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They say that love makes time pass, and

                time makes love pass;

                                I guess that would explain

                                               your timely disappearing acts . . . 

They say that people change and

                forget to tell each other;

                                I wonder when exactly

                                               we became unfamiliar lovers . . .

They say that only after something’s gone

                do you miss what you had – 

                                I say two out of three

                                               ain’t bad. 

(© 2005 Marcus Harris, originally published in Songs In Search Of A Voice)

                                 you claim you love me –

                                        so your heart must have been tucked

                  somewhere in your fist . . . 

(© 2002 Marcus Harris, originally published in Songs In Search Of A Voice)

you breathe,

                        the air is sweeter

you stand,

                        the sky is bluer

you walk,

                        the ground is softer

you smile,

                        my chest is warmer

(© 2017 Marcus Harris, originally published in #snapshot)

the empty stomachs,

        the sleep-deprived eyes

the attention spans drop,

        the truancies rise,

the 30 bodies,

        the 25 desks,

the furloughed engineer

        needs a steady paycheck,

the wheelchairs, the helmets,

        the learning disorder,

the cuts, the layoffs,

        the treading shallow water,

the pens, the pencils,

        the paper donated,

the broken chalk,

        textbooks from 1980,

the underfunded schools,

        the low performing students,

the funds and scores up

        when low performers booted,

the lunchroom patrols, the badges,

        the nightsticks,

the classroom trials,

        the hallway convictions,

the 3 white officers,

        the 1 black scream,

the chokeholds, the tackles,

        the record at 13,

the whites with shotguns,

        the blacks with nail clippers,

the zero tolerance policies,

        the black suspensions triple,

the alternative warehouses,

        the homebound vacations,

the "post-racial" paths,

        the Jim Crow destination,

the slangin', the grind,

        the bangin', the 9,

the parties, the panties,

        the promise left behind,

the felonies, the warrants,

        the 2nd class citizens,

the 25-to-life,

        the swoll belly visitin',

the strollers, the preschools,

        the first bus rides,

the empty stomachs,

        the sleep-deprived eyes...

(© 2017 Marcus Harris, originally published in #snapshot)