HIGH STEP 

You can't make it to heaven with a high step
You can't make it to heaven with a high step

I played both sides of the field
I was better at defense
They put me out for special teams
The college league wasn't impressed
But the press called me a work horse
I ignored it like the crowd
I had calories to burn off
And I made my parents proud
A jersey with a number that concealed faulty equipment
A cog in the machine but the team saw me as different
Old beyond my years
My chest hair was like a carpet sweater
They made me leader
I wore that C like a scarlet letter
Whether hot or cold
I had to avoid the loss
And play better then the competitor
Whether or not I won the coin toss
I watched it flip in slow motion
While I considered the odds
But it's a sin to gamble
So I left the risk to God
We had a locker room prayer
Where we all lobbied the lord
I pretended to know the words
Bowed my head and mouthed along
That was my way then
I was a slave to the play pen
Where I tried to make friends
And couldn't wait to say "Amen"
Then hit the field
With a shield that was dented
And a sword that was warped by the wars that I've
entered
I'm a veteran
With all this medicine on my plate
Because the game that we played
Was "How Much Pain Can You Tolerate?"
Can you do it without showing signs of it?
Without fooling yourself so you don't know when it's
time to quit
Hell no
Well, Amen
Give me the pig skin, kid
I'm head huntin for Satan

Throwin' elbows
Til they're breaking
The coach made em look normal just by the that he taped
them

I never went pro
I jgot paid in admiration and respect
But all of that seems to be changin
Tried to make it heaven with a high step
Tried to make to heaven with a high step
Tried to make to heaven with a high step
And get get it get it done
Before we reach sudden death

HOOFPRINTS IN THE SAND 

I've seen a monkey evolve into a man
I've seen a man devolve into a monkey
I've seen a junkie redeem himself with help
I've seen a wealthy man melt into the snow and blow his
credit on a decongestant
The dyslexics breathe easy
The people in the top tax bracket just keep looking for
freebies
Thumbing their noses at those in need of handouts
I'm talkin' panhandlers with secondhand clothes, living
hand to mouth
Camping out on Capitol Hill
The fat cats are still insisting reparations be a
jagged little pill
Today there's free vaccinations at the walk-in clinic
If you're lucky, you won't just be a guinea pig
Call me a cynic
I find it interesting how certain epidemics spread
More specifically – where they don't and who isn't
affected
Yeah, I'm infected with a curious nature
The welcome mat said, "God bless this home," not "God
damn thy neighbor"
They can repeat history but can't recycle paper
They don't see the forest or the trees, just
skyscrapers
Towels of Babel in a town full of cattle
When I question brand loyalty, the crowd is bedazzled
But I'll never be hoodwinked, I'm mindful of the
footprints
The shape of the hoof, the way the path in the wood
splits
The author of the book, the origin of the crucifix
The waitress looking for tips and the place where the
cook spits
This is where I was when the bomb dropped
Hiding from the uninvited onslaught
I've seen people who don't believe in sleep count sheep
With calculators that double as alarm clocks
From Noah's Ark all the way to Rosa Parks
To black folk pushing white agendas inside of an office
with flow charts
Technology ain't shit, we feed off the fruit
When I stuff leaves of absence in my briefcase, follow
suit
Spill the liquid from your double fisted escapade
Kill kids with the drunken misfits in your Escalade
It's gruel for the food fight and foreign aid
Bream ‘em down and build ‘em back up with what you throw
away
Administering band aids on amputated limbs
Kissing ‘em with air raids, and your lips gave ‘em
infections
Too many closed doors led to back drafts
Now the spring edition of fashion catalogues feature
gasmasks
How becoming on these lanky models
They can't look truth in the mirror without a pair of
safety goggles
Hold the bobble head, insert the feeding tube
Even if they stop breathing, make sure they keep eating
food
Do the Schiavo
Mouth opened wide like a perverse psycho circus side
show
Forgive me not, my patterns stay impartial to apologies
Despite a polite side of mine that says, "I'm so sorry"
Adding flame infinitum for your eternal fuel tank
My higher power doesn't need to be thanked
Thanks anyway, that's from him to me to you
I don't mind being the middle man, someday I might need
one, too

I'm at the fire
Where are you?
I'm at the fire
Where the hell are you?

