*FeVeR�*

He gives me fever yall, when I�m around him my breath grows short. As he touches my hand sweat beads form on the forehead above my brow. And the butterflies fly in enchanted swirls, in my stomach. I feel myself growing weak in the knees; I�ve been here once before. Once I was giving a lash so deep I thought that it would not ever begin to heal, but yet he tends to it. But should I let him, I mean after all it was his kind that gave me the beating, how do you trust the one who holds the whip. His name though common, seems as if specifically for him being that he had been an archangel to me thus far. When I hear it, the day dreams begin and once my name is called I am rushed back to reality with only a vision of what could possibly be. What is this feeling, that�s makes me flushed when I hear his voice. Each time is like the first time and I�m caught off guard and ambushed. His taste is of pure honey, and his aroma is subtle but sweet. His fanaticism surpasses my expectations, how can I maintain my composure when the composure is too far gone. He gives me fever.
Koia

*What is A girl To Do�*

Catch her rhythm, look in her eyes, as she talks imagine
those lips as they move...forming each word into precise thought. it`s been a while since
she had a reason to write about something, you know compelled to
get an essence out her chest through her breath out her mind through her finger tips. she`s had a
rough month, a rather go or stay situ. but right at this moment, in the present at this
time...this lady feels like she`s shining yall, something�s different, you following me still, she feels warm and bright, like new life, i don�t think you understand the severity of her particular situ-,
you see she has these locks, on this door, nothing can get through or
break and come in through that, she wears the key on my neck now... because if it�s on her neck she safe, her
windows are tall and covered with heavy drapes...no light passes through, but all light could pass through, but...somehow, some way this light entered as she walked passed
through the darkness and once she got a glimpse she needed to see more...just a glimpse through the shade as it swung
to and fro, was so pretty to her as the rays danced across a once bleak room. it`s all about trust, she walked slowly to the window, and cautiously pulled the
cord unknowing what on the other side and what the future holds, slowly an iridescent light covered me entirely,
cloaking me in a warmth that, one such as myself hadn`t
known and for months had tried to revive. please help...thus far all her shades undrawn all areas ahead are new and
I�m hesitant, i walked through the darkness which now
overflows with a light so enchanting and enticing i can only move forward. as i was wrapped in this golden
envelope I felt all worry drain from me completely leaving to bask in
the pureness of this light.
A light that has been given to me and placed in my life for reasons
yet unknown, and soon to be unveiled.
Koia

*Lock Down�*

She Has Herself on lock
She Is Not An Open Book
You Have To Walk To The Shelf
Climb The Ladder And Reach Far Right To Get Out This Book,
Blow The Dust Off
And Break Her Seal To Get In That Book,
She Has To Be Willing To Give You The Key For That Lock To That Book
To Break In Is Not An Option
For If You Break In
You`ll Be Blessed With Pages Of Bare
If You�re Meant To Read It
Those Blank Pages Fill With Ink
You Have To Start From Page 1 To Understand Page 2.
For The Language Changes From Page To Page
Like Snow Flakes Or The Mornings Dew.
And Love If You Can�t, Her Book Is Not
for you.

Koia

*Please No More�*

The time has come for you to lay down your gun black man. Without you our children will
not exist and our futures shall all disappear. Please lay down your gun black man, every night a mother cries, it is her tears that
have salted up the oceans.
I beg you lay down your gun black man, it takes the bigger man to walk away,
and it takes the smarter man to know when it has gone too far. A gun is only metal it is the man
who has continued to pull the trigger. The more of us die the weaker we all become, you cannot stand tall if you are the only one left and there is no
one to stand beside you. Who are you to say if a wife becomes a widow or that child
becomes an orphan that should not be your choice to make. Please lay down you gun black man...more of us have been killed
by the bullet or touched by the bullet in some way there too many headstones to count.
The worst part is we are doing it to ourselves. A bullet has no name or direction of its own. Lay down your gun black man you have too much to
live for. The fatherless
children have cried rivers to carry you home. It is time to
lay down your gun black man, how many
lives must you end before there
are none of us left.

Koia

*Why is this So Hard�*

Why Is It So Hard
I tried to paint you in a picture one with all the colors known to man, but they weren�t bright enough
~ I wanted you to see me as I see me, but as you know the eyes of the blind are useless
~I sang a song to you, syrupy melodies or to cling to your soul and make you smile but
Songs that fall on deaf ears go unheard

T.B.C

Innovative Attribeauty�

I�m beginning a new chapter
This is a start of a new day
yesterday is over and for tomorrow I�ll pray today
I took a look into the world and I�m ashamed to be human
how can anyone living in this world expect to Have a
future
living in a world where the corrupted control our lives
no one cares the deeds are already done
and what�s been done since the
beginning of time can't
be undone in a day
It's hard to stop a train
wreck after its already
begun. Every society is designed to keep the rich one
at the top and all the rest at the bottom... look at France, look at Japan, look at Germany they
are all like the USA
putting "system" in place to keep the uneducated and poor at the
bottom and the well educated
and well off at the top
No matter how far get ahead you get there is always something causing a mud slide.
Covering you for top to bottom...suffocating your lungs with a pollution so vile
that when you pick yourself up
and wash yourself off
it has already seep through your pores
in to the body going straight to the heart and brain.
Koia

