Hardluck Poems I

She spit hardluck poems
The one like his handprint was always on her cheek
the one like her reality was bleak like her mentality was on some fuck it shit
Hardluck like hard hands and brown bodies
And the break in the beat was like the sound of fists into ribs
ANd guilty feet whose dance always crack bones
Or crack homes
They saw her cry more times than laugh
The brown children that wore his smile and her eyes
And his lies of peace kept her between them
They her burden and as big as her slice of the pie got
He was once her escape and now she sought to escape him
And when she could not she spit hardluck poems that reminded her of home
That reminded her of when the smile met the eyes
And the tears were infrequent
And the scars didn't add up to some sorrowful mural on her skin
Mocha without, hurting within
She trusted him
Believed he would vindicate her
Believed that he was her raison d'etre
Until she realised her reason to be was life
And these kids with his smile
Across time and space her complexion changed to match that
Of a woman by another name
But the same pain follows
Always
Until we realise that those blows aren't dealt with love
And the only hands that strike belong on clocks
And these poems may elevate but they won't save
Those hardluck women from and early grave
Just sayin