National Poetry Month - 3 of 30

excerpt from the Elegba interviews - origins

Nah pop no style, I strickly roots / nah pop no style. I strickly roots…

                                                            Althia & Donna – Uptown Top Ranking

Well see, I stay in the cut                         of my heart

move quick when the position seem      compromised

if you know what I mean. Your people talk

about containing multitudes      I shape

shift.     I carry water,

   sugar in my shirt pockets        I boutonierre

    fresh cut tulips in red

and Black

it’s why the bees and the butterflies stay

 in rotation about me. I cultivate the sweet

I harness the constant sting         folk think

the smooth taste, the hat’s tilted

brim is for flow                        never that -

          it’s so you can’t fully catch the eyes

in my stars – if you know what I mean

folk hear trickster and think

     sleight-of-tongue      think I don’t

     hurt enough                        to want

war                               think

I won’t daybreak out a window

   and blood a nigga by dusk.

      Count the rubies in the dust at the chosen

cock’s neck and tell me what you learn then,

Poet.                 Tell me I don’t bleed

quiet.                Tell me my heart isn’t

already singing from beyond

my body’s grave.

To schedule a reading or an appearance please contact Ofer Ziv at Blue Flower Arts at 845-677-8559 or email ofer@blueflowerarts.com. www.facebook.com/rogerbonairagard www.twitter.com/rogerbonair www.cypherbooks.com