* Poetry of people~�*

Freedom of thought Freedom of expression � Poetry allows freedom of the mind and freedom or the sprit, people use it to vent as an outlet to surge their feeling on to someone else~.
� My poetry allows me to say things that I could not normally say, because I can be shy at times but it also gives me a chance to reflect what I see and experience on to you her or him...you feel me? If not you will, trust me~.
� My major in college is Sociology. Why? Why not? Look out your window you see those kids run and playing in the street, let say its 7 of them. 2 of them will end up a casket probaly before 20. 2 more will probaly be in jail. That leaves 3. 3 out of 7. What if you could make that # 7 out of 7. I was giving a gift by God. Why not use it.
� What gift was i given? Life. Im here for a reason it would be ignorant of me to keep the knowledge of my sight, my thought, and my everything all for myself. For me not share that someone has shared with me, with a youth who has yet to learn about things that someone else has opened my eyes.
� Every child can recite lyrics kill this steal that...rather its rap, hip-hop, rock or R&B. Ever wonder why people cant remember...Socrates, Plato, Martin L. King, Gods word, Malcolm X, Miles Davis, Rosa Park, B.B. King. How about the people who didn't make to the books, what about the struggles, the real fights, when people fought for something with substance. Ever wonder why a kid it'll pick up a game system controller and not a book. Why a kid would wait for dinner, but not help cook. Ever wonder why people use curse words in every other sentence. Is it because they are to ignorant to express a complete thought through words.
� Ever wonder what happen to fists fight? Why you need a group for a 1 on 1 fight? Why do you need to end someone�s life because your angry at them, affecting their family and the community its self as a whole. Are you to afraid that it's possible you gon lose...and if you lose is that the end of the world- your world, because its the end of their. You know it never ends you take a life they take a life, no good can come from that metal in your closet.

*Karma�*

Do you believe in Karma? What is it?
What it is.. I am not exactly sure you see I have only one
understanding and it from what I�ve been told so I can
only relay what I know...
you still following my...sometimes I confuse people...he he~
but anyways
Karma is when you do some either helpful or harmful to someone it will
come back on to
you....here's the catch it may not come on to you directly
but I
t may hit you indirectly. By indirectly I mean a family
member, close friend, a pet...
or whatever
That would also mean that
if you were not careful
then you would unintentionally do a lot of harm to people who
you normally would want to harm to come to.

*Talking in the Wind- old info*

My boy Juan put me up on
some knowledge the other
day, he thinks that he talks my ear off, but it doesn't
bother me, im just
learning him you know
listening to where his mind is at. I do that you know listen and watch, thats my thing i'll sit here and observe, the only way you
learn is to
watch then do. Anyway
he puts me up on something new every time i talk to him. He one of those people that you
really dont know what he
knows until he
opens his mouth, talking
about Gandhi, Socrates, Malcolm, and Martin, Politics, Music....life in
general.

This is
what he told me yesterday/last night:
About a week ago some little boy. I say little boy because his life
hadn't begun yet, he was about
17 years old. Him and his
girl, she was 16 or something close to it, were riding on 7 mile. (For those who
dont know thats a usually busy street/strip here in Detroit.) They
riding the boy is strapped with a gun prolly to "impress" his girlfriend. (Leave
grown up games for the grownups)A car cuts them
off and in a fit of road
range
he pulls up and starts waving this gun at this older
guy. Not knowing who this guy is or what he is capable of doing. So he flashes the gun
prolly points t a little, and pulls off in
front of the other car. The man in the other car who is also strapped (for the ebonically/ghetto
illiterate that
means carrying a weapon, usually a gun or a knife), pulls along
side of this car with the 2 children in it. He
empties 5 bullets or so into this kid and pulls off in broad day light. The
girl was screaming so
loud and going crazy, that
she didn't catch his license
plate number. Needless to say the boy died.
(Based on a actual event 1/05)

