Freedom in Fences

  to: Na’jeir and his family love: Matt Francis   how do you say hello  to those new unyielding eyes whose hope is set in you yet can't tell you why he cries   how do you say what love is when you've never felt so much for these little feet that mark the street where sidewalk chalk has smudged   how do you say it’s all right  when he wakes up with his fears though you feel so insecure as you wipe away his tears   how do you say great job though he missed the winning shot tomorrow swells with hopes new smells as potential stirs the pot   how do you say I love you as he takes his teacher’s hand he looks so small in school’s great halls this seems uncharted land   how do you say goodbye at the beginning of a life son, brother, student, friend his silence brings it’s knife   how do you say a word to his name now etched in stone the weight of loss is too much cost  sliced a void here in our home    how do you say it’s all right...

ETERNAL SUNSET sunset is coming whether we're black or white whether our titles shine in this fading light sunset is coming  whether we're young or old there is no bias as flesh grows cold there's a sunset for each as earth sets us free may we live out this light less focused on "me" ~matt francis

mud in the sand box hey world of wise insecurity i'm done with your counterfeit pride Images of a life in a branded bottle love my own brown grass simple expectations loving arms and  dimples bigger then my selfie what do we see in  sand filled beaches busting bikinis manic flesh fading fast and  blasted on our bitter walls better to know love in a muted mirror then a television translation satisfaction is a rolling stone  in a river with no landing  it finds you only in theory never in flesh and bone love is not love  which sees no sign but self It is however the beginning of hope  ~ matt francis

A Pleasing Son a mystery this man with freckled hands the boy a knight with a wooden spoon held to that hill a mountain of will the lion loud sheep in a quiet room slow turning tide a foundation of pride the sea roars but it never moves so slams his heart each kid does his part the man screams yet refuses to choose religion creeps in now seeped into skin the child cries as he tries to hear slow echoed drum no reflection of sun the shadow drowned with each cup full of fear a mystery this man with freckled hands the heart that could swallow you whole  a pleasing son a chosen one the angel who now knows his role the boy the lion the sea the man the child the shadow the heart the angel my dad Happy Birthday Dad! I miss you more than you know! Here's to LOVE & Legacy! .................... matt francis

London Laina Washington was stillborn on  January 1, 2014 with a due date of January 3. Please keep her family in your thoughts & prayers! May this poem be a conduit for London's legacy to live on in you even though she never took a breath! By reading this, her light lives on in you.  May it remind you of how precious life and those relationships you are blessed with are! London's Eternal Laughter such pain in hearing giggles  and a cry that never came these walls an empty shell still echo out her name harder now to breathe  as you lay there on her floor the world won’t know the girl this girl you so adored you see her now in dreams in visions through your tears her light that never shined a reminder through the years her light was held from you while waiting hear on earth but make no mistake your London  still had a perfect birth she was born above the stars into the masters hands this...

Where Your Soul Meets Its Worth in the midst of all of this... where there is breath  there is hope you were created for a purpose one that only you could fill you were created exactly as you are made beautiful  by a higher standard than culture critics or spirits of this world your time is now this moment a gift may you use it to meet your destiny  with all the awareness of your worth you are capable a light in a dark place you were born for this embrace the light the dream the rock the truth YOU ARE LOVED now go and be a human being not a human doing matt francis

where does religion lie as birds fly by the forefront of our wall spears in hand protecting sand shadowing our call is this our heart the art of self perception of our skin sliding scale smoke spattered vail we wallow in our sin a fire burns as mad men turn and ask if this is it now looking up we fill our cup and sip on mold and shit taste buds scream is this a dream as bone embraces pain sleep sets in we wake with friends all echoing our name believing lies in gorgeous eyes hope and sand take flight now counting cost we find were lost such beauty in the night religion is as religion does it keeps us in our cage relation calls and as fear falls he frees us from our rage .......... matt francis