Sunflower Seeds and the Work of Tomorrow

Posted bySynnika Chizoba LoftonPosted inmailbox weekly, PoemsTags:, , ,

No filters up here. Alone on
a tightrope above the noise,
the metal, the grit, the social

pollution; miles away from
a soiled Constitution, I sharpen
the edge of a brain fixated on

survival. Laced up boots are
normal conditions. Tupac hollers
from a street corner. I focus

on the margins, making a home
near outlaws, rebels crowding
frontlines, eager to earn tattoos

for liberation-struggle. This place
has an edge, a gambler’s pace,
a pair of iced out wings against

the backdrop of open terrain
or altitude. Life is traffic. Slightly
colonial. I hear jazz. I sidestep

broken energy, culture, walking
down polluted sidewalks, listening
to sermons climb into my

earbuds, exiting through curled
fingers. Clenched fists find new
meanings. I size up the maze,

tossing sunflower seeds into
my mouth.

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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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