POEMS

"When I'm With You"

-Stevie Babaki

-Dedicated to my boo: Mrs. Iris Babaki this was for my boo but since you gave me your song I thought I'd give you this.

I can't stop thinking of you And all the things we could do I want to hold you in my arms Forever and ever and keep you warm The more time goes The more my love for you grows It grows and grows every second And for your love my heart doesn't beckon I'm with you I want more Let are love take flight and soar I yearn to feel your gentle touch This love that you give me is never to much If I'd ever lose you I'd throw a fit I'd die for you for love you'd better believe it I dream of the day I'll hold your hand And give you the love no other man can I want to place my hands on your hips And feel the soft sensual touch of your lips I would hold you forever and never let go The love I'd feel for you I'd let you know I'd tell you all that you mean to me Let you know your my wife to be Tell you your my lady classy and fine Tell you I want to have children with you later on down the line Tell you bout are future and our plans Forever and ever I want to be your man I love you forever and always cause your my boo And all this I yern to do Cause the feelings I have are oh so true This is how I'll feel when I'm with you!!!

by Stephen Babaki

dedicated to my boo- Iris Babaki

Destiny has sent you to me And my heart has told me we were meant to be I need you I can have no other One day I want to make you a mother I must have your love I wont settle for less Without your love my life would be a mess You give me your love to the very last drop So I give you all my love and I wont ever stop You need to know all the beauty you posess So Iris Babaki I shall confess I wouldnt trade you for the world You are far to beautiful of a girl Your beauty can be seen on the darkest of nights Your beauty shines brighter than the brightest of lights Your the most beautiful creature god(jehovah) ever did create And I am the man with the luckiest fate The fate of having a love for life thats true Because Iris Babaki, I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU!!

"A Fairy Tale"

by Stehpen Babaki

dedicated to- my baby boo bear, Iris

If Life was a fairy this is how it would be We would be together just you and me We would be together for eternity Are undying love would set us free When I'm with you there Aint no telling what I'd do You'd be a movie star and I'd be a fan Your every wish at my command Us together, just me and you Is a fairy tale I learn to come true!!

Still Thinkin' of my boo

-Stevie Babaki

-dedicated to Iris Babaki

All I can do is think bout my boo

And everything I wish that we could do The things we would do I wouldn't even care Cause on my sleeve your heart I do wear The love of others to yours could never be compared So the love that I give you to no one else is it shared Your my lady so sweet and fair Me and you together make the perfect pair You are steadily on my mind Cause Iris your one of a kind I stay steadily thinking of you twenty-four seven the day we meet I will surely be in heaven But until that one fine day comes I'll keep thinking of you boo cause for me your the only one!!

ALL POEMS BY MAYA ANGELOU "They Went Home" They went home and told thier wives, that they never once in all thier lives, had they known a girl like me, But . . . They went home. They said my house was licking clean, no word I spoke was ever mean, I had an air of mystery, But . . . They went home. My praises were on all men’s lips, they liked my smile, my wit, my hips, they’d spend one night, or two or three. But . . .

"No Loser, No Weeper" “ I hate to lose something,” then a she bent her head “even a dime, Iwish Iwas dead. I can’t explain it. No more to be said. Cept I hate to lose something.” “I lost a doll once, and cried for a week. She could open her eyes, and do all but speak. I believe she was took, by some doll-snatching- sneak I tell you, I hat to lose something.” “ A watch of mine once, got up and walked away. It had twelve numbers on it and for the time of day. “I’ll never forget it and all I can say Is I really hate to lose something.” “ Now if I felt that way bout a watch and a toy, What you think I feel bout my lover-boy? I ain’t threating you madam, but he is my evening’s joy. And I mean I really hate to lose something.”

"Remembering" Soft grey ghosts crawl up my sleeve to peer into my eyes while I within deny their threats and answer them with lies. Mushlike memories perform a ritual on my lips I lie in stolid hopelessness and they lay my soul in strips.

"In a Time"

In a a time of secrets wooing

Today prepares tommorrow’s ruin Left knows not what right is doing My heart is torn asunder.

In a time of furtive sighs

Swet hellos and sad goodbyes Half-truths told entire lies My conscience echoes thunder

In a time when kingdoms come

Joy is brief as summer’s fun Happiness, it’s race has run Then pain stalks in to plunder.

"When I Think About Myself

When I think about myself,

I almost laugh myself to death, My life has been one great big joke, A dance that’s walked A song that’s spoke, I laugh so hard I almost choke When I think about myself.

Sixty years in these folks’ world

The child i works for calls me girl I say “Yes ma’am” for working sake. Too proud to bend Too poor to break, I laugh until my stomach ache, When I think about myself. My folks can make me split my side, I laughed so hard I nearly died, The tales they tell, sound just like lying, They grow the fruit, But eat t he rind, I laugh until I start to crying, When I think about my folks.

