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Rufus P. Justice

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POEMS

ALL POEMS ARE COPYRIGHT RUFUS P. JUSTICE, AND POSTED ON WEBSITE BY PERMISSION OF AUTHOR.




CAN'T BUY A THRILL

Your lip licks cause Earth tremors, 
Which trigger quivers deep within my soul.
Heartfelt words unfold and emotions expose beauty delicate as a rose.
Sentimental misty blue kisses pass from your lips.
Hands touch hips as we dip,
Dancing to the quickened rhythm of a heartbeat.
Complete in this moment.
Fingertip touches tell of what is to come like an omen.
Open to your suggestions.
Your breath intoxicates me.
As you breathe deep and pour me a tall drink,
I sink as if swallowed into your being,
Engulfed and entranced.
Romance pours from our hands like sands through an hourglass
As fingers intertwine locking me into this instant in time.
I speak your name to remind you who I am.
You do the same with no shame.
These times we spend on priceless moments blend into
unforgettable memories
Of you 
And me.


I COULD BE SUPERMAN

If I was strong like Stokley Carmical
Could fight like Muhammad Ali 
Conquer like Hannibal
Fly like Michael Jordan
And had the power to control motion like Barry Sanders
If I was as smart as Ernest Everett Just
If had a voice like James Earl Jones
And was as cool as Miles Davis
If I could act like Denzel Washington
And could dress like Huggy Bear
If I could swim like Shine
And persevere like Arthur Ashe and Jackie Robinson
If I could run as fast as Jesse Owens
And be a true baller like Wilt "The Stilt"
If I could draw like Aaron McGrueder
And paint like JJ
If I could break ground like Nat King Cole
And could build long lasting monuments like Imhotep
If I was as prolific as Chinua Achebe
And could write like Ralph Ellison
If I could master music like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye
And play the guitar like Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana
With soul like D'Angelo 
If I made sense like Common
And could rap like Rakim and KRS-One
If I could make you understand like Johnny Cochran
If I could make you laugh like Fred Sanford, Richard Pryor, and Bill Cosby
If I could make you get up like Bob Marley
And then motivate you like Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
I could be Superman.


ZERO DEGREES CELSIUS

Overwhelmed by gravity
As if hands from hell
Tug at the cuffs in my pants
In constant attempts at pulling me beneath my threshold
What seems to be a successful undertaking of stealing my soul
Those who don't know look in my eyes and shiver as they speak
"You're so cold"
They stand just beyond the reach of my hands
As I stretch over the distance to touch
To feel the unstable element I miss so much
To ignite and warm from the inside
Radiate out and broadcast worldwide
Oh god why?
I curse the sole who stole my fire
My desire
Arrested my cardiac and never gave it back
Walked away and left me unprepared for the winter wars
I skate through life's icy corridors
Headed South trying to reach Equador
Thinking I can synthesize my cold insides by sitting
in the sun and warming up some
Playing dumb to myself
When I know all that is left 
Is this poorly animated physical form trying to pass for life
Hoping to find one who shines bright 
And willing to share the inner light
On those cold dark nights


UNTOUCHABLE

Her smile
Her smile puts me in a trance
She speeds
She speeds up my heart with just a glance
She speaks
She speaks to me and I am defeated
Unable to position words to say
And she walks
She walks away leaving my head in the clouds
As she leaves her presence seared into my memory
While her scent
Her scent dances over the air I breathe
This hex she placed on me forces my head to turn and
watch her walk away
Her stride so long and graceful 
Her hips
Her hips subtly yet so seductively sway to the rhythm
that my heart pounds only when she comes around
Left with the impression that I am the only one who
sees her the way I do
Yet I know there are others helplessly allured to this
naturally refined representation of femininity
It's a pity
One of the practical jokes from life's twisted sense of humor
Like a toy that a child can see on the other side of
the store window and knowing 
They will never touch
Play with
Or have it 
As their own


NONUMENTAL PENCIL MARKINGS

Countless champions have stepped into their next
existence unceremoniously
No monuments
No awards
Very rarely recognition

