Featured Poet: Tacuma Baye

“My name is Tacuma Baye and that's African for "He is alert and straightforward!" I am a New York native, born and raised in Brooklyn. Currently I'm 34 years old, father of a beautiful little girl and aside from my occupation and daddy duties, I'm an adventure and good time seeker. I ride/race motorcycles (nonprofessionally), have a love for entertaining and I am a writer. This is my passion. I'm working on many projects which include stories, novels, screenplays and of course, poetry. During my school years I've always been encouraged to pursue writing. Throughout my life it has been more of a private affair for me until I began to share my poetry with close friends. I've never been published and I came upon "O Sweet Flowery Roses" while on Craigslist. I would like to share some of my work with you and I hope you enjoy them!”

It's a real honor and privilege to publish emerging poets on this site, and I think there's a particularly cool feeling with being the first journal to do so.

Plus, rejection slips really suck. Ask anyone who's ever submitted anything.

A reminder to NYC poets: Jan. 22 is the date of our next reading. If you don't know...now you know.

I Wasn’t Supposed To Love You

I wasn’t supposed to love you

A good time, a fuck or a screw

Nah! believe it or not I had more respect for you

But the bottom line is, I wasn’t supposed to love you

I was supposed to break down your barriers. I was supposed to influence your mind

But in order to achieve that I wasn’t supposed to give up mine

Not my mind, not my heart, but I gave it all

No wait! You took it all! You tripped me! You made me fall!

Put my back against the wall!

Till I had you in the hall against the very same wall

Please! Let it be my name you call…

Tell me you love me, that’s how it should be

I wasn’t supposed to love you…I don’t think you hear me

You can’t say you hear me, calling

Eyes flooded with tears, reflecting on the years

Hard times, facing questions, reliving my fears

Who are you? How’d you get here? Who gave you the right?

No fuck that! Who gave you the light?

Unveiling what’s behind the shadows, forcing me to go through me closet

Stupid ass cops, why didn’t they go through the closet

They would have found him, and then it would end

If she’s your friend, why both of y’all in the bed with him

See…here we go again, taking me there. Why you making me share?

Don’t you know I’m selfish…?

I take everything and I don’t give shit!

You heard the rumors, act like you ain't believe it!

I sent you gifts, tell me you ain’t receive it!

What shoes? My gifts were love

Love is…all I have…for now that is

Me stay down? That is not the life I intend to live

I’m on the rise my dear. Take my hand and have no fear

Our love will persevere! Wait! How’d you get me back here?

I wasn’t supposed to love you! Don’t you get it?

Am I trying to convince you or me…shit, forget it!

It’s all out now, can’t try to hide in the open

I just dread the day I’m left in the middle of the ocean

Drowning…

Waiting For You

Here I sit, waiting for you.

Like a dream, or a wish, or a prayer…Waiting for you to come true

Here I sit, frozen in time

Seconds pass as if they’re hours, days pass as if they’re years

Life goes on, All lives except mines

Here I lay in a pool of black, as black as a moonless night

Caught up in your rapture, so the pillow I cling to tight

Waiting for the day black turns to white, burning oils and candle lights

No longer a pool of darkness but a sea of delight

Soaking in your Brown Sugar, drowning in your sweet essence

Delving deeper, foregoing air. To die here would be heaven

But instead I lie here condemned to hell. Instead I lie here naked, abandoned

If hell is hot why am I so cold? You said I have power, should I have been more demanding?

Don’t make me wait for you, do you wait for me?

Do you cry, hug the pillow, shun your surroundings, forego companionship?

Ignore needs and desires, because your body aches only for me?

Here I sit, my very essence throbbing, pulsing, laying with great weight in my hand

The weight of your body on mines, but only in my mind. The weight of the Cognac heavy on my eyes

The weight of the truth pressed upon me. But never as heavy as the weight of the lies

It’s not me it’s you, ride me. Yes it’s you! Straddle me, fuck me, give me my pussy! Yes, it’s you!

But it’s not…it’s here the lies just stopped. On the floor beneath me, it’s here the lies just dropped

Body jerking, hand gripping, heart racing, my love dripping…

It’s not you, it’s only a vision. It’s not you, it’s only me wishing

Wanting, waiting, taunting, hating. This process is a task, why do it I ask?

To wait for you is to have faith in you. To trust that you will return

To believe that no matter what takes place, it’s for me you yearn

So here I sit waiting for you, as a true hunter waiting on his prey would do

Patient, persistent, tenacious, relentless. I sit alone…waiting for you…

Quickie

Galloping hearts racing against time

Sweat defying the laws of gravity

Lip gloss upon lips, upon face, upon chest

Eyes dancing, predicting the others next move

Hair pulled back, Ears guarding the door

Flames escaping through muffled moans

Bodies chasing the climax, yet needing the moment

Make it last, but be quick about it!

Shhh!