Collision

Mekhi Spriggs

Cheers to me not understanding why why I came from the depths of separation, a separation of two worlds as if they had no relation, drifting apart slowly, fading away into the distance, me not knowing if they’ll ever find each other in this instance.

Cheers to me not understanding why, these two worlds collided in unison, bringing the best out of each other, forming a bond one like no other, showing me what family really meant imperfect yet so harmonic so

Cheers to me not understanding why.

A dream Jalen Bogues

In accord to Harlem By

Langston Hughes

When the dream drys up Do you pour water on it to see if it can grow and touch the heavens like it once did?

When the dream festers are you consistently putting neospirin even though you know it won’t help because this sore is deeper than just the surface?

When the dream stinks and rotts do you remember those boiling mornings at the crack of dawn when you great grandmother is teaching you how to hand wash clothes? The afternoons your great grandmother boasting to her friends about how you dream because they could not

When the dream crusts over do you throw it away? or do you put it in the microwave to salvage the sweet sugary greatness that is the dream?

When the dream sags do you sling it over your shoulder look in the eyes of the oppressor and say no more and continue to climb the hill?

When the dream is deferred is it an internal or external explosion?

Chocolate City

Richard Scott

A sacred city built on the backs of Go-Go and the Chili Bowl A place where many found peace when savagery rained down on them The capital that has as much culture and tradition as a country

The Chocolate City

Gunshots and screams fill its Northwest streets

Sprinting civilians flash by my glaring eyes

A mutilated metropolis, unfolds before me

Is this Chocolate less sweet?

Teens with destructive intentions and the tools to execute The absence of guidance results in sobbing Mothers and balloon-filled skies

A solemn sanctuary mutates into a battlefield

How sweet can chocolate be if it is covered in blood?