. . . how could she? I am outraged! Her feet are course and callous. How can I kiss feet that are course & callous? Where the hell have you been? Maybe you should pack Go back. Someone else Will like them, she said. What makes you so sure? Because they can scratch Behind the ears. Put your bags down, I told her Where are you going?

My Heart is on Fire for a Drink of Water

By Othello BornEl

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Othello BornEl
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-6622-2

Contents

I Have..........................................................3Eye Shut Out all That I May Receive All.........................6Whatever........................................................7Bad-Body........................................................8Love Doesn't Need Me............................................9BornEl Philosophy...............................................10Disgusted, to say the Least.....................................11S I N...........................................................12Who's at Fault?.................................................15Tis' a Wet Day Outside..........................................16The Response....................................................18Every Night.....................................................19I Can't Even Get Past Your Eyes.................................21So Long.........................................................23Profane.........................................................24Out of the Blue.................................................26You Must Go On..................................................28Voluntary Servitude.............................................30Is That My Blood................................................31Two Dead Dogs...................................................33Insomnia........................................................34ShutUp!.........................................................36Vanity..........................................................37Four-pane Window................................................38Jerome..........................................................39Nobody believes in Jesus........................................40Futile, Like Life...............................................41Lulu and Them...................................................42Don't Count them Just Let them Come.............................43he was a shining star fallen too soon...........................44For the Swagger.................................................45The Tree is My Hero.............................................46Go Ahead Be Offended............................................47Something the Lord Made.........................................48BornEl Philosophy...............................................49Who Knows?......................................................50Step One........................................................51What's in Your Wallet?..........................................52Sense the Size of a Mustard Seed................................53Taboo Notes.....................................................55Before I Take My Bath...........................................56Intellectual Vanity.............................................571 8 7...........................................................58Six-Nine........................................................59Keep On & I'm Going to Tell You to Piss Off.....................60The Office Can Be a Dreary Place................................62I Too, Dream....................................................63The Look of Love................................................64I Am But a Phase................................................65Today was a Good Day............................................66Pending.........................................................67A Peculiar People...............................................69Oblivious.......................................................70The Loneliest Highway...........................................72Eye Filled Your Void & You Voided Me............................73Will Write for Food.............................................74Gangster Man....................................................76This Life was not Made for Me...................................77Eye Don't Wanna Go To Church Anymore............................78Denial..........................................................80Self -Defeating.................................................82Reciprocate.....................................................83Every Thing.....................................................84When There's Nothing Else to Talk About.........................86?...............................................................87Evacuation Soul.................................................88Prototype.......................................................89Out of Water....................................................91'Hood Therapy...................................................93DNA.............................................................94Kidney Infection................................................95Who is This Othello BornEl?.....................................96God is the Question Vanity is the Answer........................97Life Perfected..................................................98A Drink of Water................................................99What Makes a Poet...............................................100

Chapter One

I Have

I have been young Playing hide & go seek With my siblings, neighborhood Playmates I have been chased Bullied and robbed I have grown In knowledge of myself Knowing less and less I have come to understand More and more I have I have tongue-kissed the Devil in the black hole Of his soul In his jail house In his prison ward In his church I have taken chances Over-drinking Over-smoking Over-stepping Over-eating Over-doubting I have learned Lessons come easy but Learning is hard I have crawled and walked And ran I have flown and floated Loved and hated Accepted and rejected I have made masterpieces and messes I have made trips To big cities with little hearts Where is the love, The song asks In the sewer, I reply I have looked for love In bedrooms and backseats Front seats and bathrooms In gin bottles and funny cigarettes That were sometimes laced With a peanut butter Gorilla's grip It nearly choked me To my next lifetime I have I have been near happiness So near I could smile For some unknown reason Despite and in spite Of I have been lied to By women With clean houses and muddy hearts By men with books of Scripture under their Perfumed armpits By politicians Who cared not that I had voted for them Or that they had a responsibility To justice and equal opportunity By family Who told me what I wanted to Hear Never showing me What I needed to see By leather-faced Caucasians Stuck in hatred For characteristics I was born with I have seen blood in my vomit And it made me look at Life in a better way I have been sick I have had money I have embraced excuses I have I have been given a chance By the mercy of Providence For life knows no mercy As the courts know no Forgiveness As the system knows no Righteousness As humans know not their Potential I have only the pen I have only this moment

Eye Shut Out all That I May Receive All

Between two doors I sit Upon cushion & vinyl Meditation they tell me Shall elevate wisdom Up my spinal Awaken, O Great One In Your Great All My mis-edecation Is as the Great Wall Running long Rising tall Standing still Awaken, O Great One

Whatever

Maybe it is the pace Of my speech The tone of my voice...