~ WORDPLAY and POETRY ~
I have passions, no vices
I make love with strangers on recording devices
I'm a mother, a poet, a queen unseen
Know where I'm going and respect where I've been
Life pulls no punches but I'm living the dream
- MofoHari
LABELS By MofoHari
My culture is hip hop
But they call me r & b
Heathens crane to understand
So they shove a label on me
Highly unorthodox
Stick it all in a box
Keep it where they can clearly see
Peep inside for changes
So they can call it an atrocity
And still and yet
So many sounds to kill
I cannot sit still
Or be bound by an ear
Despite respecting what they hear
Let me fly and touch
Praise the music, double dutch
I'm not about to stop
Exploring what I feel so much
If you host a show
They call you a DJ
And really that's okay
Except when that's how they see you
As if that's all that you can do
Be warned they'll try to keep you
Do not stay
Small minds see only snacks
Not the full buffet
THE HEARING by MofoHari
They throw beats like roses
Send photos with poses
The ear exposes the grotesque explosions
Of impotent sounds and undisciplined emotions
This hearing is closed you cannot reach me
I've had maestros and mentors take time to teach me
Go back to your bedroom child,
Practice your craft
Show me some greatness
Until then step back!
THE ARTISAN by MofoHari
Blacked out in vigorous session
My pen scratches deeply in voracious aggression
Burning maps into my hand
Tattoo'd with blood as I understand
The credo of the artisan
Thrown weeping into lyrical quicksand
My psyche flies freely without command
While volcanic expression
Forces spiritual connections
With poetic forebears
Who nod and whisper and push me forward
There shall be no repressions, no exceptions
Until internal peace is restored
EXPRESSIONS by MofoHari
Life never stagnates
Lessons can be tough
Experiences fluctuate
But you can never have enough
The only way to raise your weight
Is to learn and grow and educate
Thru all of life
Thoughts ebb and flow
Like an ocean tide
While The mind Erodes
Like ancient stone
As crafts are honed
Until it expands
And is fully grown
So our Expressions must change
In order to relate
Moments of horror
Or love or hate
Different words
Different speech
The more you speak
The further you reach
To draw our picture more accurately
Tell a story more succinctly
As we push the pen more relentlessly
Thru Their Lens by MofoHari
I share freely as it comes to me
Thru lyricism and fantasy
But they see only what they choose to see
So I paint it for them colorfully
With metaphor yet truthfully
And details woven beautifully
Into the fabric of creativity
I move my body with eyes closed,
Dance for them with soul exposed
Safe in the knowledge they'll never know
Which doors are real or superimposed
With smoking mirrors and labyrinths
Sexually charged or cold and distant
Visions given to feel for an instant
As they view my thoughts thru their own lens
Whatever this imagination gives
Drips from the tips of explosive pens
Whether with wisdom, a vision, love or sin
A rhyme's as good as an audience is
If they can relate to the experience
So margins are wide for the variance
**********************
The Nature Of Progress by MofoHari
So many years wasted
So many fruits untasted
Endless schemes, dreams, life themes
Simmer idly it seems
On the brain's back burner
While striving hard as the family earner
I'm a visionary thinker but a real slow learner
Life won't stop just because we do
We won't succeed using magic or voodoo
Can't get rich quick with a Smith n Wesson
But by using our minds and all of our lessons
One step at a time (but) in quick succession
Nature teaches by showing
The progression of a seed growing
That has been planted with our hands
The blueprint of savoring the stages and
Many will not understand
There's pleasure in the process of a rose in bloom
A child is born, 9 months in the womb
I write my songs right here in my bedroom
But it takes patience see it thru
Don't let pride steal your visions from you
*************************
Creativity - by MofoHari
In the presence of rhyme, I am home
In a world where players walk off stages,
Refuse to read from the same pages
I'm still embraced and never alone
Here in this perfect mind zone
When I can't fit in anywhere, lyricism is there
Never needing to search, its there to take
Nothing to prove and there's nothing at stake
Whenever my heart breaks, unrecognized by fakes
And those who are just not into me, feel no affinity
I connect the lines refined by divinity
Poetry is my blessing, my symmetry
The life force that surges within me
Nothing can be achieved deliberately,
It must come to be, naturally
Yet the skill requires mastery
That's why it's called creativity
****************
Human Confusion - by MofoHari
People know about war but not about peace Know about violence but blame the police They know how to struggle without finding release Grow up pointing at everyone else Without seeking solutions to improve themselves
****************************
Kinship - by MofoHari
Business is not the same as friendship,
Don't get it twisted
If fools changed the rules I must have missed it
Too many attitudes around me are bullshit
I speak louder and prouder standing up at the pulpit
My heart is an anchor and so is kinship
******************************
Hard Times - by MofoHari
Times are hard on the boulevard
It's rough for some folk
Washin' dishes with laundry soap
Hangin' clothes on frayed rope
Breathing in downstairs second hand dope smoke
Sometimes I wonder how we cope
But can we give up? nope!
Where there's life there's hope
********************************
Survival Revival - by MofoHari
Legends drop all around us, moguls die young
Yet you dive in the hive and wait to be stung
I want to live to reap the fruits
See my troops receive salutes,
Yet they be diving out of planes without parachutes
Paralyzed, Contributions unrecognized,
It's unwise to live the dream without opening your eyes
When the path is blurred ideology dies
When its lost inside your mind, rewind!
