"Make-Up"

How Funny It Is To Observe
All Of Us Young Ladies
In The Ladies Room
Painting Our Faces
Outlining Our Eyes With Black Lines
Brushing Our Cheeks to a Rosy Red
Coloring Our Lips To A Glossy Sparkle
All Three Of Us Together
Looking At Ourselves Reflected In The Mirror
In A Unified Movement Of Changing What We Are

Were We Becoming Something More?
Or Moving Away From What We Are?

Does Not The Very Phrase, "Make-Up" Tell Us Something?
If It Is Made Up, Then Are We Not Making Something Up?
If It Is Made Up, Then Is It Real?
Are We Not Creating Something Make Believe?

So, Then There Is This Question
Are Not Each One of Us Putting Our Own Make-Up On In Life?
Trying To Add And Enhance And Color Our Lives?
Always Trying To Look Good?
Trying To Outshine The Other With Our Lipstick Or Lipservice?
And Attempting To Capture Perfection?

Yet In The Very Moment Of Putting It On
Is There Even A Problem?
If You See That Your Make-Up Is No Different Than Mine?

~Mita

"Dream for Peace"

Truth Is Soft
It Can Be Gentle
It Takes Silence
To Allow You To Feel It

Do You Listen
Or Just Throw It All Away?
Are You Too Busy Proving Your Point
That You Callously Fail To See
The Presence And The Sincerity
Of The Link That Is The Bridge
That Breaks Down The Wall
Between You And Me?

How Many More Battles Need We Wage?
From One Land to Another?
Between One Faith And Another?
From One Language To Another?
Until You Realize
That You Are Fighting With Your Own Brother?

When Will We Be Conflict-Free?
When Can Mankind Have A History of Peace?
How Much More Clearly Can Violence Speak
And Tell You
Its Guns and Warheads Are Weak?

Is It Through The Destruction Of Lives, Limbs, And Family Trees
That Will Make It Plain For You To See
That Conflict Is Destroying Humanity?

"Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

Is Something Wrong With Me
If I Don't Own An I-Phone
Or Constantly Download An I-Tune
Or Prefer Typing To Touchscreens
And Find IPads And Twittering Annoying?

Is Something Wrong With Me
If I'm Not Always Looking Down
To Find A Text Message Or Wonder
How Many Facebook Friends Do I Have Now?

Is Something Wrong With Me
Because I Can Take A Week Off From Work
When I Feel Like Seeing My Family?

And Is Something Really Wrong With ME

If You Are Not Looking At What You Are Becoming
And Not Examining What It Is You Call 'Living'?

Does It Really Matter To Your Life
If You Get Your Latte From Starbucks
One Minute Later Than You Like?
And When Someone Asks You How Are You?
Do You Really Tell Them The Truth?

Do You Realize That You Will Be Old One Day Too
And Do You Want The Young People Then To Be Just Like You?

Is It So Difficult To Have A Phone Conversation Today
With Someone You Love Who Will Be Gone One Day?

Does Bitterness Still Live In Your Heart?
Or Is It That Your Love is Reserved Only For The Few?
Are There Battles You Feel Entitled to Win?
And Does Your Blood Still Boil Within?

So, What Will It Take
For You To Awake
And Realize Today

That Inside The Friendship Between You And Me
Lies The Salvation Of Humanity

~Mita

"April Showers"

Amidst The Dark Storm
I Must Make It Through

A Cloud Looms Over
Like A Somber Gloom
Blowing Smoke In
Hues Of Gray And Blue

My Sweat And My Tears
My Blood Is Shed For You
And The Thankless Days
Are Numbered Too
A Cry of Help Is Met
With The Silence Of A Black Night

A Shout For Justice
Is Ironically Turned To Injustice Against You
When An Innocent Child
Who Only Wanted To Love
And Be Loved
Is Shunned
And The Cold Wind
And Rumbles Of Thunder
Sustain A Harsh World
That Could Never Understand
The Wonders Of A Simple Hug

~M.P.

"Stop!"

What Would Happen If You Just Stopped All Of The Trying?
Could You Dare to Just Sit Down?
And Be Alone With A Blank Mind,
Even If You Are Silently Criticized.

Is It Such A Bad Thing To Not Always Have An Answer
A Ready-Made Known Reply,
Or Someone To Constantly Report To,
Who Always Asks You Why?

Is This The Life Of Freedom?
The Life You Claim You Happily Lead?
Just Ask Yourself This Question
Don't Bother Telling Me.

