InkSpot - Excerpts from upcoming book: 9 lives

This is for my aunt jemima bottle that served as my first american idol just because she was thick, sweet, and black like me this is for that little old lady around the block who still planted that massive flower garden in the middle of the hood just because she knew somebody would come looking for roses this is for miss mille next door who would smack the taste out of your mouth and never ask your mother's permission just because she knew me and my mama would thank her later this is for that aunt who hated barbie too so she gave me that little keyboard and told me go make my own music and play it as loud as i want to this is for the slow-cooking pot watchers and cornbread makers the fifty years of marriage sh&t takers who told me that gumbo was only as good as what's in the pot this is for the daddy i am and the kind of mama i'm not... - excerpt from "she-rose" (copyright AR 2008)