WE ARE ONE (Mi Familia)

We are hilarious and fun –
intelligent and dumb
Wise and foolish in our ways
We are predictable, timid, and frank
We are spiritually fortified, as we
encounter life roads that are dim, dark, and dank

We love Traditional Gospel music –
Praise and Worship best to evoke the Holy Spirit,
but we’ve been moving and grooving in with the Contemporary tide
We are mature and youthful in spirit in consensually understanding
we were bought at a price by our Big Brother who died

We are sometimes hard to love, but always worthy of the attempt
We are abundantly gifted, pseudo replicas, and bona fide jewels
Who have graduated and prematurely vacated Mid, High and Ivy schools
We are bonded, loving and loyal throughout our fluctuating heights of stability in class

We can cook with the best of ‘em in the kitchen and we whoop our children’s ass
We love to drink and party and “We never touch that stuff”
We are overly loving and attentive of our children but also shamefully neglectful
We love the Lord and serve Him with vigor all the way down to just enough

We’re seasoned freaks, who “candy lick” with Marvin Cease
And youthfully groove to Theodis Ealy’s “Stand up in It” jam
We love Hip-Hop, like a favorite younger sibling
And we chill with 70’s Soul, 80’s Grooves, and the 90’s Sex jams

We’re behind the pulpit, in the pews, and planted on The Block
We’re in Corporate America, prison, on probation, the military and working two jobs non-stop
We’re lovin’ our spouses, supporting our kids and keeping God first
Praying with and for us as we’re strong-held to alcohol, sex, green, and the coke that doesn’t quench a thirst

We’re pimpin’ our mates and getting taken for all we’ve got on Earth and above
We bring “beef” to Fish Friday’s causing disharmony in our love
We relinquish our last coin and hoard our fortune all to ourselves
We are breaking and rebuilding generational cursed former selves

We are the smiling blessed who shower the world with encouragement and praise
And we are the miserable haters who tear down and gossip to give worth to our days
We live comfortably in the Suburbs even though we’ve never left The Hood
We are so busy trying to get it done whether it’s for the betterment of the Kingdom or of no good

We are the ones who are lazy, who can dish it but can’t take it
We are so strong – we are weak, frail, and breaking
We’re for the most part peaceful unless one comes to harm
God be with the perpetrator who intentionally rings the alarm

We commune regularly and sing of our joy and pain
We’re coming to get us wherever we are whether sleet, snow or hurricane
We shimmy our stresses away on Ladies Night, and go broke for our baby’s birthday
We know love because of each other because it’s something we speak and don’t say

We vacation on the beaches of Myrtle and Ocean Isle even though we’ve never been anywhere before
We’re aspiring for greatness in the cities along the North and South Carolina shores
We’re walking the streets of Gold and walking the streets of the New Jerusalem
And were progressing in the “good life” like Kanye in the Black Mecca – “el Nuevo renacimiento de Harlem”

We’re musically inclined playing instruments in all five
We can sing like Whitney and put Luther and Pac to shame
We are dysfunctional and simultaneously the model of function
We are all one in the same

We are Family…

– We are One, singular not plural

Suggested read:
1 John 4:20-21
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Tara S. Gause aka Poetic Goddess Tara Shenéa
© 2007. All Rights Reserved.

THE MAKINGS OF ME

My Momma told me that she raised a Wife, not some boy’s “Baby Mama”
My Daddy told me that “I was Beautiful” – and to invest in real estate
My Godmother Lucille told me she loved me like it was the last time “every” visit
My 6th grade teacher Mrs. Ware told me that my writing ability was “special”
My Auntie Sis told me, with a wink, “Don’t let every boy stick his spoon in your stew”
My Auntie Clara told me, with a smile, that “God was grooming me” and that –
“I was going to be a ‘Great’ Woman someday”
My Uncle Mike told me that “I was a Queen” and that Royalty deserved nothing but the best
My Uncle Norwood told me that Family is sometimes difficult but “worthwhile”
My Sister Teacha told me, with a snap, “Don’t get a wet ass for nothing”
My Brother Junior told me that I was more than smart – “I was wise”
My Best Friend Chandra told me that I’ve always been “different”
My Bible told me about Life and that “God so loved me”
My Guardian Angel whispered after my 2nd attempt “Don’t walk out on the movie, just because you’re at the part that you don’t like”
I told myself after my near death car accident in ’05 that –
“I’m not ‘Great’ yet so Aunt Clara must be right…right…right…right…



Suggested read:
Proverbs 3:5-6


It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a God.” ~Francis Bacon, Sr.