You labor so hard that you're deaf, dumb and blind
Dying to win, always running behind
Work smarter not harder, make plans, never barter
Killing yourself trying is a real non starter
Bend with the wind, remix and blend
I'll be standing and smiling when my life ends
Neither party too hard or stress over deadlines
Obsessive grind burns out your mind
Ages you and steals your time
Avoid hustlers, goons, egos and buffoons
Who will swear they fly without leaving the room
Understanding comes when you ignore their rules
And embrace mentors, lessons, revelations and tools
We need Survival revival, martyrs are oldschool
Ain't no success in bein' a dead fool
Sit your ass down once in a blue moon
Pick up a pan and ill pick up a spoon
Rap me a rhyme or sing me a tune
Remember when we were young
We knew exactly how to have fun
Used what we had and knew what to do
You're still that kid, still the same you
So listen within, stay thirsty my friend
Live it and feel it, don't leave us too soon
***********************
Paradox - by MofoHari
You draw your own blood when you shadow box
It's a senseless and pointless paradox
The one that always hurts is the one who's fighting
Best to make your peace so try uniting
Life is hard when the realness is biting
You're just spinning in circles
Thinking that's exciting
It's time to plan the show
And show them who you are
Cuz you're a star
Deep down you know it
Just because they sleep on you
Doesn't mean they're through with you
Soooo
Pick yourself up
Put the gloves away
You're gonna live to see another day
And you know it's gonna be okay
You shoot your own foot with the verbal ratchet
Cut your right hand off with your ego hatchet
Talkin' like you're finished
With all the things you'd relished
Like all those visions you'd embellished
All the dreams and all the schemes
All the plans and everything
Just suddenly ran out of steam
Just because it didn't pan your way
Exactly how you said the game would play
You will not lose, unless you choose to
Life didn't kill you, only bruised you
Still got that mojo that you used to
Just gotta change the way you view, the world around you
Stand a little taller and wait until they've found you
Own the ground you know you walk on
There's power in the things you talk on
It's time to plan the show
And show them who you are
Cuz you're a star
Deep down you know it
Just because they sleep on you
doesn't mean they're through with you
Soooo
Pick yourself up
Put the gloves away
You're gonna live to see another day
And you know its gonna be okay
You can't win against the universe
It's the creativity curse
Expression progression in reverse
Can make your life a whole lot worse
Get you livin' out a metaphor
Wondering what you're even here for
But if you learn your lessons boy,
Stay alert for open doors
Experience will be your mentor
It's time to plan the show
And show them who you are
Cuz you're a star
Deep down you know it
Just because they sleep on you
Doesn't mean they're through with you
Soooo
Pick yourself up
Put the gloves away
You're gonna live to see another day
And you know its gonna be okay
It's really gonna be okay
I promise it will be okay
***********************
WORD PLAY
* Don't let the vultures devour your dreams
A penny for your thoughts,
Your dollar with their schemes
Keep your passions unseen from the mainstream
Close to your heart undiluted and clean
* Please don't glorify me when I die,
When I've been here for years and you pass right by
* I display my ink like a battle scar
Dreams that leaked/troughs that peaked
Ears alert every time they speak
Physical images send mental visages to remind me
I'm never alone they still think on me kindly
Not right here but not that far
It's not what you show but who you are
* Number crunchin' is my breakfast cereal
In the physical I'm lyrical but the soul is etherial
I love my hood but that's immaterial
I cant stay here it ain't worth the funeral
Long nights awake, my mission is serial
* A moan from the lips, movement of hips
Clutching hard with my fingertips
Silk sheets slipping softly, making me sigh
While they gently slide across my thighs
Closing eyes, reaching the edge
That's when I sit up in bed
Alone with the visions inside my head
**********************
* I can't propose to raise the dead
But I can show you wisdom instead
Wake the sleeping laying comatose in bed
With words the hungry can be fed
* Been searching so hard for my oasis
Looked in so many places but all I see is strangeness
Hostile faces, non toleration among races
New drug crazes, hood rats and scars from bullet grazes
* What happens to your dreams when you run out of steam?
The dash turns to dust if you know what I mean
**********************
MRS PRESIDENT by MofoHari
I've always been a part of this city
Paid my bills paid my rent
I've seen the ups and downs
Some changes ain't been pretty
Now I'm throwin' confetti
Proud of our womanhood
It's good that you're in residence
I see you ooze that confidence
Mrs President
I see you strollin' down the center of town
With your Secret Service all around
Wish I could talk with you sister
Just a moment on our own
I think I'd ask you to take off that mask
We could relax and have some laughs
Maybe one photograph
With your informed consent
Mrs President
I'm sure you'll be accessible too
So I will wait here for you
Maybe they’ll let me squeeze thru
We can talk then
Mrs President
Your mouth spits fire while your eyes shoot flames
But beneath that guarded gaze
There beats the heart of a lady
I know you'd think
My contemplations crazy
With all that power that you represent
Your service to mankind must be excellent
Mrs President
It's a new day it's true
It's a good day for you
But they ain't playin Mrs President
So I’ll just wave as you're passin thru
NO ROOM IN THE INN by MofoHari
There is no place for hate
no room in the inn
Go back where you came from
You can't come in
One love One life
the struggle is rife
You see me standing right
I have No bullets
No butcher's knife
I've come in peace, to do some good
I've Experienced poverty
walked the streets of my hood
Met family who understood
Closed minds instantly saw an enemy
Some, A frienemy
I'm just an independent entity
The concept is simple in its complexity
But the deaf won't hear it
And that's what vexes me
I've witnessed death and destruction
Experienced loss
and dream obstructions
I've carried my cross
Lived with lowness of energy
Been around many
With discordant frequencies
Seen haters become friends
Friends become enemies
Felt so much pain it started to weaken me
But strength was within reach
And lessons do teach
In a moment of clarity it hit me
During a time of Desparity
When Resolve was crumbling
Eyes wet with Stumbling
The moment of truth was
Impactful and humbling
