© 2000 - 2003  Nii Parkes

visit his website

when mother trusts

when mother trusts
it is tempered
with the cynicism
of her controversial age.

A Walk Through Philadelphia

Home of Will Smith and Benjamin Franklin
Twelve midnight and there's no one left standing.
Must be the rain streaming down the stained glass
of downtown bus stops; beautiful but less
comforting than a stiff drink shared with friends.

I am blue as I course through the city.

Down Chestnut Street, plaques with the names of men.
Fifty-six men who signed a document
dubbed "Declaration of Independence."
Men who, for all their claims of importance,
still endorsed the enslavement of black men.

Bad blood leaves marks in the ink of pretence.

Like irony, streetlamps give luminance
to beggars huddled under affluence.
Uptown the river washes lies away.
Downtown the Liberty Bell longs to say
"Welcome to the real American Dream"

It's clear why the bell has a crack in it.

haiku # 8: insults

my ears are seasoned
like the backs of enslaved men
no quips can cut me

Halfway

Even now
Halfway gone, halfway returning
You have me believing
In the unimaginable possibilities
Of love never-ending.

Across the distance you throw silent smiles
Like stars nailing the dark blanket of hope
Over my endlessly blue sky of doubts

And the crescent moon of my telephone
Whispers your voice into my memory
Where it shrouds the valley of always

Eyes closed, I hear birdsong and wind whistles
Feel the aching tremors your touch evoked
And dream the impossible
In colour

Even now
You have me believing
That never is tomorrow
And forever is possible
That halfway gone in a circular world
Is halfway returning.

All poems are copyrighted and property of Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

[back to top]  [home]