Head bangin’ ass shakin’ balm.
A mix of rhythm, funk, soul, and soapbox prophecy cut with love, grief, rage, and acceptance.
PLAYLIST FOR THE WORST DAYS BY JAWNO OKHIULU 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 108
A TIMELESS SUMMER
In other words it’s sweet
It’s accepting uncomfortable arm positions
shoulder falling asleep, we follow
mangled and tight and cozy
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It’s sweet with a side of coffee
a rush of flavor and fire
my tummy beckons
as an oven waiting
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I’ll wait for you
as you work mystery into magic
typing technically through time
must be love on my mind
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I think maybe together
we can solve love’s riddle
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Sweet bread and stardust
Holding hands sweaty palms
Soft kisses warm arms
Eye contact warm arms
Just bliss in warm arms
Like a wish in your arms
Such a gift in your arms
We lay wrapped in a timeless summer
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DADDY COOL
For Boney M, writing
my father’s favorite songs
I shake my tail
when the drum break hits
I’m crazy like a fool
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I don’t mess around
when its goin down
I’m crazy like a fool
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In my Blackness I dance
Never missin a chance
I’m crazy like a fool
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You know when the sun
stops beating n the sky
I’m looking for my Daddy Cool
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Daddy, Daddy Cool
Ain’t never seen a fool like me
Daddy, Daddy Cool
Inflation in town so don’t be cheap
Daddy, Daddy Cool
If you ain’t buyin don’t step to me
Daddy, Daddy Cool
Tell the powers that be, this dick ain’t free
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OOGENESIS
in the beginning / no words
just breath / it stank of
long night & well rest
i waited for each
muscle in my
body to re-
turn to me
i loved them with
some yoga & tea
to warm the insides
some god said let there be
light & water &
shower tunes
& there i was / there was me
just for a moment there
in the mirror i wiped clean
i saw me in renewed skin
wholly & plainly holy & plain
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& god is change & change has called
& this is how i answered her
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DEM NIGGAS AIN’T PLAYING: HOOPS EDITION
After The Watts Prophets
I don’t wanna play this game anymore
Don’t ask me why, WHY!? I’ll tell you why? Why these referees ain’t calling it fair, I mean
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Why am I always the one getting more foul calls than anybody?
“Oh I didn’t make the rules it’s just my job to enforce em”
See ref, I learned the game the same as them, we supposedly got the same training, but I stay getting called out for playing like I’m doing it incorrectly. I hope you can imagine how that is a little more than frustrating. But oh, I wouldn’t dare get too infuriated, lest I get another technical foul call.
Technical fouls / my temperament is too disruptive, too threatening, you feel threatened by my feelings and emotions, nows I can’t feel my emotions, I can’t feel whole
in your sick and twisted world / I mean game / I mean
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Why am I always the one getting ejected? For my natural disposition to this ridiculous game. I see them, they never get rejected / I mean ejected / and they get angry too; I know your game isn’t fair to the majority of us, yet I get the foul calls, I get T’ed up, I am thrown out. Maybe it’s time I just stop playing with y’all.
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Y’all run around watching my every move, while they get off scot-free, I am surveilled all eyes on me, like I’m the hottest thing on prime-time TV. I hope you see why
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I don’t want to play anymore. I never even asked to play anyway.
Nah, see I was born into this, it’s the only thing I’ve ever known, this game. I watched my parents play this game since I was a kid and though they had a hard time too they always told me to go be better. So I practiced hard, excelled at all the right skills, made sure I would be able to pay my bills when the time came, but I see that it’s not up to me. Nope. I throw my hands up in the air in surrender cause I see now: I’m the player but you call the shots. And if I wasn’t mistaken, always watching me, charging me, and pulling me out the game, I might just mistake you for the cops?
JAWNO OKHIULU
I invite people to engage with the world differently, see themselves and others more fully, imagine new possibilities, and take action for a just and equitable future. I’m a Nigerian-American from Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas, and I live now in Oakland, California. My passion for writing lies in poetry, speculative fiction, and creative non-fiction around themes of climate action, environmental justice, and Black futures. My creative practice also extends to spoken word, song, and dance, and I draw inspiration from Afrofuturist, Queer Black feminist, and Solarpunk. linktr.ee/souliberationary