Artea Mae Beamon 

she been walking here
on the other side of the road
since way back when
can you still remember then
mumbling to herself
in those low enchanting humms

thick dusty braids they crown her head
with eyes looking there in the yonder
in old clothes that never fit just right
her long bony legs they bowed
by people they saw her but never minded
her long melodic stride drumming here
in the squalor of splattered dark shadows
wallowing in the vomit of they drunken baptisms
mumbling to herself
in those low enchanting humms

and in the snare of a joke we poisoned her dead
burying all the words never did form on her lips
a moment’s reprise from our jealous despise
in the wake of her sordid demise
is all that she was ever given
mumbling to herself
in those low enchanting humms

and we go keeping on laughing trying to hide
from the festering guilt she bleeding here inside’us
with the strange haunting flaying of her eyes
and’us still standing around sitting
just like her seen’us here when
she coming along marching in a soldier’s splendor
dancing underneath her heavy load
that lightning stare daunting and cadently thrashing
scolding loudly in the silence of a mother’s care
at the swallowing enlarging of this numbing retarding
in which we all be always leaning on one another
just be leaning on one another here wait’n
and passing on all alone in her daily roam
mumbling to her self
in those low enchanting humms

Copyright © 1993 Asili Ya Nadhiri

“it  aint nothing but’ah thang”
“is a hole empty because it’s a hole
or a hole because it’s empty”

 appetizing
serpentining mathematizing

words we choosing for chewing and using
they abusioning confusioning effusioning
concocionings of syntactical illusionings
like our medicinal drinking of the blues
or a brand new burst of used news
they’re loud pleading portraits
of our rampantly obtunding despair
moralizing a coffling salacious puking
drying out and hardening on canvasses of
vicariousing exhibitionists we vicariousing

and every body we addictively snorting
this long fermenting perverse-a-nationing
ruse-a-nating semanticationing
so it seeming just like
we aint is-ing how we is-ing
sublimating in acquiescing publicationings
justifying the illusions we’re flaunting
masquerading this daunting “what ever”
as just a naturally recurring glitching
in having all us here really wanting

Copyright © 2018 Asili Ya Nadhiri

atlantic mooring

glistening sheets of scrolling waters
drumming on in resounding billows
wet humming oracles unfolding there
nourishing darkening trepidationings
reverently enthralling wondering tongues
in loud roaring echoes leaving their trace
undauntingly entangling on
here across your face

by the stark emancipationing of this moon
staring on through cavern crevices homemade
silently kneading assuaging this fear inside
wrap’n’round the musclings of our strides
so these bronze shackled imprinting soles
aint froth aloning for the leave of wet sands
drying scared in hubrisating emulationings
who here begging unbeknowingly awaiting
the mutual beholding of kindred hands
emanating of our native humane

obedient you feeding this tumultuous
flooding here in our wondering souls
with snarling notion-nings crashing there
attacking foreboding wallings of this hold
nourishing the epic will of all them daring . . .
when so quietlying on back out on into then
and now on your way forth on up here again
embracing us all in this womb with its sway
pronouncing on and on of this cosmic way

Copyright © 1983, 2014 Asili Ya Nadhiri

intussusception-ninged-ing
*(rivers us known-ning bent pulling pulled
 bending ‘round the ‘lan’ic ocean
for making mo’ us all should
oughta done    be seen seen-ing) 

aboding dark mattering imploding on
through in the middle of this passing on
feeling ‘round in them borned forbidden things
spawning on in the holdings
of this swallowing dark womb

stole! pour’d on this journey sowd
by some them who us!  by who’us sold
herding dark bodies herded there herding here then
there tied one to the scared
trembling here in the other

in’us self !throwd bound !
there squeezed down in here!tight!
undulating notions surrounding and pounding!
rubbing titty nippled ‘rections
warming hardening there harder
‘gainst the hot protesting breathings
of lil’l round titties bare
scrotumed logs pinioned thronged
there wedged there bumping
in wet creviced rows ‘gainst
bare naked buttocks’ backs
who ‘cause they scared!all they scared
they all scared yearning home
in the thick sweating rushing
of hypnotic body odors

us fed feeding here feeding
on this what here in there swelling
lip twisted ‘round and ‘round
knotting ‘round in’us head
gnawing down on inside another on inside
this some other some ‘nother body self-ing
here swooning rhythmic enfoldings
of them dark fleshing walls

aboding dark mattering imploding on
through in the middle of this passing on
feeling ‘round in them borned forbidden things
spawning on in the holdings
of this swallowing dark womb

*think of gravitational lensing
Copyright © 2004 Asili Ya Nadhiri

oracular

only the smell is raising up
from the deep tribal markings
on the dark bodies laying there
in they kin folk bowels
shackled down to the bottom
on this cold damp floor
in the belly of Jonah’s slave whales
!and we was told they was coming!
was told long long before
eating things for living they cannot name
scared about the night it filling they head
they listening for the drumming off yonder
low going lower it fading away fast
they left naked there humming
humming here alone
in the loud throbbing silence
resounding there
in the undulating rhythm of the ocean’s roar
a mama crying there gnawing on she baby throat
so he never! gone die here no more
they have to feed them ones
they burdened there my Lord to carry on
and sown here in this dirt
by many other hands
like it done been told
it was long meant to be

