“Being Woke” a poem for REBEL

I must’ve mistaken breath for clouds /
my purpose for hand grenades
because, if this is not fire
I don’t know what living is.

If my hand isn’t in boiling water
or my thoughts at war
I don’t know a storm.
But somebody turned on the heat

And it’s not my jacket or coat
cause life has a way of
stripping away your fashion and
colorful bouquets of joy.
snatch your seat from under you
and make you stand
face to face with your past
toe to toe with love /
and as much as I want them both to be
the same,
they split me in half like mishandled glassware
make my sleep become / scattered marbles.

So I stay woke.
I see the cracks
I see the valleys
I feel the webs wrestle against
the satin of my face

I won’t take your hush money
or accept your violence as water
it doesn’t flow with the sunrise of my blues /
It ignored my SOS when I needed it most
so I will drive         I will push
I’m going to create furious thunder for the skies
blow rapids under the waves
I’m going to make you feel this bass pummel from my heart
not some timid toned treble
I heard you speak / I’m woke now,
what else would you expect from a

Rebel.

The poem, Being Woke, by Nikki Skies for Rebel on BET.

“Reverse Opinions”, a poem

Be sure to watch all the first season of REBEL this week on BET.com.  And check out the poetry for the series called REBEL YELL.  Here is the full video for the poem, Reverse Opinions.

“Almost a Lamentation”, a poem

Catch up with your favorite episodes of “REBEL” this week!  And enjoy the poetry written for the series as well on, REBEL YELL.  Click here for “Almost a Lamentation”

“Being Woke”, a poem for Rebel on BET

Here’s a snippet of the poem, “Being Woke” for the season finale of Rebel on BET.  Check your listings to watch the “edge of your seat” finale episode to season 1 and hear the lead actress, Danielle Monet Truitt, recite the entire poem.

Get a Poetic Recap before the finale tonight!

Get a poetic recap to the hit drama, “REBEL” before the season 1 finale airs tonight!  Make sure you check your local listings and TUNE IN this edge of your seat finale.

Here you can find all things “REBEL” including the four poems I wrote for, “Rebel Yell”:

Almost a Lamentation
Bang Bang
Reverse Opinions
Score Board

Have you joined the REBELution?

20 Reasons We Love “REBEL”

Being a woman is not a story, we cannot be placed as non-fiction on your shelf
It is a movement
a dance
an expansion of bones.
being a Woman is a lesson in astronomy.
cooking chili is a recipe and then it is done
being a Woman is not a story.
We are not dialogue to be used in moving a plot forward
We are more than fixtures in the home after work and school
We hold more than bedtime consultation sessions
We are not chili to be written as a recipe and then close the book once the dish is done.

And this is what “Rebel” is about

1. 1. 1. She is beautiful hairstyles and more
      2. She has impeccable taste in good looking men and more
      3. She is fearlessly learning the tango in predominately male environments
      4. in a home life with a father and brother to the military to the police force
      5. She is showing the peculiar walk of being African American in America
      6. the tightrope performance of being a Woman with self determination
      7. She speaks the language where

   “Im ok”, means terrified
   “And I’m good”, means I’m paralyzed
   but She makes it look like manicured oak trees on an antebellum tour

   8. She’s a mixture of Big Mama with a Ph.D. in Street Knowledge
   9. demanding that profit in death precedes her brother, not with or after

2.          /his slain will not be in vain / this can’t be another Emmett Till / another                        Medgar Evers / another Oscar Grant
3. we now know when we refuse to be silent
   10. we shut down freeways! block bucks that drench downtown power
   we raise bail money for the forgotten
   we move our stories from the page to the stage
   from minors to the big leagues
   we make everyone Say Her Name
   We tittie to mouth our babies at the pews on Sunday and at tea time on Monday
5. We hold writers accountable to tell our truths / color our beauty, litter her with life

   11.  And they show Her allowance in letting Her body being pleased
   12.  Her occasional leisure in blowing trees to the wind

   being a Woman is not a story that is non-fiction and simply closed.

8. This show insists we talk about
   13. care for the elderly
   14. the vulnerability of our Veterans
   15. homophobia
   16. when children become the parents
   17. when being black is stronger than blue
   18. when being black is stronger than making green
   when right is stronger than wrong
   19. when persistence forces police lieutenants to make night calls
   knocking on doors like parental phone calls after 9pm / humbling
   20. We love Rebel because she fights like            the race of stretch marks across once raised wombs
   She fights like lightening stripes, thunder bolts and tiger claws
   She is full of mistakes but not abandoned from perfection.

   If you haven’t seen “Rebel” you DO WANT TO BINGE WATCH the series before the finale on Tuesday.  The finale is an edge of the seat 60 minute ride! Go to BET.com for episode information.

Score Board, a poem

Allegiance, a poem for “Rebel”

Allegiance.

like rusted barbwire
nothing gets past me
over me

Never Bow
nothing can get through to me
but your mixtures of smiles and advice
and now, that can only touch me through rain / Mama I miss you

my doubt outruns ruined panty hose
going back and forth like a father to work / a mother to prayer

Write a song for yourself
one that can march
when your walk is crooked
and your back is misguided

A song of allegiance
that can speak
when your twisted tongue is to capacity with
blues and sours and thorns

A song that pledges allegiance
to bodies that abandon couches and beds
but comfort the concrete slabs of
Oakland / Ferguson / Baltimore / New York

Blow the horn
Live to tell

Rebel

“Scoreboard”, a poem by Nikki Skies for “Rebel Yell”on BET.com

Click to hear the new poem “Scoreboard” from Rebel Yell.  Listen as Rebel talks about her childhood and men wanting to settle ‘scores’ with her.

TUNE IN TO an all new “Rebel” Tuesday night at 10pm EST!