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See some of my poetic pieces throughout the years below. I add new selections weekly, so make sure you come back and visit.

To

to tickle

  with cherries,

to tease

  with strawberries,

to swap

  bated breath,

to knead

  moist flesh,

to suckle

  tender teats,

to bed –

  no sheets . . .


                         to twist

                           on all fours,

                         to thrash

                           across floors,

                         to pierce

                           silent halls,

                         to thrust

                           against walls,

                         to wheeze

                           in climax,

                         to melt

                           like candle wax . . .


to clutch

  weary thighs,

to kiss

  closed eyes,

to whisper

  in sin,

to exchange

  smug grins,

to coo

  like lovebirds,

to beg

  for thirds . . .


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

Payday Lending (The New Sharecropping)

                Instant short-term loans,

          four hundred percent interest –

                      instant servitude.      


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

Pipeline

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)

Chloe’s Smile

Jabari called it

the sun,

Braxton said it’s like

the moon -

they’re half-right…


Chloe’s smile

is

the glow of the morning star,

delicate,

timeless,

like a diamond…


Chloe’s smile

is

as strong as

the promises the sun streaks

across the sky,

decorating

the dark heavenly canvas

left empty as

the soft waning crescent

fades into

the shadows…


Chloe’s smile

is

not the similes, the metaphors,

it’s

not the parts -

it’s

the whole,


the quiet, powerful poetry of

the dawn.


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

© 2025 Marcus Harris. All Rights Reserved.

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