~Mita

"Grace"

Beneath Your Makeup
And Your Fashionable Clothes
Behind The Tears
And The Scars Of Every Yesterday You Hold
Underneath Your Perfectly Painted Nails And Toes

And Every A+
And College And Graduate Degree You Own
From Every Job You Ever Had
And All Of The Titles You Earned That Gave Pride To Your Dad

In Every Breath
Between the Cigarette You Smoke
Lies The Hurts And Fears
That Buries And Blocks Your Soul
This Is The Mask That We All Mold
To Wear To The World That Tells Us "No"

Yet When You Strip Away The Layers Of Every Insult You Were Told
And You Question It
You Loosen Its Hold
When You Take It All Apart
And You Uncover Your Heart
You Find A Core That Cannot Be Broken
You Find A Self That Is In Control
And You Discover That Grace Is Who You Are
Pure And Whole.

~Mita

"The Holidays are Here!"

Situations Change And People Do Too
Yet All I Can Control Is You
You Who Lives And Dwells Within Me
The Spark of a Candle
That Lights Up My Eyes
That Fills My Heart With Laughs And Tears
And Reminds Me That The Holidays Are Here
For Hugs And For Cheers

When A Small Child Wishes Us "Merry, Merry"
And A Cousin From Far Travels Near
When A Friend Calls You Up
And Wants You To Come Here
When An Uncle Asks,
"How Was Your Christmas, Dear?"
You Tell Me That The Holidays Are Here

As Parents Cook A Meal With Love
And Christmas Trees Light Up Your Home
You Captured Those Snaps And Flashes With Smiles
And Brought The Jingle Back Into Their Lives!

Happy Holidays!
~M

"The Royal Female"

I Am More Than I Thought I Could Be
I Talk to My Girls
When They Are Down
But I Understand Even if They Don't

That We Are Much Deeper
Than The Boys Who Cannot See
That A Woman is a Queen Being
Of Sensitivity Of Light
And She is Full of Might

She Threatens Them To Their Bones
As They Cower and They Crouch
And They Try to Cut Her Down

But Still Her Spirit Grows
An Angel That Flies
High and Wise
And Never Dies

I Am Strong
And Yes I Win
Because My Power Lives
Eternally Within.

"With Liberty and Justice for All"

A System We Call Justice
Where A State Grants Itself
The Authority to Kill
When Reasonable Doubt
Is a Moving Standard

When the Plea of the World
Is A Cry that Nobody Hears
Where Our Own President
Turns Away
From the Calls
Of His Own Brother
And the Life of A Policeman
Means More Than a Black Man's

In A Country
Where an African Immigrant
Came to Be Free
And is Shot 41 Times by the NYPD
And Later We Find
It Was All a Mistake Made By the Police
Diallo Diallo
Is Finally Free
And Resting in Peace

As Troy Davis Dies
Parting From His Family
Let the Words of the Amnesty President Say
The Light of His Darkest Days
Is Greater Than Any Manmade Court Date
And That the True Place of Justice Is
In the Hearts of Those Where God Lives...

-In memory of Troy Davis who was sentenced to the death penalty on 9/21/11 despite the reasonable doubt surrounding his conviction, despite claims of his innocence, and despite a worlwide outcry of a grave human rights violation committed by the state of georgia in sentencing him to death. Also in memory of Amadou Diallo-an innocent African immigrant from Guinea who was shot 41 times in NYC by the NYPD, and for the many others who are a testament to the injustice of the criminal justice system and whose light and lives may inspire us to live rightly in freedom.

"A-Live"

Now is Living
And All the Nows that Ever Will Be
Make Up Your Life which is Eternity

Will You Promise Then to Make them Your Best
And Tell the Past and Future to Take Rest?
For They are Myths that Don't Exist

And Let Your Mind Take its Right Place
So You Can Observe That Space
Where Stillness Speaks
And Silence Sings
And Your Heart Teachs You a New Way to Live.

"The Texture of Living"

Have You Ever Been With Someone
Who Stopped All Of Time?

Or Realized That You Had Tears
But Don't Know From Where They Had Come?

Is This Grace
To Know The Softness Of Living
To Feel The Space
That Rests In Every Moment
Like The Quiet Churning
Of The Night's Black Ocean Waves

What Does It Mean to Live?
Is Life In The Breath?
Or Is It In A Mind That Is Free
A Heart That Is Open
And A Soul That Flies?