"Times-Square-Shoeshine-Composition"

I’m the best that ever done it

(pow pow) that’s my title and I won it (pow pow) I ain’t lying, I’m the best (pow pow) Come and put me to the test (pow pow)

I’ll clean ‘em til they squeak (pow pow) In the middle of next week, (pow pow) I’ll shine ‘em til they whine (pow pow) Till they call me master mine (pow pow)

For a quarter and a dime

(pow pow) You can get the dee luxe shine (pow pow) Say you wanta pay a quarter? (pow pow) Then you give that to your daughter (pow pow)

I ain’t playing dozens mister

(pow pow) You can give it to your sister (pow pow) Any way you want to read it (pow pow) Maybe it’s your momma need it. (pow pow) Say I’m like a greedy bigot, (pow pow) I’m a cap’tilist, can you dig it? (pow pow)

"Roit: 60’s"

Our YOUR FRIEND CHARLIE pawnshop was a glorious blaze I heard the flames lick then eat the trays of zircorns mounted in red gold alloys

Easter clothes and stolen furs burned in the attic radios and teevees crackled with static plugged in only to a racial outlet

Some though the FRIENDLY FINANCE FURNITURE CO. burned higher When a leopard print sofa with gold legs (which makes into a bed) caught fire an admiring groan from waiting horde “Absentee landlord you got that shit”

Lighting: a hundred Watts Detroit, Newark and New York Screeching nerves, exploding minds lives tied to a policeman’s whistle a welfare worker’s doorbell finger.

Hospitality, southern-style corn pone grits and you-all smile whole blocks novae brand new stars policemen caught in their brand new cars Chugga chugga chigga git me one nigga lootin’ n burnin’ he won’t git far

Watermelons, summer ripe grey neck bones and boiling tripe supermarket roastin like the noon-day sun national guard nervous with his shiny gun goose the motor quicker here’s my nigga picka shoot him in the belly shoot him while he run.

"We Saw Beyond Our Seeming"

We saw beyond our seeming

These days of bloodied screaming

Of children dying bloated

Out where the lilies floated

Of men all noosed and danging

Within the temples stranging

Our guilt grey fungus growning

We knew and lied our knowing

Deafened and umwilling

We aided in the killing

And now our souls lie broken

Dry tablets without token.

"The Calling of Names"

He went to being called a Colored man

after answering to “hey nigger”

Now that’s a big jump,

anyway you figger,

Hey, Baby, Watch my smoke.

From color man to Negro With the N in caps, was like saying Japanese instead of saying Japs.

I mean, during the war. The next big step was a change for true, From Negro in caps to being a Jew. Now, Sing Yiddish Mama. Light, Yellow, Brown and Dark brown skin, were o.k. colors to describe him then, He was a Bouquet of Roses. He changed his seasons like an almanac, Now you’ll get hurt if you don’t call him “Black.” Nigguh, I ain’t playin’ this time.

"On Working White Liberals" I don’t ask the Foregin Legion Or anyone to win my freedom Or to fight my battle better than I can, Though there’s one thing that I cry for I believe enough to die for That is every man’s responsibility to man. I’m afraid they’ll have to prove first that they’ll watch the Black man move first Then follow him with faith to kingdom come, this rocky road is not a paved for us, So, I’ll believe in Liberal’s aid for us When I see a white man load a Black man’s gun.

"Sepia Fashion Show' Their hair, pomaded, faces jaded bones protruding, hip-wise, The models struttled, backed and butted, Then stuck their mouths out, lip-wise. They’d nasty manners, held like banners, while they looked down their nose-wise, I’d see ‘em in hell, before they’ll sell me one thing they’re wearing, clothes-wise. The Black Bourgeois, who all say “yah” When yeah is what they’re meaning Should look around, both up and down before they set out preening. “Indeed” they swear, “that’s what I’ll wear When I go country-clubbing,” I’d remind them please, look at those knees you got a Miss Ann’s scrubbing.

"Harlem Hopscotch" One foot down, then hop! It’ hot. Good things for the ones that’s got. Another jump, now to the left. Everybody for hisself. In the air, now both feet down. Since you black, don’t stick around. Food is gone, the rent is due, Curse and cry and then jump two. All the people out of work, Hold for three, then twist and jerk. Cross the line, they count you out, That’s what hopping’s all about. Both feet flat, the game is done. They think I lost. I think I won.

"Poor Girl" You’ve got another love and I know it Someone who adores you just like me Hanging on your words like they were gold Thinking that she understands your soul Poor Girl Just like me. You’re breaking another heart and I know it And there’s nothing I can do If I tell her what I know She’ll misunderstand and make me go Poor Girl Just like me.