I write
I work
I live
In your memory
Accept my Nonumental Pencil Markings as an effort to
redeem the fruit of your labor
And replant the seed

I create
I engineer
I write 
I perform
With your names, visions, and ideals in the front of
my mind and forever on the tip of my tongue
Accept my Nonumental Pencil Markings though you
deserve so much more

I have prayed to be filled with your spirits
I have meditated on your actions
I have shed tears that contain your dreams
May my tears water plants that grow in your name

Accept my Nonumental Pencil Markings and the markings 
of all those who learn and remember 
And never let go


NOT FOR SALE

I will not be used as your showpiece 
Your plans to make it big off me 
And then own me 
Stop right here at me
Whatever plans you have for me won't happen
The web you spinning won't be trappin' me
The path you mappin' I won't follow
Don't you see?
You don't know me
You don't control me
You don't own me
You don't pimp me
You don't tempt me
You don't understand me
You won't overstand me

You see me as a piece of eye candy
Yeah, I got what you want
You think you gonna chew me up
And when the sweetness is gone 
Spit me out and leave me lifeless
Call me useless
A fraction of the man I used to be
Get used to me the way I am

I am not what was 
I am what was not

You know I confuse you 
And I loose you in quick unexpected thought motions 
Leaving your previous notions of me looking absurd
You can't stop me
You can't even hope to contain me
You can't restrain me
You can't attain me
You can't explain me
And you won't change me

You trying in vain to capture an essence that will
permeate through the most dense material
I am an etheric being and you have witnessed no equal
But you do not respect me
So you do not affect me
You do not affect me



UNTITLED

Unable to feel what I deal after I shuffle
Unable to retort or rebuttal
I juggle light speed images in my head
I smuggle poison scented potpourri nightmares into my bed
Hating myself in the morning for not exploring better options
Ignoring phone calls so I can sit alone
All beaten by my own misjudgments
Misconceptions
Misinterpretations
Mistakes
Miscalculations
Excuse me Miss
I am intrigued by the gyration of your hips
Might we share a dance and a drink
Might I convince you to come with me and 
Indulge in a moment of exploration ecstasy 
I think
This was a mistake
I need quick wit and a smile to go along with a touch
Buttercup wakeups in sunshine delight
Twinkle-toes
Hand holds and
Rewarding conversation
Overstanding me for me as me
Not as what I could be with a few minor modifications
Been through that once before
Don't need it again
Almost lost myself in the pretty boy land of Jiggy Pop
Until I clicked my Tommy heels and woke up feeling like a heel
I'd rather design myself than be someone else's design
Searching for this one divine to walk with me
As I quest my heart and soul to complete my being
As I test my heart and soul to assure me of my reasons
As I hold my heart and soul through the changes of every season
As I assure my heart and soul this is exactly what I've needed


I AM

I am not what was. I am what was not.
I am not what was. I am what was not.
I am not what was. I am what was not.

I am cool needed raindrops on hot city blocks
I am keys for doors that have been locked since the last solar equinox
I am calmness in the midst of chaos
I am honey brown apricot beauty spots

I am sevens branded in foreheads and on the back of hands
I am the tribal dance taught by ancestors past
Yes I dance with my face to the sky at night
At night I am a black sheet holding perfect cut
diamonds draped over your head.

Watch me closely
I am being watched closely

I am shooting stars
I am dolphins on Mars
I am intelligent life
I am simple atoms connected together to form what I am 

I am not what was. I am what was not.
I am not what was. I am what was not.
I am not what was. I am what was not.

I am ancient
I am so old 
I am new
I am voodoo from the bayou
I am laughing because I see through the disguise
They told us our voodoo was wrong
And our Gods were lies
But really they were afraid because our Gods hurt them when we prayed

I am telling the truth

Our Gods were not evil
Our Gods only hurt them when they hurt their people
I am one of the Gods who will hurt you if you hurt my people
I am what infinite times infinite squared infinite equals
I am infinite
I am so old 
I am new
I am what was here before you
I am what was here before you
So,    I    Am

UNTITLED

I woke up.
Which is funny cuz when I laid down,
I was all broke up.
I guess my body said, "Hold up."
"I gotta heal up so I can get up."
So I made it through the night.
Most people would say, "Be happy you're alive."

