Friday, November 30, 2012

Poem of the Week: Pages



Ma Mere n'a Jamais eu des ailes 
(My momma never had wings)
 
  
  
Ma Mere n'a Jamais eu des ailes
My momma never had wings

But she could tap dance on hurricanes
And played poker with death
She couldn't teach me how to be a good man
But taught me how to be a good human being
How to sit up right, stand up straight, walk tall, face forward
Be proud of who you are, aint much God left in this world
But treat the world like there's still plenty God left in you

Ma Mere n'a Jamais eu des ailes

But she's always had this global warming smile
Told me to love only a woman
who could melt the polar ice caps of your past
Sat me down one day and exclaimed
"you better treat a woman as you would treat me, because if you don't
I will be on the next plane to slap you back into this country,
You are a Cameroonian man, we do not do that shit"

My mother
just said
"Shit."

But then she continued,
beware of the tempting ballad of Jazzy Belles
With Tuba lips, trombone legs and a bass line
That could turn any man into a crooked song
So make sure to never sleep with no one else's bones
but your own.

My momma never had wings
She believed if you try too hard to reach for the sun
You will end up in flames. Do not be a handsome shadow of Icarus...sun
Learn how to stay grounded...sun
Teach trees about their roots, and never give the world your tears
Only smiles gift-wrapped in forgiveness
Cuz Mama said, a "Hater"...is just a person with their "Heart" all jumbled up.
Their self worth drowning in a sea of simulation
turning the oceans in their chests, into puddles of insecurities.
Because those who show you no love, 
are usually the ones who need to see it the most

Ma Mere n'a Jamais eu des ailes
My momma never had wings

But damn she could fly
Could care less about gravity
When she could bend space and time between her fingertips
She wears the fabric of the universe like a second skin.
Her first, being her will to always survive.
 

-Pages
 
Used by permission.


PAGES is a wordsmith residing in the D.C. metropolitan area, but originally from Cameroon, Africa. His features have included The Kennedy Center, colleges and universities such as Columbia University, & BETJ Lyric Café. He has shared stages with Ainsley Burrows and Oveous Maximus, and opened for Andrea Gibson, Raheem DeVaughn, Chrisette Michelle, & Afrika Bambaata, to name a few. Pages is also founder and co-president of Da Movement Poetz, a performance based arts group geared towards reaching young adults via the arts. In addition to winning multiple local slams, he is the 2010 & 2012 DC Grand Slam Champion, two-time member of the Busboys and Poets DC Slam Team & Beltway Slam Team, and he co-hosts GraffitiDC, one of D.C.’s premier slam series presented by Beny Blaq Entertainment. Currently, if he is not somewhere rocking a stage, Pages works as a creative writing teacher and leads workshops throughout various universities, and elementary to high schools as a Teaching Artist for Split This Rock.  

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