Poetry of Shantay Monique

Reincarnate

2011-01-04T17:43:00.001-08:00

She grasped me as would a gentle man.
I, illuminated like ambulance
with fingertip grips behind back.
I had almost to peer, like through a rabbit hole
see her scabs:
hardly any.
I'd lick them with rabbit love.

When I was young no line existed between the hood
and Wonderland
drawn out branches reaching for the sun
now the line is strict red and solar purple
on an eclipse night. Strung
out home alone with seaweed fetish
a masked parade of flesh
feelings. My only guest:
abstract meaning of a woman
breasts or no breasts, more.

Kiss my lips

2010-12-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

pucker. marigold
pollen flies between our estranged lips
sunlight glances
on seashore breaking
waves. a cone shape spirals from my heart
chakra. reverbs outward,
your inspiration
the cause.

lick my heart
while it shines, wolf.
nurture and enjoy the blood
your chemistry creates
a split
the earth quakes. cracks of light
pulsate, destroy heart chakra for phoenix rise.
keep me safe my king, keep me safe.

Harlem to Brooklyn

2010-06-29T14:41:00.001-07:00

while pressed against marigold skin
the plants in the sidewalk cracks develop
purple haze gliding from my mother’s voice
she eats shrimp roti on the bench outside cursing the red and blue
police sirens and car horns
I can feel the air and smell
the exhaust brothas yell from the rooftop
in flatbush the view from my best
friend’s window sweat and dick inside
marlboro reds and cat litter
we’re sexin’ cursin’ pushin’
on the train
ride back home to 1st and 59th st
I can feel my sister’s lips and donuts on my fingertips

avoiding the chicken wings and pork fried rice
I run to the bridge in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
I arrive panting
to the smell of arroz y habichuelas glide my hand over the brick outside
reminds me of my mother’s bedroom I smile
at the thought of rose water
oxtails and cat fur
skipping through yellow crosswalks towards home cell phones
blink I puff a joint
ash it under gold nikes

Hush

2010-06-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

Our babies would be magical creatures,
left alone they would steal
the thorns off the rose bush
step a starlit path in the brambly woods

You are my world right now
because you refuse to be
because I just met you in a world of hearts
on a melancholy string

You are perfect to me
I am totally present
You run through my veins
pump blood through my body
My thoughts reflect your light crystals
When our fingers touch
You are me

I have hopes for us
you wouldn’t believe me
you would not understand
I don’t fall in love with everyone
Sometimes in the summer I do easier

When your fingers touch my skin
it prickles like a dirty cactus
Here is the trivial I want to see you I miss you
I’ll wait
You already know stars reflect in the whites of your eyes
You are not perfect, I don’t love you
You might be temporary I hate you
I don’t trust
You’re just another one
I’m scared of intimacy
You’re not mine
I am a writer My causes?
Later.
Your faults
your atrocities
the sun on your back looks like water.
You are me right now reflecting water
in grimy ponds on NYC sidewalks
and Oakland calles

Mixed-Race

2010-02-22T18:14:00.001-08:00

Headed for the mountaintop,
where lives the snow,
we bypass the dirt
where flowers grow
womb of life
where brown color rises
in our flesh,
reflected in our irises.
Blind are we to our own beauty,
so focused on what we want to see.
In front of us is our earth,
same as our skin,
our place of birth,
Here we are, multi race or one,
where exists melanin
same team,
same flag,
same sun.

I Love You Raw

2010-01-30T11:09:00.001-08:00

I love you raw
like Golden delicious apples
salads tossed like
red cherry tomatoes in auburn summer
mixed with purple kale, baby greens and chard
grated cabbage and beets
chewy raisins and hard cashews
raw okra/artichoke/carrots/celery/asparagus/mushrooms
and ripe green cucumber
a pear for sweetness
topped with ginger, dill, oil, lemon avocado dressing
spicy like cayenne pepper
and imported like red Himalayan sea salt

I love you raw
like emotions
vulnerable on impact
a Mac Daddy truck to a Buggy
no playing chicken here
we’ll both lose