I've seen a man devolve into a monkey
I've seen a monkey evolve into a man
I've seen it all, upside down, in-between, inside out
It's neither here nor there, hoofprints in the sand
I've fallen head first into the pit of my stomach
Taught to trust my gut, got no trust in the gutless
Save some hope for the hopeless, but I won't show it
Shoot my load in an opus, now it's an open casket
Going to Hades in a hand basket
Holding onto a dream, but lately we can't grasp it
There's been too much murder and not enough martyr
Why is it no one else wants to impress Jodie Foster?

[x3:]
I'm at the fire
We're at the fire
Where are you? Where are you?

You can't have revolution without evolution, huh?
You can't have evolution without velution, huh?
You can't have velution without elution, huh?
You can't have elution without lution, huh?
You can't have lution without ution, huh?
You can't have ution without tion, huh?
You can't have tion without ion, huh?
You can't have ion without on, huh?
You can't have on without n, huh?

Seriously I know that you pray when the chips are down
But act different when there are atheists around
Have suspicions that make you think you'll drown
All alone in the middle of a crowd
I'd be a liar if I said I never had to beg
Doubled over with my knees bent touching my head
Stuck in a bed, dealing with all of these evil visions
Running from the dead in a fetal position
Needing assistance from a nurse
She said, "Tell me where it hurts"
These words are gonna make my belly burst
So I mentally revert to all the enemies I've cursed
Running through my memories in reverse
I said bring that beat back, man, bring that beat back
A flash ain't enough time for me to recap
I'm a bastard sometimes, don't think I don't see that
Laughing at the dumb, blind, the deaf to the knee slaps
Cracking punch lines for the sake of some green stacks
Passion for the rhyme can be cheapened by feedback
I shut my eyes and proceed to go dream catch
But a troubled mind can't seem to fall asleep fast
I cut my ties like the way that a fiend acts
Go into overdrive and get caught in a speed trap

HOPELESS 

I played connect the dots with your beauty marks
And I ended up with picture perfect sheet music
I read your musical notes with a composer's eyes
And heard our song for the first time
My spine is still tingling, mental images of your fine tune
is what I've been nodding my head to lately
Every now and then you can catch me humming
your nudity under my heavy breath
I heavily suggest you resurrect
your ancient neglected dust collector
If you distrust the distance in my seldom plucked heart strings
Sit stripped before your full length
Perform your reflection backwards
Maybe then you will understand the rhythm in my movement
Listen when the news is sent
Extend when the rules are bent
I'll be waiting to take your leave
Make me a victim of your two step
Make me an apprentice of your body parts
Teach me to dance to your beauty marks
I'm stepping on toes here and I don't care
It's hopeless, it's hopeless
It's hopelessness holding this openess to blow a kiss
So close your lips but don't get pissed
and throw a fist at this vocalist
I'm not emotionless, in fact I broke my wrist
when I wrote the list of all those I miss
This is my poker face, Mister Feel Nothing

HOW TO WRITE A POLITICAL POEM 

However it begins, it's gotta be loud
and then it's gotta get a little bit louder.
Because this is how you write a political poem
and how you deliver it with power.

Mix current events with platitudes of empowerment.
Wrap up in rhyme or rhyme it up in rap until it sounds
true.

Glare until it sinks in.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being
counted.
I said somewhere in Florida, votes are still being
counted!

See, that's the Hook, and you gotta' have a Hook.
More than the look, it's the hook that is the most
important part.
The hook has to hit and the hook's gotta fit.
Hook's gotta hit hard in the heart.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being
counted.

And Dick Cheney is peeing all over himself in spasmodic
delight.
Make fun of politicians, it's easy, especially with
Republicans
like Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, and . . . Al Gore.
Create fatuous juxtapositions of personalities and
political philosophies
as if communism were the opposite of democracy,
as if we needed Darth Vader, not Ralph Nader.

