Three Women

My skin is porcelain tan

I’ve been beaten robbed and raped

Because I’m not as strong as a man

I have wandered the world in search

Of fulfillment, can’t find

peace anywhere

Born and raised in Italy’s ghettos

I learned how to play a hand as good

As any man

Dealt cards in the best casinos

in big cities everywhere

My plate is bitter,

I’ve got constant jitters,

not a quitter

I’m tough as they come

My name is Rosa

My skin is rosy

Born in a concentration camp I survived

I never knew my mother

Soldiers came from England

Gave me chocolate from their hands

Sister Ruth held my hand

Said I had blue eyes like my mother

I escaped the holocaust but I’ll never be free,

I’m slave to fears and misery

Afraid to see beauty, afraid to sleep,

Toss, turn, trapped in rough seas,

refuse to weep, my life in a heap

The days run blue mystical,

Fast, hard rains fall

Blinding like sparkling stars

My name is Ruby

My ancestors left Spain

I’m a woman of color, black hair, black eyes, olive skin

My family came to the new world in 1492

Before they slaughtered all us Jews

Persecuted for religious beliefs,

The new world provides no relief

Punished for the sins of my fathers

I tell them I’m Jew not Roman

Confused they persist in rebuking me,

Call me Christ killer
My name is Gypsy!

I dunno, you be the judge as to which version is better and tell me below. I want to know.

Three Women (oops my bad - still editing)

My skin is porcelain tan

I’ve been beaten robbed and raped

Because I’m not as strong as a man

I have wandered the world in search

Of fulfillment, can’t find

peace anywhere

Born and raised in Italy’s ghettos

I learned how to play a hand as good

As any man

Dealt cards in the best casinos

in big cities everywhere

My plate is bitter,

I’ve got constant jitters,

not a quitter

I’m tough as they come

My name is Rosa

My skin is rosy

Born in a concentration camp I survived

I never knew my mother

Soldiers came from England

Gave me chocolate from their hands

Sister Ruth held my hand

Said I had blue eyes like my mother

I escaped the holocaust but I’ll never be free,

I’m slave to fears and misery

Afraid to see beauty, afraid to sleep,

I’m too busy counting sheep

The days run blue mystical,

Fast, hard rains fall

Blinding like sparkling stars

My name is Ruby

My ancestors left Spain

I’m a woman of color, with black hair, black eyes, olive skin

My family came to the new world in 1492

Before they slaughtered all us Jews

Persecuted for religious beliefs,

The new world provides no relief

Punished for the sins of my fathers

I tell them I’m Jew not Roman

Confused they persist in rebuking me,

Call me Christ killer              
My name is Gypsy!

Comment published in New York Times

I wrote a response to Thaddeus Rutkowsky's article and my response can be found here below. Yay!

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/one-degree-of-separation/?comments#permid=12354242

There They Stand, Watching Me Watch Them

He jumps up, says she’s abusing him

Grabs his shit, runs through the door

Everyone watches

ALL EYEZ ON THEM

Bona fide great pride, all pretty and perfect outside,

Suburbia defined and redefined

Inside created a great divide

Live in a world of Jekyll and Hyde. Good gone,

Erased in time, lives in a lie cocoon. How can I judge?

Your boy Paco tells stories that make scary seem good

“A very bad person,” said Judy determinedly

Judy deals with rapists and killers

You give Motherhood a bad name

Denial and avoidance is your leisure

You brag about Paco on your Facebook page

Enjoy the fruits of your glory

Raised with hate, he could’ve been a terminator

But turned to art instead

He despises you for not protecting him

Chose to protect his father who maimed him

For that, he’ll give you up for lent

Ugly passion, you’re poison to him

Stood there and watched; shit beat from him literally

Leave Facebook messages, ‘My Paco’

Be assured, accomplishments he made were in spite of you

He should’ve blocked you on multimedia long ago

An object fit to reject

Bitch, let me break it down

Don’t contact him

He won’t contact you

Outing you is the best I can do

I officially out you for your abuse, neglect,

Your surrender to sadism

Witnessed and personally done

I out you, I do

Out you, I do

I out you, I do

It is the best I can do …do …do…

True Color Makes My Heart Sneeze

I try to think of what color 

I might be yet all I can see

Is I'm the color of me

I'm true blue as I can be

I'm still only me

Far as I can see

I'll always be me

When I'm with you

I turn to we 

No matter what I do

I become split in two 

When I join with you

I stay true to you

I stay true blue

Yet I am only me 

I remain the same hue

Alone I am me

Together I become we

The me I want to be

Remains to be seen 

I cannot be you

I don't have a clue

As to where the me

That I am goes when I'm with you

Strangely enough, neither do you

So you be you and I'll be me

And later we'll meet for coffee or tea

We'll look out at the clear blue sea

Stare in your eyes to reflect me

Because I am you and you are me

Dream A Little Dream For Me Lover

With the wings of a falcon

I fly across the valleys of my mind

The wind and my thoughts intertwined

Watch the sky, stars and planets align

Close my eyes, remind myself to unwind

Review events, people I know, combined

Can’t concentrate, lose my faith, resigned

Create a new version for mankind

On dew soaked grass reclined

Confined to visions in my mind

Dream of all I’ve left behind

Step to the left, step to the right

Wonder how to initiate life refined

Once again defined, I alight in flight

Soar across the valleys of my mind

Those Who Die For Color

Midnight blue is the new black

And black eye is the new royal blue

Blaze red is the new St. Lucia sunshine

Yellow rain forest green is the new clear diamond white

And orangutan orange is the new polka dot pastel

Tulip lavender is the new skyscraper gray

Horizon purple is the new sunset black color image heart attack

Waiting for them to invent a color you can’t see so

I could color myself in invisibility

Then when people stop and look at me
They will only see my soul energy and me

Is it worth it? You decide.

My love for you is deeper than the deepest sea

Softer than the softest breeze

Higher than the tallest tree

Don’t ask me why this prize was yours

Not mine to decide

Not what’s said but dread of unsaid

Written words make me become undone

Much more than spoken do

You don’t need this shit called love any more than I do

Move to the beat, broken souls reject

Healing, sift through broken bones

As though the answer lies in our wishes

We become lies we live

Buried in solitude, create a fortress

Make us prisoners

Of our own demise

Hearts like silver need polish

Troubled and cautious, need to demolish

Striving to forget unpunished deeds

Our souls create a fort for faith

Hide away, survive wounds, lost battles, day after day

Feel like I’m a rash or allergy, out of control

Think before you speak or

Forever hold your peace

Like shame from tarnished childhood

Secluded from the sun

There’s nothing won in fighting

Tell me give up

I’ll stop hoping

My love for you is stronger than a hurricane

More powerful than an angry storm at sea

Baby don’t make me try to explain

Feelings I have for you

My heart stuck on you like glue
Love like morning dew