I love you raw
like sloshing sex on my moon
from you,
an unrefined baby I will birth
impure, aqui, always
inhaling yogi breaths
during conception, delivery, maturation
inhale for three/hold six/exhale 9
swirling sticky breath and scent
licking your salt
raw like DeNiro in Taxi Driver
or ragged pink meat

I love you raw
sexy, slutty, nigga and bitch
I love you like gazpacho
I love you like that

I love you raw

Deconstriction

2010-01-25T00:34:00.001-08:00

Tongue laps breath
behind constricted throat
rough wind blows
an unlit match
head bowed
hiding behind walls
like a cowardly soldier
pee trickling down pants’ legs
.
a bindhi cow rises
tramples walls of death
into burnt ashes and hamburgers
cooled ash settles
my throat, a present,
voice, my gift

Tattoo

2010-01-16T22:40:00.001-08:00

icy needles
like cats’ claws
scraping skin

impotent rage rises
to boil a raw
creation

New Roads

2010-01-02T11:42:00.001-08:00

Developers’ white hands
Point to the man
Controlling the bulldozer
Invoking a strangle
A tease

Brief smile brushed lips
Shiny tarred roads
Glass buildings, abodes
A bow of the head
To thank the overhead

Black tar roads
Paved for new people
Glass caught in the cracks
White and green
Color between the gaps forebodes

Delusion

2009-12-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

You, a sun with no planets.
The lion baring teeth about to strike
falsely limping, another’s blood
dripping from your jaws.

Unity by Pablo Neruda

2009-12-24T13:21:00.001-08:00

Unity
by Pablo Neruda
Translated by Clayton Eshleman

There is something dense, united, settled in the depths,
repeating its number, its identical sign.
How it is noted that stones have touched time,
in their refined matter there is an odor of age,
of water brought by the sea, from salt and sleep.

I'm encircled by a single thing, a single movement:
a mineral weight, a honeyed light
cling to the sound of the word "noche":
the tint of wheat, of ivory, of tears,
things of leather, of wood, of wool,
archaic, faded, uniform,
collect around me like walls.

I work quietly, wheeling over myself,
a crow over death, a crow in mourning.
I mediate, isolated in the spread of seasons,
centric, encircled by a silent geometry:
a partial temperature drifts down from the sky,
a distant empire of confused unities
reunites encircling me.

Inbetween Skin

2009-12-06T21:38:00.001-08:00

zen mysterious kisses
light tapping lips on the buttocks
revealed a sensation
like a rocking chair in grandmother’s den
into the room sneaks tender moonlight
a baby falls asleep
food is left in the crisper
up the walls shadows creep,
dance on the bedroom floor
playing games like gypsy faeries
who cover their anticipatory mouths
stand on tiptoes,
watch with rose eyes
the nightly dance
of entangled legs
and white satin fingertips
crossing translucent lines
and curving bodies gyrate
like delicate knives under the moonlight

Mutual Love

2009-11-29T23:00:00.001-08:00

sex is the fireplace in my living room
a giving of self you can hear
the echo of the sea in a shell
bonds as tender and strong
as stretched iridescent tendons
plucked free.

RIP Javad

2009-11-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

This poem is dedicated to the dedicated, eternal brother of the Black Nationalist movement who died this week from pnemonia after having been in a coma and having H1N1.

a brother died in the struggle
not from AIDS, violence or abuse
he carried the weight
of his communities’ ailments
in his earthly body
offered self affirmation
to young people
JAVAD
You will be Remembered.

Look out for us
from afar
the spirit realm’s now
where you reside

* * *

a good brother died
because he carried other’s pain and hurt
and longing and separation
because he ate too many cheeseburgers
take care of yourselves so we don’t lose good brothers and sisters
to more disease

From My Apartment, Sunset Park

2009-11-13T07:12:00.001-08:00

slight hues of the highway color my existence
the beams shake like tree trunks
lashing side to side from violent trucks
the branches reach cloudy skies

Tender Omission

2009-11-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

intimate breath between our lips

sweet tender kiss(es)

before the parting

there’s captivated eyes

freckles on your cheek

goodbye

hello plump dick

sustenance

a lie

you know the truth

I love you

Palestine

2009-10-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

Tear gas bombs exploding over kitchen

table. Pulsing vein in my head.

