Diversity

Black skin will not blend in a melting pot
Texture & color would change characters

Call it a salad bowl; yes, we’ll mix
like eggs, black olives, cheese, & tomatoes

Each ingredient unique like a crocheted
shawl with its own shapes & hues

Without jarring discord with peppered pride
in ebony skin & kinky hair, you know

my lips curl from anger to rage. Don’t step
on me because it's not in my complexion

to keep a smile sanctioned by anyone, anywhere

Call me an angry black woman – if you want --

Shell me out like a pistachio – if you dare --
but I won’t throw a street party here or anywhere

I spoon & eat my avocado out of the skin,
& if I please, drink Kool Aid from Mason jars

c/o Joyce Evans-Campbell 2012 

Joyce's Poetry: No Ordinary Voice

Joyce's Poetry: Whitney Houston, The Voice: You build pyramids for a song with a voice that lets us swim in sound that transforms drab into caviar like Gingko trees turn gold. I g...

Whitney Houston: The Voice

You build pyramids for a song
with a voice that lets us swim in sound
that transforms drab into caviar
like Gingko trees turn gold.
I get all misty eyed for every note
rising higher than anybody else's;
it tastes of strawberry jam and cream.
your legacy's a tune in your pores
&  a heart the size of the Atlantic.
You’re the best of a generation
though burdens besieged you
& whisked you away from your family,
friends, & fans
Didn’t make it through
that last storm
when voice fell down
but faith never tumbled or rolled.
Your sweet soul will whoop down
& inspire us -- always, always, always
with spirituality in song:
After all my strength is gone;
in you I can be strong.
I look to you."

We love you Whitney.

Lyrics by R. Kelly
copyright c/o Joyce Evans-Campbell 2012

Joyce's Poetry: Differences

Joyce's Poetry: Differences: You're a free spirit; your eyes on mate-rings I'm artistic, I don't dance, write or sing You're mums; I'm the dandelion You're egg...

Differences

You're a free spirit; your eyes on mate-rings

 I'm artistic, I don't dance, write or sing


You're mums; I'm the dandelion
You're eggplant & I'm a tamed lion


You're a reader-writer into a jazz habit
I'm a car racer & hardcore TV addict

We fight over how long to boil sassafras

We brag about who’s a genius & who’s top brass


We don’t dress alike, you clamor for glamour
I cool-strut in the glory of jean power

You have pecan-tan skin with baby smoothness

I am a chocolate guy with pimples of unfairness

Our broken ties are threads like glass shards

We pick up pieces, again they scatter in our yards

c/o Joyce Evans-Campbell 2011

Muse

Look at you standing there

as though you’re worthless

as a fake Barbie & costumes

or a ghost waiting to go home,

taking blocks of space to roam.

Never mind. I believe in you.

First, get that zigzagged

grin off your face.

Make words dance on the page;

I love their midnight flare

for I’m an empty brown bag.

Fill it with metaphors, alliterations.

Stretch me in all directions;

don’t break my back. Make me quirky,

make me effervescent, slick me sticky

Slick me sticky as a stamp.

Make me tough as titanium.

Make me chime like London’s

Big Ben & dream of Paris.

I envision you shaping poems

that rock, rattle, & roll.

Let me soar with rhythm

& bring bold & new images.

c/o Joyce Evans-Campbell 2012 

 

 

 

 

Indifference

“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures.” -- George Bernard Shaw

All her life she had reasons
to stir up a bowl of pity punch
in her menopausal years, she ate
spinach daily & pulled plug on sympathy.

Climbed from blue-and-white van
& you stared  intensity burned
her handicapped plates;
silence so loud her ears popped.

At night, she crawled into a bed
too small for comfort;
used a machine too basic
to correct a sleep disorder.

Always had sick genes
from birth to middle age
till a muscular affliction
with fiery flare-ups, foggy thoughts, & fatigue

It’s difficult -- if not -- impossible
to explain what you cannot see?
Would it help if you slipped
inside her body -- a few hours?

copyright (c) Joyce Evans-Campbell
January 30, 2012