“He Had a Dream”

this piece is dedicated to Andrew Domingues aka Cutie: you continue to humble me. thank you. for everything. i love you.

---

© May 2004he said he had a dream
he had been down on both knees
solemnly God-Blessin’
ghetto heavens
& payin’ respects,
reflectin’ on split-second scenes
that kept flashin’ from Dr. King to dope fiends
& yet he had seen
the cleanest
visions of a sunset
like two pairs of footsteps
and then, minus one less
imprinted upon the shore
he spoke of more
than what the naked eye could fathom
like Eden before Eve had even baited her Adam
he had been sky divin’ tandem
while random
moments
were stolen
and pick-pocketed
he had me platinum heart-pendant rock it
like positive
prayers & daily affirmations
he wanted much more than this nation
his contemplations were concentrated
on takin’ over any & every galaxy he could behold
he was fixated on poppin’ cold collahz
& boldly flippin’ fake gold into dollahz,
recoppin’ faster than King Midas could touch things
he had sold
everything worth something
but never bargained his soul
and never for the devil
shiiit…
there was no level of insanity
that would lead him to preach
Gods name out in blasphemy
he was merely speakin’ in rhapsody,
broken-tongue-teachin’ so rapidly
but he was just so damn happy
to be explainin’ how,
in one single dream,
he had mastered life & her secrets,
how he had conversated with God
and understood why Moses believed it
he couldn’t keep it
inside, all locked
like the box
Pandora had filled with her misery
oh hell nah,
especially not when elaborate mysteries
had simply
become childs play
he shouted,
“I’m gonna make things go MY way!”
and that’s when I imagined the world goin’ Bay-crazy-sideways
like Nickatina blazin’ chewys on 101 highways
and just then, he told me,
“We’re gettin’ high today, Mary. I dont care.”
and so he taught me how to lightly tread upon air,
and we softly walked on calm waters,
no longer longin’ for American dreams to be offered
he had promised me a proper
kind of guidance
said I could share in his dream
so long as I was West-Coastin’ & toastin’
to world-class alliances
’cause he was makin’ celestial consignments
that’s right
he was realignin’
shooting stars across constellated vast chasms
and he was last-laughin’
at the ones who had tried to laugh at him
i said
he had been dreamin’ & seein’ things
not make-believin’ things
he made you believe in things
man couldn’t even imagine