Sitting with a friend in West Oakland.

We talk about her trip

to Palestine, she stops talking, her eyes

glaze over, shows me the pictures of death.

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day. It’s a new life.

Innumerable holes in buildings

children play in the front –

her talking is scattered –

I see the tear gas canisters

exploding above her head

hear their firecracker whisper

smell the burning bodies

the black lost vision.

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day. It’s a new life.

I see the laughter of the Israeli soldiers

hear the screams of the moms and babies

separated. I see a Palestinian woman

head held low walking courageously alone

to buy groceries for dinner.

I see breaking bread.

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day. It’s a new life.

Antes

2009-10-16T00:57:00.000-07:00

your juice fell on the counter

before you were opened

before

I opened you

the juice drained on the floor

you were still whole

Detox

2009-10-10T01:28:00.001-07:00

the pain

hot and cold

fire and warm

im here alone-by my choice

you told me nothing

I told you leave

you come to me

I push away

twirling spirals

spinning tops

black and white

a firebed

I know this place

its too familiar

water down

orange and red

anchor my foot

needle through thread

hammer through bone

knife on the table

knife in the home

Empty

2009-10-03T11:50:00.001-07:00

I punch through walls and throw up in your car

I date your lover and you’re glad I did

my life enhances yours

you wish I was always there

occupying empty space

space which eats at you until your intestines are gone

a tapeworm that never leaves

I am the power that the tapeworms envy

wish they could eat your intestines the way I fill you up

wish they could leave you feeling destroyed and empty

the way I leave you feeling strong

the way I leave you feeling your babies are safe

your life is safe

the world is yours

nobody can take it I have given it to you and my hands are clean and dirty

just like yours

I wash my hands in Nubian rich soap

in lovers’ water

in rose water

in puddles left over nights

in cigarette smoke

I wash my hands in your babies’ bathwater

thank you

thank you god for letting me in

thank you for housing me

thank you for the gift of words

I say thank you because I am blessed

I follow your path and the tapeworms disintegrate into dust

into nothing but dust

which when I touch it

turns to gold.

The Murder of Oscar Grant, RIP: Another Police Brutality Incident

2009-09-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

“A peaceful protest turned into a violent one.”

So what?

It’s not the violence that’s not the answer, it’s the disorganization.

“A peaceful protest turned into a violent one.”

Cops with guns, cops backed by tanks, helicopters and bright lights shining above, we may be the people of the sun but those ghetto birds were shining bright florescent lights onto us that night.

How many times will an attack on the people be written off?

The execution shows, as many times as necessary.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is next Monday but Malcolm said, “By Any Means Necessary.”

The murder of Oscar Grant is an example to get the people to STAY IN LINE!: Kill one as an example, scare them into fear.

“A peaceful protest turned into a violent one.”

Violence begats violence.

I would kill for my dead son, any dead man of my people is the same as my dead son, brother, husband or father.

Rise up and organize into formation loved ones! Youth! Rise up with purpose!

With cause.

Already, disorganized emotions have turned into chaotic actions.

The media has planned with the government to suppress any uprise…we must use stealth, covert actions at first, focused planning, trained soldiers.

They come out with guns, tanks, tear gas…then we must come out with fighting mastery, guns, bombs, uniforms, be ready soldiers.

We are fighting inside war.

Stop getting killed!

Organize!

Focus the energy!

Smashing Black owned shops ain’t bringing Oscar Grant back!

Smash the system! Like trained soldiers during the art of war,

Smash it like you’re looking down the handle of your sword, and the battle is won when the tip meets the eyes of the enemy. Slash!

Rain Haiku

2009-09-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

And so, I relax

An upside-down umbrella

in the dripping rain.

Lost

2009-09-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

In a maze of stumble and confusion with a clear pointed goal,

a compass, gold, pointing me towards the future.

get over the past it says,

a hand was reaching towards me guiding me out of

barren transformations,

stumbling and bumbling towards a future

You – a light drifting upon black waters

You - a sign like a cherry blossom floating on dark waters

and so the door opens and I walk, walk.