"Senses of Insecurity" I couldn’t tell fact from fiction or if my dream was true, The only sure prediction in this whole world was you. I’d touched your features inchly heard love and dared the cost. The scented spiel reeled me unreal and found my senses lost.

"Impeccable Conception" I met a Lady Poet who took for inspiration colored birds, and whispered words, a lover’s hesitation. A falling leaf could stir her. A wilting, dying rose would make her write, both day and night, the most rewarding prose. She’d find a hidden meaning in every pair of pants, the hurry home to be alone and write about romance.

Call Letters: Mrs. V. B. Ships? Sure I’ll sail them. Show me the boat, If it’ll float, I’ll sail it. Men? Yes I’ll love them. If they’ve got style, To make me smile, I’ll love them. Life? ‘Course I’ll live it. Let me have breath, Just to my death, And I’ll live it. Failure? I’m not ashame to tell it, I never learned to spell it. Not Failure.

"On Aging" When you see me sitting quietly, Like a sack left on the shelf, Don’t think I need your chattering. I’m listening to myself. Hold! Stop! Don’t pity me! Hold! Stop your sympathy! Understanding if you got it, Otherwise I’ll do without it! When my bones are stiff and aching And my feet won’t climb the stair, I will only ask one favor: Don’t bring me no rocking chair. When you see me walking, stumbling, Don’t study and get it wrong. ‘Cause tired don’t mean lazy And every goodbye ain’t gone. I’m the same person I was back then, A little less hair, a little less chin, A lot less lungs and much less wind. But ain’t I lucky I can still breathe in. Bump d’Bump

"Phenomenal Woman" Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I started to tell them, I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or fall down on their knees. Them they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They say they still can’t see. Isay, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The grace of my style. I’m a woman Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. Idon’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need for my care. ‘Cause I’m a woman Phenomenal Phenomenal woman, That’s me.

"Woman Work" I’ve got the children to tend The clothes to mend The floor to mop The food to shop Then the chicken to fry Then the baby to dry I got company to feed The garden to weed I’ve got the shirts to press The tots to dress The cane to be cut I gotta clean up this hut Then see about the sick And the cotton to pick. Shine on me, sunshine Rain on me, rain Fall softly, dewdrops And cool my brow again. Storm, blow me from here With your fiercest wind Let me float across the sky ‘Til I can rest again. Fall gently, snowflakes Cover me with white Cold icy kisses and Let me rest tonight. Sun, rain, curving sky Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone Star shine, moon glow You’re all that I can call my own.

"Just for a Time" Oh how you used to walk With that insouciant smile I liked to hear you talk And your style Pleased me for a while. You were my early love New as a day breaking in Spring You were the image of Everything That caused me to sing. I don’t like reminiscing Nostalgia is not my forte I don’t spill tears On yesterday’s years Buy honesty makes me say, You were a precious pearl How I loved to see you shine, You were the perfect girl. And you were mine. For a time. For a time. Just for a time.

"Willie" Willie was a man without fame Hardly anybody knew his name. Crippled and limping, always walking lame, He said, “I keep on movin’ Movin’ just the same.” Solitude was the climate in his head Emptiness was the partner in his bed, Pain echoed in the steps of his tread, He said, “I keep on followin’ Where the leaders lead.” I may cry and I will die, But my spirit is the soul of every sping. Watch for me and you will see That I’m present in the songs that children sing. People called him “Uncle,” “Boy” and “Hey” Said, “ You can’t live through another day.” Then, they waited to heat what he would say. He said, “I’m living In the games that the children play. “You may enter my sleep, people my dreams, Threaten my early morning’s ease, But I leep comin’ followin laughin’ cryin’, Sure as a summer breeze. “Wait for me, watch for me. My spirit is the surge of open seas. Look for me, ask for me, I’m the rustle in the autumn leaves. “When the sun rises I am the time. When the children sing I am the Rhyme.”

"The Memory" Cotton rows crisscross the world And dead-tired nights of yearning Thunderbolts on leather strops And all my body burning Sugar cane reach up to God And every baby crying Shame the blanket of my night And all my days are dying

"Country Lover" funky blues Keen toed shoes High water pants Saddy night dance Red soda water and anybody’s daughter

"Little Girl Speakings" Ain’t nobody better’s my Daddy, you keep yo’ quauter I ain’t yo’ daughter, Ain’t nobody better’s my Daddy. Ain’t nothing prettier’n my dollie. heard what I said, don’t pat her head. Ain’t nothing prettier’n my dollie. No lady cookinger than my Mommy smell that pie, see I don’t lie No lady cookinger than my Mommy.

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