Peep this: When I say "Call,"
you all say, "Response."

Call! Response! Call! Response! Call!

Amazing Grace, how sweet the -

Stop in the middle of a song that everyone kows and
loves.
This will give your poem a sense of urgency.
Because there is always a sense of urgency in a
political poem.
There is no time to waste!
Corruption doesn't have a curfew,
greed doesn't care what color you are
and the New York City Police Department
is filled with people who wear guns on their hips
and carry metal badges pinned over their hearts.
Injustice isn't injustice it's just in us as we are
just in ice.
That's the only alienation of this alien nation
in which you either fight for freedom
or else you are free and dumb!

And even as I say this somewhere in Florida, votes are
still being counted.

And it makes me wanna beat box!

Because I have seen the disintegration of
gentrification
and can speak with great articulation
about cosmic constellations, and atomic radiation.
I've seen D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation
but preferred 101 Dalmations.
Like a cross examination, I will give you the
explanation
of why SlamNation is the ultimate manifestation
of poetic masturbation and egotistical ejaculation.

And maybe they are still counting votes somewhere in
Florida,
but by the time you get to the end of the poem it won't
matter anymore.

Because all you have to do is close your eyes,
lower your voice, and end by saying:

the same line three times,
the same line three times,
the same line three times.

I KEEP CALLING 

AUTHOR: Sage Francis

Chorus

Intro:

Pick up, Pick up...Pick up, Pick up...

Verse One:

Now I can't even think back. Self-induced amnesia has made its impact /
Mental health produced at leisure was frayed once it was intact /
I voluntarily refuse to remenisce /
If I could choose any wish...I'd lose my genesis /
And prove to my nemesis that I don't need Memory Lane on my way home /
But I got lost and I needed a pay phone /
Because I was in an unsafe zone...inside of a place unknown /
Where unfamilliar faces roam (...and it's so strange)... /
I've got no change...I could've sworn that I did when I left /
My breath gets heavy with every lie and theft /
I looked right and left...then I called people at my home collect /
To tell them, "Things changed." But they just won't accept /
I'm out of range...with no respect. Every time I asked for directions /
All I got was dead ai, cut lines, and bad connections /
People who would helo changed their number to unlisted /
411 info left me unassisted. Wickedly twisted... /
incidents. Is it coincidence? I choose to think so /
Deep in thought, my eyes blink slow. Pictures appear like slide shows /
My mind knows each and every single detail /
Total recall is leaving me pale /
Sick to my stomach...nautious...forces of nature bring my homing instinct /
Its stink...is so distinct...now let me think...a minute /
epiphany: This is the much traveled trail from my past /
Now an unbeaten path...unfunny memories are now making me laugh.

Chorus

Verse Two:

Haaaaaa! The flashbacks of my past acts are numerous /
Since out the uterus...Earth encounters ain't been that humerous /
heheheheh...my laugh lines have been faked for the last time /
I'm past my prime. Climaxing again is a task of mine /
I'm homeward bound. Break out the map and atlas /
I ask gas station attendants...and they just act pissed /
I'm black listed...for not staying true to white lies /
I fight lies...in darkness...heartless...until the night dies /
Then I shed some light on what's the matter /
Reflections in the looking glass self scatter when the hard stares make it shatter /
7 years bad luck? Time's irrelevant /
I'm searching for signs of intelligent minds, but find the element /
Which blinds what the hell I think. Now I'm thinking... /
"What time is it?" I see the 12:00 blinking /
Check the position...of the sun...to see there is none /
I figure there's an eclipse...so I look away to save my wisdom /
The solar system left me stranded in a universe /
Where I do reverse psychology. Apologies are made through my verse /
Ain't nothing to do but curse when I'm frustrated /
Making people disgusted. Plus, I'm mistrusted and hated /
That's an understatement, but who really cares about my failure years? /
I'm on an expedition...following my trail of tears /
From when I cried, but...it dried up...and vaporized /
I played your game, so where's my consalation prize? I'm taking lies /
from faking guys...and gals...who want to be my pals...and peers /
At this here pace, it'll take me a thousand years /
To fins my way back...encompassing what they lack /
It cost me most of my life, but still I'm thinking about a pay back /
Decapitated...I lost my head, and fear is activated /
I'm in a fog. My blood, sweat and tears evaporated /
I back track to find my lost sense of direction /
Stop, look, and listen...before I cross the intersection /
There's much construction. I'm signaled with morse code /
to take a detour. Somehow I end up on an off road /
I squint my eyes...trying to find some street signs /
I can only read strong thoughts. These people have weak minds /
Trapped in a desert that to me looks like a sandbox /
With damn NARCS...hold up, son...I'm noticing some landmarks /
I rack my brain...knowing that I can't attack in vane /
Upon return I promised myself not to act the same /
But every so often my selective screen memory...will be my enemy /
Metamorphasize and say, "Remember me?" /
Getting me petro...wish I could kill the retro /
But heck no...to much of my past I just can't let go /
I'm just a stone's throw away from my home turf...which really is this whole earth /
But claims like that have no worth /
epiphany: And then it hits me...the reason why I'm dizzy /
Is because I've been traveling in circles keeping myself busy.
(Where is he?)