"To You"

On My Own Is The Place To Be
Whether In My Studio Alone
Or With Friends Surrounding Me

A Phone Call From An Aunt
Then A Drink With A Friend
A Day With My Client In Court
Or Relating With My Coach of Life

It Does Not Matter To Whom I Go
Because It Is I Who Always Knows
That The Light Will Surely Show
As My Heart Continuously Glows.

~Mita

"Perfect As I Am"

I Am Already Everything I Need to Be
What is This Striving That Everyone Says We Must Reach?
As If We Are Never Truly Free

All I Ever Wanted To Be Was Me
Not Chasing All Those Rats
In A Race that is Never Won

Or Climbing A Ladder of "Success"
That Ends in A Wealth of Stress, Unrest,
And a Life Of Funds Never Spent
Wondering Where All of My Time Went?

People Say They Don't Have Choices
That This Is What Their Life Must Be
Because They Have Bills to Pay and Mouths to Feed
But I Invite Them to Listen
To Hear the Voices of Those Who Have No Life Regrets
And How They Created Their Own Life Steps

And Then Ask Yourself
How Is It That You Have No Choices Left?

"Heartache"

Do You Ever Feel All Alone?
Like All You Wanted Was to be Welcomed Home?
Learning to Make It On Your Own
Can Sometimes Take Its Toll
A Bus Ride, A Morning in Court, A Loud Remark
And Friends Too Far Apart,
A Lonely Heart
That Sheds a Tear,
Wishing You Were Here.

"What Is Love?"

Is Love Really Blind?
Or Is It There In Front Of Your Eyes?
And Is It The Same For All Of Mankind?

Is It A Mother Patiently Listening To Her Child
As She Whines To Her On The Other Line
Or A Brother Protecting His Sister
From A Boy Or A Bee About To Sting Her?

Does It Come Through The Gift Of Friendship
Or In A Sisterhood That Lasts A Lifetime?

And If It Comes In The Form Of A Man
Bending Down On One Knee
Saying "Will You Marry Me?"
Then Love Can Come From Strangers
Who Turn Into Family.

"Deep Rhymes of Boston"

Relying On Me
That's How I Choose To Be
Got Jesus, My Father, And The Sun With Me
A Greater One Who Does Protect
From The Harm The Material World Projects

I Earn, I Clean
I Weep And Shriek
I Party With All My Heart
And Bleed For My Green
When Every Celtic Game Starts

I Believe Kindness Should Be Highly Regarded
And We Treasure The Life Of Those Now
Along With Ones Departed

Because Big Hearts Are Rare To Find
When I See One
It Will Combine With Mine.

How Does It Feel?

What Is It That You Find
Looking Through All Four Corners of Your Mind?
From Self-Doubt To Blame
To Telling Others What They Did To You That Day

And How It Hurts You
And It Doesn't Matter If They Never Meant To
Because What You Feel Is What You Feel
And What You Feel Is Real

And I Always Tell My Mom
That Even Though I Speak Up And Say
What I Felt From The Words That They Say
The Feeling Of That Pain
Doesn't Just Fall Away

And So It's Something I Work On Each Day
And Pray That Someday Will Go Away
For Life Is Surely Not Meant To Be Lived This Way Each Day
As I Wait For Love To Wash The Pains Of Every Yesterday.

~M.P.

"Two Hearts"

Two Little Girls
White Like Snow
Sweet like Lollipops
Playing on the Swing Sets
Wild Honey that Sticks To Your Heart
Sisters Together
Despite the Years Apart
In a Life of Wonder
There Is a Quest to Find
Truth and Love
True Love. <3

"MLK Day"

On This Day for the Reverend King
A Leader Dedicated to Letting Others Sing
So A New World Could Begin

With Oprah as the Richest Woman
And Obama as our Modern-Day King
When the Voyage of a White Man from PBS
Presented the DNA which We Could Plainly See
That the Black Man was His 'Brother'
As He is to You and Me

A Name of Affection and Love
To Show Kinship and Hope
That We Can Now See
That Day Has Come
And Shows That We Have Overcome...

"Purity"

A Return to Light
The Third Eye of Insight
Blinded by Those
Who Carry Black Hearts
With a Crack Inside
The Light Seeps Through
And a Subtle Energy Pours Into You
A Cloak of Healing that Was Always You
Innocence Once Again
Is Restored And New
Deep Vast Eyes that Sparkle
Radiant and Alive
They Smile For You...