Blood Red Docs

She had blood red docs
They matched her blood red hair
Blood shot eyes went with her cold dead stare
Jet black eyelashes out to there
Strutting through the laundromat with no care
I thought if she was mine man I would not share
Matter of fact I'd take her just about everywhere
Made me wish that I had greased up my hair
Working class brown beauty with vampira waist
I'd love for her to invite me right back to her place
And if I got her mad I would give her some space
If she were to leave me I'd probably give chase
And she'd probably deck me smack dead in my face
She look like the type that aint got no time to waste
Looking like the type that just can't be replaced
Like we could have a good time boozing or not
That caramel complexion Isn't all that she's got
Like everything she do she put it on lock
Not just a pretty face done earned all of her props
I see us at a protest screaming, "fuck all these cops!"
My clothes finished drying and my daydream stops

Mom's 2nd Bday

Came back from a good day after a short political campaign, felt a cold coming on and as soon as I got home I went straight to bed. At around eight p.m. there’s a phone call, it’s the hospital, they call my name because I usually take the calls but not tonight, I ask one of my aunts if they can please the the message this time, I can’t get out of bed, at this point my head is pounding, for a few months now there’s been this luggage bag by dinner table just taunting me, in it was a change of clothes for my mom should the eventual call come in, this was the call. There’s a certain fear that comes over me whenever I hear my name spoken in a loud tone in Spanish, it reminds me of the time my grandma passed away and I was woken to “DANIEL!” in a fearful tone, it was that same tone. I mustered energy enough to walk out to the kitchen, my aunts were in disbelief and I was almost disoriented with the cold that had not been there earlier in the day was hitting me with full force. They have a match; they said we have to leave right now as soon as possible. So, for the third time I grabbed that luggage bag from the floor, twice before in about as many years we’d received that call and by the time we reached the hospital twice before the surgeon’s said, it’s a no go, we’d been warned that this could happen, that it could happen more than once, that the surgeon had to physically see the liver and if the doctor said it wasn’t a match even after all of the preceding procedures, they couldn’t risk it. We headed towards Beverly Hills for a third time in three years and even stopped by my old job, I saw my former co-workers busying away, thought about having hung out with a professor friend earlier in the day, what type of medicine to purchase on our way back, anything to take my mind out of my present situation. We were given a tower and room number, the person on the phone apparently gave quick instructions and as is procedure I’m sure, we were quickly whisked into elevators upon arrival to Cedar Sinai’s pre-operation surgical building, when we got to her room there was a person cleaning it, we said we were given that room and she said that there must be a mistake because she was just now in the process of cleaning it but would check to see what the mix up was and where we should head to, she came back and said my goodness you’re right, please come in, you must have JUST received the order to come in because as of a few minutes ago this room was vacant but it does show you there so please allow me to quickly finish cleaning and you’ll be ready. Within a few minutes the first surgeon arrived she was still in her exercise clothing, she was in the gym when she got the call, she took quick observational notes, touched her liver area said that the rest of the team was on its way but they’d be heading straight to the operating room that she was the only doctor she’d see and said, “I’m leaving now to inform the other doctors, if you don’t see me it’s because it’s a ‘go ahead’ and I’ll be prepping for your surgery but if you see me it’s because I’m going to tell you that we won’t go through with it. It was around ten and still no word, we thought that the doctor would come in any moment and apologize and probably still make it back to the gym. I asked the nurse and she said she’d check for us, she came back into the room and nonchalantly said,” they’re getting ready, you WILL be going into surgery that’s why the doctor’s not back, she’s prepping as well.” We were totally caught off guard and trying to figure how to go about whatever was coming next, it’s the day the doctors tell you will come but you’ve stopped believing and then it comes out of nowhere. I asked where we could wait for her and they said we could go home because it was going to be at the very least a twelve hour procedure but that they’d call us every hour on the hour for an update. I told my tia’s they could head home, that I’d stay with her till they rolled her into the operating room. Just before midnight she went into the operating room, I was a nervous wreck but my good friend Will Flo came to scoop me up, we ended up at the now defunct Lucy’s on Hoover and Washington it was almost two in the morning, I forgot I was sick, Will Flo reassured me that everything would be cool and to stay strong, I thanked him and he dropped me off. Sure enough every hour on the hour for twelve hours I received a phone call letting me know everything was going well and at last a little past noon on February 17th 2017 I received the final call saying that the surgery was a success they gave me a room number. Before all of this mom’s and I made a pact, she said don’t tell anyone about my condition, bless their hearts but they’ll bring me down and unknowingly send me to grave while I’m still kicking and fighting. I agreed with no problem, in the first post operation meeting with her liver transplant team the psychologist told me that if I was going to be her care giver for the year in recovery that was coming it was unhealthy to keep that to myself, she said at the very least choose a small hand full of people you trust to talk to about the things I’d been and would be going through because it’s not easy. A few of you knew, most of you didn’t, I’m only sharing this to a certain degree against my mom’s wishes because it’s exactly one year ago that my mother was granted a second chance at life and in case you were wondering, she’s celebrating her first new birthday running around the city being more active than she’s ever been, in great spirits, the only person that never lost faith.

