Lessons and Learning

This is something I wrote back in '04. I originally wrote it with the intent of reading it at a Borderland Education Conference but instead wound up reading it at a Rally for Worker's Rights at New Mexico State University. Check it.

Learn to Unlearn.
Unlearn to re-learn.
I'm lookin at it like re-learn or be burned
at the stake.
Cuz stakes is high
Stakes is high like using to escape
Not used to being able to relate.
See, we wait.
But for what?
And for who's sake?
For the sake of not makin' mistakes most of us stay quiet
For fear of being rubber bullet stoppers in riots.
Or the eyes burning as circulating smoke is turning
Learning a lesson - cuz lessons hurt louder than words
...At the same time, NOT learning your lesson IS a lesson
not addressed in question and answer sessions
under bright lights & the choke of overpriced but cheap cigarette smoke
blown in grimacing faces
See, I'm the poster child for which Chicano studies embraces -
Brown & Proud, but not TOO loud,
and not tall enough to stand out in a crowd.
But I do understand,
Understand that I stand under no man
But I do stand for something,
And isn't that something?
...Isn't it ?
I mean, I envision it - Bliss n' shit
On a mission lit by the flame that was sparked by dark eyed revolutionaries
Carried on the wingspan of a time that flies,
But keeps fixed eyes on my ancestral hour glass.
See, in a minute I could make an hour pass -
if I'm at all entertaining...
just give me a second.
Second chance, Second helping, a Second Coming
A Second Chance at not being elected but leading -
JUST... ONE... SECOND
Second to none, but still just one
And I'm 2 to 3
times
the force of 10 of you
4 instance;
1 half of what I say the greater sum of you won't get
Some will
& some kill
& still some feel that the math I speak of doesn't calculate
in a binary world of black and white,
yin & yang,
wrong & right,
loose & tight
Lucy Liu & Condaleeza Rice - just names,
not representations of ANYTHING
In fact, anything but the representations of any being
or any race
at any rate, I can't go any place
without being stereotyped or compare to any face
that looks like mine.
The way I look at it
Humanity is all going to climax at the same time
We'll all leave early and not have the decency to call the next day
10 seconds left and here's the play by play:
Bush shoots
He scores
We all lose
THE END.



Obviously, there was a lot of frustration from the looming elections of 'o4 when I wrote this. I'll have to post something more uplifting for the new found sense of hope that Obama has countered with in this new administration that will be stepping in on Tuesday!! I'm hopeful but still critical - "It's bigger than Obama" and it's not gonna save my wife from losing her job. But hold tight cuz change gon' come! peace.

This is the change I'm lookin for!

"It's right in front of us
each and every one of us
Freedom or death
yes the two are antonymous
Symphonic jus hearin good news
I keep my ears open and stare to the moon
I know theres more than hope when I put out the feelers
We all want the same things when we’re bein our realist
Collective consciousness
let's form a village
Then spread good feelings till there aint no more killers" -The Grouch