But I'm not listening to you. I got better things to do.

And I kinda look at it like the good lord blessed me
with one more day that I have to live the lie.
Nah, Nah. I'm not saying I'd rather be dead.
I'm just saying everyday the same uncontrollable 
issues run wild around me like an undisciplined child.
Parents won't spank them or either just don't care.
So what could have been handled early on has grown out
of hand with time.
It might just be a matter of perspective but it seems
like these problems affect the people around me most.
So sometimes I don't want to wake up and live another
day the same as yesterday.
Wake me up when tomorrow gets here.
And then some activist will shake me and tell me one
person can make a difference.

But I'm not listening to you. I got better things to do.

Yeah, if every one person felt like fighting for the
same cause we might change the world.
But when was the last time we all opened the same book
and turned to the same page at the same time and read the same line in harmony?
Notice I said harmony and not unison.
They are quick to tell us something that sounds good 
but when the truth comes out what sounded good is

Making things worse.

So I thought I'd add some irony and make something
that really is good, sound good too.
I bet it's some law against that.
They'll be telling me to stop rocking the boat as soon
as they realize they can't control it.

But I'm not listening to you. I got better things to do.

We're already caught in the rapids heading downstream with no paddles.
Let me have my fun mocking the situation we are all trapped in.
I didn't put us here. You did.
You fix it.
I'm chillin'.
I guess it's a good thing you're in the same boat I am, huh?
They aren't really concerned with everyone in the boat.
So, I'm sure they'll figure out a way to get themselves out of the boat.
I just gotta pay attention.
Cuz if I blink and miss it, 
they'll leave the boat in the water with me in it.
But I sit back and quietly watch and when they get out, I dip too.
Hit the shore, head back home and go back to being little old useless me.

Am I useless or am I sarcastic?


I was speaking to a person at a parade downtown.
One of our sports teams won the championship or something. 
Or we might have been marching to get the mayor out of
office, I can't remember. 
Either way it was pointless. I just needed something to do that day.
But this woman commented on how beautiful downtown was.
I poked my chest out and felt a sense of pride. 
I mean, she was talking about the city I call home.
But then she stuck me with a pin and deflated the
chest that I had stranded out in the middle of nowhere
with no protection when she said, 
"I haven't come to
the city since I was a little girl. 
I just don't feel safe."
I shook my head.

Oh lord,
I am not listening to you. I got better things to do.

Like noticing all the trash they left on the streets 
of my beautiful downtown after they headed 25 miles or
more back to the suburbs.
Dear lady if you haven't been to the city since you 
were a little girl, how do you know you don't feel safe there?
I bet you hear voices from that box that sits in your living room.
It tells you these things, doesn't it?
I bet you believe what it says too.
For the record I have a box that talks in my living room too.
But I don't listen to it.

I have better things to do.

Like looking out my window and watching 
this little girl find dimes in the street.
Take a look. She looks so happy.
Remember when amusement was that cheap?
I want to get back to that way of life.
So I try to take walks at night so I can look at the stars.
Hey. Could you move your pollution? 
You double-parked it right in front of Alpha Centauri. I can't see.
So I continue my walk
Only to have you step out of the shadows, 
like I was supposed to know you were there.
Whispering some devious plan that you want me to take part in?

But I'm not listening to you. I've got better things to do.

And what you doing hiding out in the darkness anyway.
Get out here in the open so we can all see what you doing. 
I can't trust anything I can't see.
I guess that lady was right. 
It's not safe to walk the streets here. 
The funny thing is we don't pose a threat to each
other until someone else gets involved.
I think I'll just go back home and talk out loud to myself.
That's about all I can do since,

You aren't listening to me, true? You got better things to do.



Author's Bio

My name is Rufus P. Justice. My e-mail address is tastydog@alltel.net. I am 24 years old turning 25 in July. I have been writing as long as I can remember. However, I just started dedication a good amount of time to developing my writing. I am a database programmer. I live in Milledgeville, Georgia but was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan.

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