Tara S. Gause aka Poetic Goddess Tara Shenéa
© 2007. All Rights Reserved.

THE VISIT

He was all she had…
her smile,
her treasured gift,
her joy and pride
And they want me to visit her home
and tell her that he died
They want me to verbally suffocate her spirit
and shatter her motherly heart
They want me to report of his untimely demise
and tear her world eternally apart
To rob her and rape her
of her joy for the rest of her days
In telling her that her favorite child,
her youngest son,
– died viciously–
on his 20th birthday

Suggested read:
Luke 18:1-8




I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?" ~Eve Merriam

Tara S. Gause aka Poetic Goddess Tara Shenéa
© 2007. All Rights Reserved.

REMINISCENCE Jazz No. 9

I’m yearning right now for your forbidden fruit
That (¯ooh.dotsee.doo¯) sweetest taboo
We in a good mood,
Chillin’
just me and my dude
kissing and rubbing,
stroking and sucking
Honeymoon high lovin’
We wildin’ and buggin’
Doing one of your two favorite things
passionately fucking or
Making love to me
(¯twee-dot-dee-dot-daa.daa.daa¯)

Remember that?
(¯twee-dot-dee-dot-dee.ee.ee¯)

Huh baby?

You remember that –
(¯Baadaah.bah.bah.baaaa.bop¯)

Cuz I do…

Tara S. Gause aka Poetic Goddess Tara Shenéa
© 2007. All Rights Reserved.

THAT FEELING

I wasn't looking for Him amongst the crowd
But once I saw Him –
I couldn't take my eyes off of Him
And I got that feeling…
You know that feeling?
That vibrates a kinetic pulse along your nerve endings inserting Love
into all 5 doors of your senses
As we greeted,
Our eye contact was new, yet old, and familiar
Our handshake and overly-extended gaze confirmed our connection was mutually felt
As we mingled,
I could smell his lightly seductive scent
Like a wafting fragrant candle in the distance inviting me into its harmony
It enveloped me,
Like a cooling gentle breeze
I couldn't see it but I knew it was there
His voice was beating a jazzy drum solo upon my eardrums,
and I grooved to his intellectual beat
My mind's eye was intimately intrigued with Him, trusting and relaxed
I was attentive,
Like a student to a teacher who's lecturing a favorite subject
His physical form was eye candy sweet arousing my taste buds and awakening my salivary glands
Butterflies arose and fluttered in unison as he sat down beside me
His unintentional brush against my thigh transmitted a magnetic pull into my body that caused rapid fluctuations in my heart rhythm unbeknownst to me before
Pneumatic chemistry was emitted by our reciprocal flirtatious body language
At that moment,
All I knew of this stranger was his name
Yet I felt naturally comfortable treading in on unfamiliar territory
For that "still small voice" whispered and told me that Love could be found within Him
His presence made me aware that "this feeling" is not a given with all I encounter
We were meant…
Whether for a reason, a season or a lifetime
We were pre-written into each other's journeys by the Divine Author before we took our first step along the path
I was getting that limited edition supernatural feeling…
That yang to my yin balanced feeling
That forever and a decade in His presence special feelingThere it goes again...
Ooh, he just smiled at me exposing those dimples that aredeep enough to immerse all my "What if?" fears of the unknown in
Ooooooh yesI feel real good about this one
And I like this feeling…
And he –
He gives me that feeling


Suggested read:
1 John 4:7-16

Tara S. Gause aka Poetic Goddess Tara Shenéa

© 2007. All Rights Reserved.