Copyright © 1995Asili Ya Nadhiri

aloning moments in our aloning-ness-ing
(splashings on sidewalkings for you)

listening to the howling whispering mumblings
growling inside the tenure-ing roaring of waves
covering all the paths in between
notions of going there and coming here
nowing in emptying conundrum-mings
of when and then trying to break loose
from the hustling specter of been
and the coffling luring of always again
grabbing on to just grabbing on
to a just grabbing onto flashing notionings
of just grabbing onto ever loitering potions
of some always promising lotion
of almost nearly ever carrying-on
behind the ruseful singularity
of embracing a little bit more
of this just carrying-on

screaming inside invisiblizing malls
of this blatantly mocking preening
you desperately and loudly scheming
“!!why aint this here leaving me alone!!”
you wanting to dancing while
involuntarily trancing
thinking you prancing
patches of reddish bluing
pursuing the ghost of renewing
you-ings in thickening surgings
and hungry purgings
of red-yellowings swelling in eyes
swaddling in blindly pursuing
abandon-ning kaleidoscopings
of a you here wandering ‘round
for some somebody who

Copyright (c) 2017 Asili Ya Nadhiri

(just who are we all deceiving
and just what are we achieving
with this what we’re conceiving
as a some thing that’s whatever
we’re really here believing)

vacuuming 

in the callousive streaming of fear
help’s always in there as vanishing
flashings dashing back and forth
in delusioning illusioning ruse-ings
wraping-up in used plastic cocoons

feeling is feeling no feeling
of always being swallowed
in the swallowing reboundings
of redundantly muting echoings
of the same hollowing words

so how are we knowing
just what it is we’re knowing
and what we’re really showing
in all our goings and comings
with everything being so numbing

Copyright © 2018 Asili Ya Nadhiri

*noise-inged-ing
(“Oh, how the noises of the world
warn the wise”—Jerry Ward, Jr.
. . . and numb those otherwise-ing) 

we’re long being choosing
the parroting role of synthetic reeds
alternative pawns of alternating news
publicly flatulating hollowing sounds
in loud used recyclings of the blues
all aloning in misanthropic huddlings
in lethargic breakings of darkening dawns
conjuring all we’re knowing trying to hide
how rapidly we’re progressing the
incesting our own secessive regressing
fart’n louderand louder!!!
but this persisting tide just won’t abide

frantically wallowing on in the opium
of being seeming like i’m the most most
and so hastily callousing on fretting
pretending like we aint try’n to forget’n
—synthesizing samplings they too groff!
so rebuff and aint nearly enough—
the emfolding psalming drumming
of those sunging salvatoring hummings
we here long so disdainfully ushering on
. . . those untutored mumblings
still spilling out of well seasoned lips
announcing the constant bursting forth
of vibrant and ever en-juenate’n mornings
fading faster and faster furthering
in our own furthering them on away

Copyright © 2018 Asili Ya Nadhiri

*every body we all entitling
 in our own decadencing

—welfare-inged moments
they chanting and caressing us all
bleeding on through the veils of invisibled-ling faces
running on out here all over us all
splashings loudly bodaciously so afraid-ing
loquaciously splatterings in the pupil-ling of our eyes
hooching things hazing synthesizing fantasizings
paralyzing socializing with infantizing mesmerizing—

we all !!SCREAMING!!quietlyingSO LOUDLY
selfishly shamming inside this pretending
desperately wander’n grabbing!SO SCARED!
holding on to those louder some bodies else-ing

public booty shaking’s our coffling shuffle
in closets coming out in every which’a way
better always watching where you stepping
and what whom you woo-ing here when

and beseiging ourselves in words impounding
serpentining cliches rapaciously serializing
with our mathematizing self- imperializing
ingurgitate’n we legislating a vulturine abode

running all around frantically hallucina-tizing
obsessing over power with such tiny lil ’l hands
probates unbeholding in this boundless expanse
and we’re all just random custodial guests

here mesmerizing in this bale synergizing
spinning with our mouths camouflaging it all
anxiously waiting for another decadencing
so aint seeing how we all imploding us all

—they spreadinged and swallowinged on
in this low droning stare of who
this who in here who for they selfing
purpled grey splotchings aloninged
wrinkling and drying on out on one another
growinged hard too soon—

Copyright © 2003, 2007, 2015, 2016 Asili Ya Nadhiri

water coloringed
(splashing)

they spreadinged and swallowinged on
in this low droning stare
of who this who in here
who for they selfing
purpled grey splotchings aloninged
wrinkling and drying on out on one another
growinged hard too soon

welfaringed moments
they chanting and caressing us all
bleeding on through the veils
of invisibled-ling faces
running on out here
all over us all

they spreadinged and swallowinged on
in this low droning stare
of who this who in here
who for they selfing
purpled grey splotchings aloninged
wrinkling and drying on out on one another
growinged hard too soon

Copyright © 2003Asili Ya Nadhiri