AUGUSTLY

Born Year of the Water Dragon;

I am like water

Silent and still

And deep.

When clear in thought

My contestants of

Word and action

Cling to bold axis

Hydrogen two parts

And Oxygen.

Not shaken

But stirred on this mortal coil.

I am fuel for Black Fire.

And reserved like

Loves second wind.

Gene Howell Jr.

2001

I AM YOUR NATURE

Climatic Insights

The water is

blue and reflects

whiteness of the

sun like sprinkles

of sugar as

you lay in

the water golden brown

honey chorus

lava rock

ascend your softness

as male ferns

ask for your

dance thump and grind

at the earths score

whilst wind

under water falling

gives birth to moisture.

damned water

seeking embrace of the empty

whispers in the crevasses of sapphire

“I am Your Nature”

and push comes to

shore on You my

landscape.

Gene Howell Jr.

1998

TACTICAL BLACK UNITY

I sit at my desk

with my hands on my face,

searching deep within

the knowledge I possess.

My mind begins to carry

a two-fold battle,

one against fear

and the other

the battle for a tactic

to free my people.

Then, She

comes to me

to offer her

help.

Silently. I think

of the tactic

whose death I

fear most of all.

I turn to her

and notice the

fullness of her

dress, as the

unborn life fills

with soul

of a people

kept hostage

for 400 years.

She embraces me

and I feel the warmth

and soul of it.

Within the African gown

she wears

is the absolute

in beauty.

Her hair shining out

like a black sun,

hair like the unborn

child

within her.

Strong and curled tight,

not to be straightened

by the heat of the

oppression phenomenon.

I then touch her soft hands

and she too squeezed it.

We have become united

and what shall emerge is the

United soul...

Perhaps the tactic.

Gene Howell Jr.

1975