Chorus

Outro:

Deejay Perseus drumming.

I WAS ZERO 

If it wasn't for the bass, I wouldn't need these
hearing aids.
If it wasn't for mistakes, I probably wouldn't be here
today.

10 years ago I was 22.
20 years ago I was 12.
30 years ago I was 2.

When I came out my momma I was zero. (x3)
I was zero when I came out my momma, and now everybody
knows.

In the before life, I was undead.
I was home schooled, there were no rules.
But I gave it all up, just for the chance to go public.
A celestial scarecrow dancing with the puppets.
A tug in my gut, I'm carrying the world in my stomach.
I'm a surrogate mother-fucker the girls love it.
Birth the suffix and cut the visible string.
Controls much more than a physical thing.
I was born into it, and before I knew it.
I saw the students of poor gettin' hauled off to war.
The law of Judas in the land of the king's tax.
Partaking the Eucharist, than demand your kick-backs.
Spiritual wrist slap, please pass the sacrament.
Ask if big bad black Jesus was African.
Selling a click track, call it a soul-plat.
It's all in how you package it.
The power of a magic trick.
Immaculate concepts, lost in the land of the cross.
I'm standing off with a man of the cloth.
he knows the ins and out's and all I wants the outs.
hes selling real estate for some place in the clouds.
But I'm not investing in intellectual property.
Inventing gender-bending technology.
Because maybe everybody needs to just become a sexual
oddity.
Leaving birth to the test tubes and death to the
lottery.
There's no one stopping me, I've gotta be self-
regulating.
Wealth was escalating, but my poverty was entertaining.
I'm debating, the value of a caste system.
I'm cash backed for wars and wars funded by my tax
income.
I find my part of the problem in part of me.
There's always been a difference between what I am and
what I wanna be.

It's either Jihadist freak or Jesus seamster.
I heard god is cumming and shes a screamer.

I couldn't understand what she was telling me.
Why everyone thinks that their their own worst enemy.
I followed the manual and I swallowed the skeleton key.
And it unlocked the hell in me.

(So this is my gift to god!) Rippin' at my dick like a
tourniquet, syphilis!
(This is my gift to god!) I'm jumpin' out the cake,
naked with a shank.
(This is my gift to god!) Unwrap the package confetti
made of maggots.
(This is my gift) You call that talent? here's your
image back, you can have it.

10 years ago I was 22.
20 years ago I was 12.
30 years ago I was 2.

