Watch Jonathan Perform His Slam Poem “Roped Wings”

Roped Wings
 
I haven’t told this story that often
about the lynching that I witnessed
and even if an innocent bystander could’ve drawn in a policeman
I think God would’ve erased him
you see this had to happen
this scum won’t learn it’s lesson, and just like we teach them in school books
if they don’t understand
Then we give them an example….
the pulled out flesh eating whips that devoured chunks of him at a time 
and what was left of him
was branded
as if he were cattle
they tied to noose tight before hanging him next to the other caged meat
and shipping them off to the corner
their factory
right down the block from some impoverished eight year old
who’s only father is a video
and it just so happens that the lynched men on the corner 
look just like the fathers in the videos
nah, it ain’t a problem now
but when he cocoons into his adolescence  
and they ask him do he wanna ‘Hang’
that’ll just place him beside lake ponder
soon he’ll be skipping school rocks over to the corner
coming home late like his names Peter Parker
and nah, it ain’t cause you’ve been living with spider-man
it’s because you’ve been living
in spite of man
I don’t need no nigga
all they do is walk on all fours, wag their tail and their tongue when they see you
Thought he was with you but he was with others
under covers
detective role playing at her safe place
he might just hit a Sherlock Holmes past third base
lets face the facts
there are no real questions asked just given for fear of no worth after
my precious we cannot be billionaire Bruce Wayne by day
adhesive to the shadows by night
sticking to some script that we didn’t even write 
it could all be so simple just,
destroy me
erase my existence
replace my fibers with omnipotence 
so we can enrich the D-boys jingling rocks of loose change
as the street lights flicker
watching a fiend draw hither 
lets replace Websters definition of crack rock
with writing utensil 
so now when they slangin’ them sacks
the junkies cans say
put a pin in that 
let save face like the white folks
make Ebonics a habitual literary abuser
so it can get hooked on phonics 
Im just trying to talk in color
excuse me if I don’t walk
I hover across the epilogue in hot pursuit of chapter one
pages flipped instead of birds
wings clipped we are flightless 
it’s no wonder we have been ostracized
my generation is not hopeless we just 
Hope Less
out a window that wasn’t even open I watched as they threw faiths cage
I saw 
Pigeons 
Doves
and Swallows fall to their doom
WHY DIDN’T THEY JUST FLY?
I no longer ask why doesn’t they caged bird sing
I try to teach it a song