

they change color

from green to red

and then I see

the roses that need

tending to the need

the most love and

I wonder if I have enough

in me to make them bloom again

-JBHarris, April 2022

30 Days Of Jaye – Day 13: Our Hours

Note: This piece will be in THE DEATH OF PETER PARKER & OTHER FAIRY TALES (August 2023).

In the myriad of hours

that I count since

counting you

as part of my hours

And days taking

your smile

your laugh

your joys

into all considerations

I wonder

is there ever truly room

for me in your hours

And days

to be counted

important among?

Counted enough

to be worthy

to be chosen.

From the pondering

I find myself wanting…again

-JBHarris, December 2021

30 Days Of Jaye – Day 11: I’m Feelin Him

A crush can crush you,

so I’m feeling him

I’m feeling him like Christmas morning like when your edges lay just right like

the best shade of red lipstick to get peoples attention

and also to know

that you’ not playing… I’m feelin him

I’m feelin him and

how I watch him walk into a room and hush comes over it

I’m feelin’ him

like I want to get to know him with

all his clothes on first

I’m feelin’ him

like I could know him for ever,

and he already knew me forever

like time got our name on it

Like I’m feelin him

intrigue and inquiry and intelligence coursing all through me as

thoughts of him and I

and him and me

and this thing called us

And together… I’m feeling him

The butterflies in my belly

Find their way to my chest

So my heart remembers it

Can beat.

And with this becomes

a rhythm that my lips

find smile for

and hold to that same

3/4 time

I’m feeling him…

Damn.

I just might want him to be mine.

-JBHarris, 4.2.2023

30 Days Of Jaye – Day 8 – Revenge Porn #1

This piece will be in the work VENGENCE IS THE BODY (June 2023).

Vengeance is the body

not broken for you

not longing for you

pushed up

turned up

and pressed against somebody else

with somebody’s something

with legs that spread wide

Like the river that bares

The name of the land

Where queens come…

Tangled in passions

Like magnolia roots—

Revenge is the body

served up

Well loved

expertly laid

With back turned

into only formations

squids could make

Willing other fingertips,

To wipe your handprints

away and memory

becomes ecstasy as

your face is replaced

with his, because you said

as long as I had thighs like this—

I would always have somewhere to sit

Sending the chosen quaking

as body is weapon

weapon as body

and kill switches are activated

to make sure that

every piece of you that

was attached to me

can feel ecstasy

Boomerangs back

as you brush

your teeth in the morning

Let all pieces of you

be returned to me

and all pieces of me

be memory to you

I wish you know it well

because—

vengeance is the body

unbroken because of you

-JBHarris, August 2022

For This We Praise

Taken from Hannah Drake’s Twitter (4/7/23)

when they tell you

to write your bio,

tell them your pronouns

are try and me.

when they ask

your job description

your designation,

your pay rate

tell them you are

a troublemaker,

and you were

born to be a problem.

Show them your skin tone

the color of sun–

of the most excellent Earth,

by which your ancestors

were chained to,

brought from

you have every right

to exist

to challenge

to be

and be outspoken

even when your voice shakes.

be in the room

to bring others in

the room.

Let nothing be the same after us.

In this the holiest

of representation

of the I in us,

and we in them,

no, and we be the people

by which they represent.

We are going nowhere.

We are whom your ancestors

Warned about:

Melanin-wrapped memory.

Whom are called and unbowed

We are here and are coming.

There is no door locked us

because we will

bust out windows.

Change is here.

Let it continue with us.

-JBHarris, 4/7-2023

Written in response to the 2 Tennessee Representatives expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives in April 2023. They were expelled because they were demanding gun reform. On 4/7, they were reinstated.

30 Days Of Jaye – Day 7: Wedding White

This piece will be included in The Death Of Peter Parker & Other Fairy Tales (August 2023).

The vows that I rehearsed

havecnow become elegy

Quiet and cold

rehearsed and practiced

over tombs

My eyes have

grown tired of crying

my heart has grown weary

of the king who will not come

for me

whom has crowned me

coordinated me

as exam

laid his mark and collar

Yet it will not consummate

this love will not allow

his pride to come for his bride

Does he not now I have waited?

And I am in quiet for him?

Growing gills to breathe water—

Only because he asked?

I am Persephone to his Hades

comfortable and dark

Needing new air

to return to the world

of light —

Yet new fruit to keep me

in his possession

disparaging the weather

the wisdom of my mother

who has given me only spring

knowing that winter

will always be at hand

because I must be with him.

My veil has now become a shroud

Chapel Now a seplechre

And now I am here sentenced

in the land of the Dead

looking for my way back….

wondering if Heaven will have me again

JBHarris, 7.2021