When I came out my momma I was zero. (x4)
I was zero when I came out my momma, and now everybody
knows. (x2)

If it wasn't for the bass, I wouldn't need these
hearing aids.
If it wasn't for mistakes, I probably wouldn't be here
today. (x2)

INHERITED SCARS 

[Verse One]
I didn't tell anyone about what I seen or heard that day amongst the words still
I'm scared to plant ideas into your head while your rebellious side is fertile
Hurdles are getting knocked down
I'm running a losing race
Your legs aren't the only ones marked up - how many dreams have you chased?
If I could have said this to your face maybe you wouldn't have to write like I do,
Except I use paper instead of my body now; it's something you might want to try too
From haikus to horror stories, it's something in our blood that we share,
Something in our blood that appears on the surface of our skin when we bring it there
My facial expression said I didn't care
Hate and aggression must've made an impression on the little kid who stared,
Sitting on stairs when I would bother to bring my skates
My feeble attempt at being a strong, big brother doing father figure 8's
Ripping my cape on the ground that it dragged on
Tripping on fate and hearing the sounds of a sad song
Listen, it's great sharing time now that dad's gone,
But what's with the choice of words?
Or the body parts that you decided to tag them on?
I'm a vagabond, who moved to modern day Babylon and then back again
With minimal contact and you know I can't ask your mom what's happening
You've got such beautiful gifts What are you doing ruining the packaging?
How ironic come to think I probably put this ink on my back for him
I want you to laugh and sing more,
But you dropped anchor in a place
where dreams go to die and you're keeping your ass indoors
I'm asking for you to stick it out and see things through
You're asking for me to zip my mouth and keep it just between me and you

[Chorus]
If I could have been there from the beginning if I could be there right now
if I could promise to be there when you need me, would it raise an eyebrow?
How would your body be different if I still dropped by for visits?
Is it my place to put a smile on your face?
Could I erase your body language telling you its all been said before?
Or change the words you wrote, exchanging your scars for my metaphors?
I'd add them to my collection while smiling
Next time you want to paint with razor blades and need a canvas use my skin

[Verse Two]
Hiding your sins well, but I see the hell that your limbs speak
Tongue in cheek Lying awake in bed while other kids sleep
The strength of evil begins to keep your grins weak
No matter the length of the needle
marking up one's body is so much more than skin deep
Feel the pin prick The grim reap what they sew and you're trained to say that you're fine
Your threshhold for pain is greater than mine
So I'm waiting in the lines that you give me patiently,
While you get cut in the lines that THEY make YOU wait inin ways that they can't see
If there's a vacancy as far as room in your life goes,
say it to me But don't do it with a knife under your clothes
Because the anguish of hidden skin is letting my ghosts be shown
Plus the language its written in hits especially close to home
I'm most alone when I'm out of touch with the people who feel this type of pain
You might just aim for a day that its raining to strike a vein to take my name in
Changing your uniform and altering your mind set
Has your pointer finger decided if it was a fault of his or mine yet?I bet
I know the dialect It's nowhere I haven't been before
With skin that's sore Battle scars that rise from our inner war
Are decorative medals of honor that our father decided to pass through inheritance
And it is repetitive when the kids head in the direction of evidence
proving the pain and hurt is relative

All this pain and hurt is relative...

(repeat chorus)

Fade to black

JAH DIDN'T KILL JOHNNY 

Yeah. Holler at ya boy
Holler at your boy. Do shit
Do remember, Holler at your boy
Go back, a few weeks on this one. Go way way back
This life aint for everyone,
But for some of us. Yeah. Life is easy
This song right here, going out a childhood mentor of mine, father John.
Holler.
Touched me as a kid, i want you to know, still feeling you.
Life is easy
Jah didn't kill Johnny
He had a date with death
It was a slow train coming
And we've all got a train to catch
But Lord, take your filthy claws off the rest of my freinds.
That is, of course, if they ain't already dead.
I make no demands. I just make amends.
I make my bed and I'm a lie in it
But before I die...please...don't take anymore of my friends.
Please don't take anymore of my friends. Life is easy.
The smoke didn't kill Johnny. The drink didn't kill Johnny.
The junk didn't kill Johnny. And the women didn't kill Johnny.
Was it the road? I don't know. Was it rock and roll? I don't think so.
But God, God, God, God, God...would never...kill...Johnny Cash
He had a train to catch.
He had a date with death
And we've all got a train to catch.
Life is easy. Holler at ya boy. Life is easy.