Hope?

2009-09-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

What hope?

Hope for a world consisting of inconsistencies

of hoods on top of garbage dumps

in India, Bangladesh, Cambodia - - - -

on top of piles of nasty garbage

smelly garbage

puky garbage

Where co-ops rise above

stories high

the concrete below sinking a quarter of an inch

every year because

it’s on top of a swamp

Where Co-op city in Bronx, NY kids run deep

killing each other

On top of garbage dumps

children play

babies laugh in playgrounds

playing ball the little ones miss the basket

because their little hands are so small

and the basket towers above them

looming…

They miss the basket

The elders teaching the babies…

“Its okay, try again, “ he says.

Keep trying We say. Don’t give up

because the fighter

who gives up before the game is over

dies.

I don’t know what a hopeful world looks like.

Only hopeful moments.

Moments where my little babies laugh and

their laughter turns into disorganization –

heads shaking, eyes rolling back,

yelling, “Don’t touch me.”

“I won’t touch you,” I say, “I’ll only stay here by your side.”

Stay by my side I say and so you do.

But not until you’ve beaten me. Beaten me and I’ve kicked you.

You’ve held me down and so I’ve bitten you.

You grab me and so I push you.

But you win.

You win because you push me down, down into the couch.

I can’t leave.

You won’t let me.

But I won’t let you win next time.

Next time I’ll fight back more and more until there’s nothing left.

There’s only dust.

Dust and garbage.

And high rises.

High rises filled with dope and love.

Heroin and eyes. Watching, waiting.

Sky Drippings

2009-08-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Dropped from the sky, a lover with forbidden tendencies

As injustice reigns like red acid sun drops

ripping a fiery burn through an open dark grey umbrella,

as a face underneath peaks out…

the rain clouds give way to old memories of a girl’s childhood

Brooklyn Day

dentists with free toothbrushes

and mom.

Smiles grow into fears grow into pain into sores into death

into traveling into moving away into eyes averting when tears bleed

but - when its time to move back into life and walk, walk , walk

like a newborn baby learning, stumbling, crying, starting,

a young girl turns into a woman

her white feathered wings extend, flap, flutter, open, gather wind

swirl like a tornado, and dust soars.

Transition

2009-08-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

When, time and space don’t exist,

yet stand upon the ethereal platform of creation

I was a girl. Helping those in need.

Now, creativity flows in flux

dripping in drops like blood onto styrofoam,

spreading as soon as

plop!

it hits

expanding like an ant colony gossiping and gathering food

I think of you,

my grizzly bear who gathers honey

from my honeycomb

all I can be is candid with you

Sweet love you are a source of stability

like a telephone pole in a storm

thunder and lightening twirling around your stable base

rocking gently with the wind and I am a bird upon your lines

Short Poem

2009-08-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

clarity comes to me in teardrops forming dewdrop sadness as if a crystal drop falls on a green leaf and hangs there still: I must let you go little by little

Poetic Justice

2009-07-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

For the key to my heart…you must wait.

I am forming a consciousness different.

Now these streets walk words and all that glitters

is the idea of your brown glistening skin in the moonlight…

I glisten at the thought of your tongue dripping diamond drops

of sweet words onto my lips and crevices.

Mmm, taste that sweet new honey, it drips so good.

But - already I am missing you and your sunny delight.

Stay with me my sweet starry abyss.

Fly with me through the nighttime skies.

Liquid Silver Stars

2009-07-19T09:45:00.001-07:00

Unnameable One will you sprinkle stardust upon the ground in front of my feet So that I may walk on a path made of your shining sparkles which glitter with every step lifted. In a world where the ground is made of grey dull cement I need to follow your Liquid Silver Stars… I need to know your Liquid Star will guide me reflecting my own light.

Desire for Open Deep Penetration (Longing)

2009-07-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

The void is a long tear in my skin my left wrist’s blue veins wriggling for cover bleeding for shade deep penetrating red slits close in on the canvas like a forearm trying to shield eyes from the sun. SMA 7.16.09