My body is deceiving, my environment shy, time is fleeting, just look me in my eyes.

Don't look at the lined cylinders latched onto my wrist, printed aluminum burnt to the crisp, planes shaped into a pointy prism by the bright in blue ignorant of my position.

My body is deceiving, my environment shy, time is fleeting, just look me in my eyes.

Don't look at my monstrous, larger-than-life feet, riddled by the journey I chose to seek, a myriad march not openly televised, shaking in fear of the incessant sirens' cries.

My body is deceiving, my environment shy, time is fleeting, just look me in my eyes.

Don't look at my belly, stomach or what I call my fortress, broken and separated into 8's strengthened by marching waves, a spirit mysteriously unbroken, "it was granted by history" some would like to say

My body is deceiving, my environment shy, time is fleeting, just look me in my eyes.

Don't look at my back, stripped and inhibited by 90 degree burns and the hits of whips, spits of poisons and crowded ships that I stepped foot in, images of boxes and weights, pain understated by crimson liquid and crime rates, an art indicative of the will of hatred or rather the deep dark master's piece of a painting.

My body is deceiving, my environment shy, time is fleeting, just look me in my eyes.

Don't look at my forehead, hanging onto my neck by a wing and prayer, all you will see is air in there, the ridges of curiosity wanting for knowledge but neglected by educational systems that charge way too much money for learning how to benefit from capitalism, add insult to injury, college is worth more than my life is in front of a grand jury. But don't pay it no mind, don't even try, you will only commit a travesty.

My body is deceiving, my environment shy, time is fleeting, just look me in my eyes, just look me in my eyes.

Just look me in the spheres that allow white and black to coexist,

The windows to a soul that just wants mo, that just wants mo, that just wants mo ownership, a higher standard of living rather than debt on top of debt and paycheck to paycheck, universal love that no artist's water on paper could ever correct, a peace coupled with justice that just is complete.

Look me, I said look me, I said look me in my eyes, the only part that is still drenched with pride, that still sees victory for humanity despite blood spilled over the streets' rock hard aisles, that fraction that still sees similar signs, that sword that could still pierce through melanin to the heart we once called heaven, that bow that could still shoot arrows at the character in your marrow. This is the only true part left. The only part that feels but hides it's tears under the umbrella lids, that part that could kiss the sky with no fear of flying. That part that could strip a body down to its bare bones. That part that doesn't even take people at face value but learns their story through daily lessons. that part that still sees kings and queens among prisons and barbed wire, elegance despite the media’s label of ugly,  presidents and CEO’s among employees, oscar nominees and diversity in the academy, communities together hand in hand with police

That part that sees beyond the past to present a brighter future, an unrealistic nonfiction, a morning despite the evening, scars as stories in the midst of beatings.....I ask you, please, I beg you, please, I beseech you, please....My bruised beautiful body is deceiving, my environment shy as the moonlight retreating, time, oh precious time is fleeting, just look me in my eyes, Look at me, look at me. Pause from your busy life. Pause from your backed up city traffic. Pause from 2K plastered onto your Xbox. Pause from your CNN, your Fox, your MSNBC. Don't worry. Their images will never fully capture me. Pause from that lock in your mind that won't allow you to feel me. Just look me in my eyes. Just look at me and you will see that I'm so much more than how you used to perceive me.