JESUS IN A BOWL OF GERMS 

Jesus In a Bowl of Germs

Pictures of fields without fences...
Shangri La...
and Jesus, Jesus in a bowl of germs

(don't get scared dad...)

after all god loves this whole of worms, but hates common black sheep who refuse to follow the shepherd. Who heard little lambs into slaughter?-LISTEN - to the silence of the man's-LIFE-is a serial killer far
too complex to expose any logical pattern, below saturn and mars there are stars dominating the tunnel vision of cast obstruction and jesus might have been a biological weapon of mass destruction,/
specifically designed to wipe out millions with vanity and pride, lab engineered and born, advanced chemistry in a bowl of germs like hybrid corn, complete with hidden agenda beneath the surface lurking and smirking under a crown of thorns./

The crucifixion was a hoax, a cruel joke shop poison rose bud, emanating smoke screen and only begotten son soap suds,

KEEP MOVING 

I keep moving
I go from house to house
I stay committed
Like one foot in, one foot out
I bounce
Yeah I'm leaving this place
Divorce papers falling out my briefcase

Miss Intuition, the half-truth harlot
Got her suspicions
Lacks proof but wants it
I've been practicin grabbin the noose when the knot
slips
Rewiring my mind to make the firing squad miss
And while they're busy reloading
I'm decoding the messages she sent with this key I keep
holding
But it's a copy
And the lock seems broken
Got me chokin' on discussions I cannot keep open
I'm fully clothed in this cock-tease moment
The last cigarette sits between my lips
But I will not smoke it
While it dangled I got strangled by a second hand
Broke the ropes when I held my breath and let my chest
expand
Threw the stogie to the lonely hitman for hire
Told him that he owed me and he showed me his hand's on
fire
We didn't shake on it
He nodded, I nodded back
He lit the cigarette with his finger and dropped the
gat
I started walking the tracks you should've tied me to
I waited for a train to hop but stopped to say good-bye
to you
When I turned my head
I heard what you said:
"Murder him dead and try to do it with the girl in his
bed"
So I fled
As I remembered one should never look back
There's no direction home only blood on the tracks
Stuck in the past
I jetted and left the red footprints for them to follow
Headed toward tomorrow
And took sips from the flask
That you bought me
For my sober anniversary
Her dad tracks my scent
She's got her old man in search of me
He knows where I'm headed, he's been there
King of the home
Sits on his throne like it's an electric chair
I'm the heir to that domestic death sentence
I see people accepting lethal injections
Dead in seconds
They confused prison for a bed in breakfast
Used their one call on voicemail to see who left a
message
Could it be her?
Could it be!?
They're desperate
Mad at me cause they lack a strategy for exit
Nobody pregnant, nobody get burped
I got lost on this head trip but won't talk to an
expert
My legs hurt cuz I've been walking with cement boots
Ever since you lured me to the water bed to get cute
She had a wet suit and dry dispostion
But couldn't execute that type of mission
It's no small time thing organizing my ending
My book of life
Is a "Choose Your Own Adventure"
With a circular section
You can tell your friends I walked all over you
But you know that's not what these boots were made to
do
In fact, you had them crafted at the store
Said, "Baby, slip em on" but I don't know what you take
me for.
I knew what was up once I felt nailed to the floor
And since the key didnt work I kicked my way through
the door

I keep moving
I go from house to house
I stay committed like one foot in, one foot out
I bounce
Yeah I'm leaving this place
Divorce papers falling out my briefcase

I keep moving
I go from house to house
I stay committed like one foot in, one foot out
I bounce
Yeah I'm leaving this place
Divorce papers falling the fuck out my briefcase

I am no destination
I am just the journey
So don't go settling on me, love
No, don't go settling on me

I am no destination
I am just the journey
So don't go settling on me, love
No, don't go settling on me

I am no destination
I am just the journey
So don't go settling on me, love
No, don't go settling on me

Speak of me in your travels
Take pictures if you please
But don't go settling on me, love
No don't go settling on me