The rose that never wilts (for my parents)

The rose that never wilts (For my parents)



You are the rose that never wilts

The hugs and love that never quit

You are the constant in a life full of inconstant

You are the one who is there to whisper in my ear

The first to wipe away life caused tears

The ones who showed me that life is about doing what you need to

Not necessarily what you want to

Two beings as strong as granite and marble

Who have lasted the test of time

In time to test the stability of the children they have made

All the time ready to lend a few dollars

All of the time ready to give advice

All of the time ready to ask how was your day

While every day is not perfect

And every day is not full of rainbows and flowers

Your caring questions and concern

Have cause me to realize that I have two fabulous parents

Two roses that never give up on their baby boy

That had the gumption and talent

To raise a lawyer

To raise a therapist

To raise a future Physicians assistant

To raise a future MBA

To raise a entrepreneur

To give voice to an autistic child who did not have his own voice

You are the roses that never wilt or fade

Never say no when, no might be the best answer for you

But because it was always the right answer for me, you said “yes”

You are the two roses in my life

And have been since day one of my life
 
"An Akili Carter original"

Confused

Confused
I usually look to my poems for solace and relief

What do I do now when I’m confused

Feel sad everyday like all my days are full of grief

Want to really shed some tears but need to be strong for me

I don’t even believe I have an answer to this question

Want to look to the stars and pray for direction

Well I never really prayed before

So I don’t want to be considered an opportunist

I’m not that selfish

I’m confused about the orientation of this compass

Trying to look for direction but my heart feels like a broken compass

Like I’m just tired of feeling tired

And being tired has me feeling like I should be more wired

I didn’t intend for this to be more then a few lines thrown together

Feel lost in my own head and heart like a lost child

Disconnected from my own feelings right now

Haven’t picked up the pen in about two weeks

Want to be strong, but being strong makes me feel weak

Makes my handles tremble from rejection

Meaning the words will be rejected by my heart

I'm confused and I don’t know where to start

"An Akili Carter original"

Words Are My Weapons of Choice

I grab my pen and cock it ready for war

Ready to go into hand to hand combat with misconceptions

Just cause I’m 6 foot 5 doesn’t mean that poetry doesn’t move my soul

Just because I like to shoot the ball doesn’t mean, I don’t stab my pen into my veins

Draw ink tinged blood like the rest of the poets

I’m from Long Isle and the art is in my heart

Just like in Chelsea or tribeca

I use words just like anyone else does to fight my wars

I use my words to make people cry when I want to be caustic

I use my words to heal broken hearts

Like when Kelly lost her best friend

The words are my weapons to let my girl know she is loved

There is no need for grenades or knives, f a gun

Because, my gun has pentel written on the barrel

And has paper mate etched on the handle

My pen shoots bullets tipped with graphite metaphors that penetrate deep

Deep into your soul

Deep into your cerebellum and help you realize that

The weapons that you use don’t affect me

I borrow bullets from Hughes, Cullen, and Nikki

I get ammo from Biggie, Jay-Z, and Jadakiss

So kiss your weapons good bye because if we stand

Toe to toe me and you, you’re out gunned and out manned

Words are the flavor they savor in my neighborhood

Not that it’s so hood

But it’s my hood and you better enter armed with vocab

My weapons were supplied by my mother and father

Are going to be carried on by my son and daughter

Are going to be potent until the day, words like mine aren’t important

Because, every poet needs to have their weapons cocked to aim

Whether in L I or B K

Words are my weapons and I would have it no other way

"An Akili Carter original"