On a Limb

Her memory scattered throughout the city, ashes in the wind
I sing about our time together as if it were a sacred hymn
Stumbling home hanging on to my sanity from a single string
One time she caught me checking her out and she grinned
Lord’s honest truth I didn’t care for giving into sin, so I been
Took so many loses I forgot how it is to come up on a win
I went out a limb jumped into her ocean found out I can swim
Music in the background and in my mind that record still spins
The end point has never been merely to get all in the skins
But her not by my side and on me the feeling hella stings
You don’t want to know the feelings those thoughts bring
I’m not saying be my queen, I’m the furthest thing from a king
Worse comes to worse, push comes to shove and I’ll still sling
I know very well I’m gutter to you I might not mean anything
We can’t end what in all truth we were never able to begin
So peace, been known that my chances to win were slim

Special Delivery

I’ll write you a rhyme and recite it for life
Despite what may come whether wrong or whether right
I aim for my words to keep you company during lonely nights
If you’re cold and it’s dark may my words bring warmth and light
If you’re feeling low may these words help you up and take flight
If the world keeps tripping I’ll help you squabble and put up a fight
Life isn’t simple far from being just plain black and white
Nothing but gray scales have been all up in my sight
If my words can do but one thing may they bring you delight
I’ll ignore those that feed off envy, gossip and spite
May I deliver these words fresh, focused and tight
I’ll take care of anyone who dares bring you any type of fright
No time to deal with pointless suckers or a trivial gripe
Come hell or high water for you I’m forever sharp as a knife

Semantics

They said G.hop you're a cold code switcher
I said blame it on this dank rolled swisher
I'm just a common ass gray haired old fixture
Tell the people no flash with those pictures
Im always tipsy off of potent bold mixtures
Talking shit to dime a dozen or more hipsters
Openly drowning in pro devil laced elixers
Still I treat language like ancient scriptures
Always weary of ill meaning street trixters
Illiterate in the ways of sacred encryptions
Distorted depictions viewed as malicious
Still I speak in the ways of olden traditions
Suspicious of all modern day urban renditions
Hunters of phrases to be hip with the diction
Not living in facts but boasting their fiction
While I admit an addiction to semantic vision

Brass Instruments and Marigolds

It's like it gets closer and closer with every breath
When I pass help my funeral become lit A.F., don't trip
I come from a people that don't fear the face of death
It's on you whether or not you show my body respect
Manditory mezcals as you tell stories and reflect
Who knows when it is that we'll again reconnect
When the time comes remember keep calm and collect
Life is built on the ultimate form of retrospect
Where the memories made stay in the minds infinite
Tamales, champurrado, water with optional cigarette
Brass instruments and marigolds to my resting ground
Expect the sound of songs sung many times before me
As we all know when we go it often comes with no warning
Good eating good drinking while everyone is mourning
It's a given going out with the same spirit I was forming
Regardless, last thing I expect is for my exit to be boring

Sliced Avocados

Most would have you believe that I’m boring
But I’d cook you a good breakfast with no warning
And let you sleep in every single Sunday morning
There isn’t a need for you to be my better half
Honestly God only knows why he put you in my path
Whatever the reason I done been willing and able
By the time you’d get up, breakfast served on the table
Bond between two with no need for a verbalized label
Its things like that which make this friendship stable
Second guessing my being emotionally unavailable
While you dream I’d be cooking up something flavorful
An omelet some hash browns and coffee to boot
All the while scheming on how to come up on loot
While you catch up on some well-deserved rest
I’d write you this rhyme in my Sunday best
And yes, sliced avocados so you’d be impressed

5:14 p.m.

Window seat on the train
Tracked down the afternoon
Love letter looks and slight gazes
Walking towards that wooden pier
Pollution, tourists, hungry hustlers
Junkies, fine dining, dumpster divers
A cool breeze, roller coaster lights
Orange horizon, crashing waves
As the sun sinks into the silent ocean
Fishermen on the far end lure and hook,
Seagulls soar towards the distant sunset
Golden wave’s crash, quiet ripples break
Studying the sea floor and the sound they make
Someone off in the distance croons a sad tune
Slowly I begin to say good night
And out comes the moon