‘Bout that life.
Morning ritual
almost complete.
“Buss me down
with a cigarette
bro,” says one
Black
man
to
the other.
Traffic surges.
Misplaced urgency.
A driver
in front
of me plays
on his cell phone,
like money
stopped
moving
last night,
like he ain’t
chasing
this currency,
like he ain’t
trying to build
tomorrow.
It takes a certain
type of hustler
to outthink this
daily circus and
survive.
To deliver good
news or good
trouble.
I stomp. Loudly.
This monster ain’t
moving without
force. Devise
a plan.
R-e-e-e-e-fine
strategy.
Give blood to
the cause.
Clench a fist.
Wait for the signs.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe.
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Published by Synnika Chizoba Lofton
"Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award winning poet, the president and CEO of Guerrilla Ignition LLC, host of a Nationally Syndicated radio show, and an educator, teaching literature at Chesapeake Bay Academy and English courses at Norfolk State University. Lofton has recorded more than one hundred and fifty CDs, albums, CD-singles, and mixtapes of poetry, including his highly praised debut, The New Breed. He is the author of twelve books and the founder of Riot Speech, a musical genre combining performance poetry with traditional musical forms, such as Rock, Jazz, and Hip Hop. His poems have been published in Experience Reality Magazine, Quay: A Journal of the Arts, UpStreet: A Literary Magazine, and, in 2014, Lofton has been featured in Blind Sided Magazine. He is a regular on Virginian television programs such as The Hampton Roads Show and Chesapeake’s Thinking Out Loud on WCTV. He teaches World Literature, British Literature, and Composition, while touring the country, performing at literary festivals, musical festivals, poetry readings, open mics, concerts, high schools, and colleges."
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