* REALITY CHECK*

You see I want nothing more than for myself to be happy. Not just me but you to but you see I have to better myself, because if I don't who will. As a young black woman I already have three strikes against me...that
means that I have got to try 3 times harder to get to the level of a
affluent white male, 2 times as hard to reach an affluent black male, and one time as hard to reach the level of an affluent
white woman. That�s 3 door locks that I have got to find keys to before I can even get my foot into the door.
It's sad but it true. It is not enough to grow up in the city of Detroit and be raised here, live here, see what happens to people who play hard and get burned and
yet I�m still here I�m still alive, no that�s
not good enough. It
is also not enough to graduate high school yet I�m still here 17, female, graduated, with no kids, but no that�s not good enough. Now 24 College graduate and its still not enough.
You have got to do better and you have got to be stronger, you have got to be brave and you have got to be smarter yet I�m still here, but that is also not enough. There i was 19 still black, second year of college, doing my thing making the grades beginning my life and determined to get that first lock off the door my 21,
and yet I�m still here and that�s not good enough. There are times when I feel that I may never be good enough for you, never live up to your standards, and how can
I when the goal it's self was built on a
foundation of lies. A country built by the hands of my people with a jaded version of life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. How can I be happy when I see
my sisters begging in the streets evicted for
choosing to feed her child opposed to paying
her rent. Where is the happiness when houses that once housed families of 5 is now a parking lot and that family
is rejected from their loan. Where is this liberty when the court system is innocent until
proven guilty if you have
money and guilty
until proven innocent if you don't. Where is the liberty in I call the police and they show up an hour later to almost never. Lady liberty is
not blind and her scale is not tipped in my favor. And what about life? It is no coincidence
that the billboards, and posters advertising SEX, LIQUOR, and Cigarettes hang all over these inner cities where we dwell. And it's
also no coincidence that there is a liquor store on almost every corner, and in every drunken sip
someone is hurt rather physical or mental but no one seems to see. For every plus I have made for myself there is a negative aspect to march
along its side. Land of the free, this land came with a price, and home of the brave it's not your home it you never had a key.

By koia 04/04

* All Because The Night Before *

Life is hard there are so many steps on this path that sometime I feel trapped, like there is no way out. Like there is no
white light.
How's it a day that starts off like the day before never
ends the same as that day before. If I had only not taking that last drink, that last puff, if I would have told them no I�m cool imma head home, I wouldn�t be
stuck here in this limbo. Satan's Army is marching full force and I am weak, I have no strength
left, I�m ready to give up.
What�s the point
there is no use. He has won it is over.
I have seen my yesterday I have had my cries I have
heard my wails but here I rise. I see my child.
in that 3 years old there, that 8 year old there, that 18 year old there and because
they are my children I cannot give up. U see this is no longer my own, it's bigger than
me bigger than him and I cannot let these
children my children fall short and fall victim to the same ignorance that has lead us to believe that our
vote does not matter, that
this life their lives and
mine were in vain from page one. I want them to see trees in there park, hear birds in the morning, I want them
to know that they are
beautiful, and that they
are loved, I want them to be able
to play in the same sun I
played in yesterday and swim in the water I swam it yesterday.
I want my children to see tomorrow's sun. I want them to know nothing of this Limbo, this
world of black tomorrow�s. I want sunlight light to
kiss upon their cheeks waking them from the
slumbers and showing them that after today
there will be a brighter tomorrow:)
By Koia

* A rose... *

A rose is a signature of beauty & a symbol of love. Each petal can represent and
emotion and quality each deeper than the other. I�m a rose I come alive and bloom again every year. Showing the beauty of my heart and soul to all those
in my presence. I can illuminate the world. We can illuminate the world, with each fallen petal and each seed blown in the wind.
Ms. Koia

*Slow Death*

This is the mushy part...take notes because it doesn't happen often:))That was beautiful
huh, yeah that sort of reminiscent
of that emotion love, for those of yall u
have never felt it imagine this and for those who have was it like this. Imagine having

some one having the power to make you laugh and cry at will, imagine someone being
there to catch you as you fall, make you fall, and then help u up
again. That�s some crazy
ish huh. now imagine that same person then try to think of things you told yourself you would never
ever EVA EVA EVA do and
they have the power no
entice you and they can cloud your judgment because they
actually have that much power of you. Now imagine that same person that you
would do almost anything for,
breaking your heart and reminding
you while you�re in tears that they would never intentionally hurt you, that they did
not intend to fuck up so bad and that they did not intend to make you cry
repeatedly. Now imagine you taking them back.
Love can make you do some crazy things but well that�s just the power of Love.

* How Can You Not Love A Woman*

One gave you life, she carried you. She kept you safe inside her. She protected you. She nurtured you. Her voice was the first voice you ever heard. Her love was the first love you ever felt. You lived and grew within her. Her mind
stimulated your mind. Her thoughts stimulated your thought. She loved you more than life it's self that�s why she kept you. Her touch was the
first touch you ever received. She birthed you.
Her and her alone, for if no father nor doctor was present you would have still come. Her pain gave you breath. You are flesh of her flesh. The most beautiful and priceless
possession she will ever have. She raised you and guided you. She was your teacher. A model for your future wife. your Woman
should be good enough to take home to
your birther. She should be a woman of class. A woman of worth. A woman of love unconditional. A woman of faith. A woman of hope. A protector. A educator of life. A lover. A friend. A Diary to you, keeping your secrets as if they were those of her own thought. She will stand by you when you have nothing, when everything you have is gone. She should love you for you...and if she is all this and more: HOW CAN U NOT LOVE A WOMAN...YOUR WOMAN. Koia

* My Child*

Child of beauty, child of light, child of color, born by candle light, your are the next chapter in this book called Life. Raised in the shadows, blinded by those elders before you, who left my brothers and sisters and I unprotected. You will be respected by none a first, but once it's gained there it will remain. My child we built this country, the blood of the strong pulsates throughout veins. Our minds are immortal, our teaching will live on. My child i can only carry you for so long. Look out over this valley,
how barren a essence-less dry. You will bring this land to life, trees will grow, and flowers will bloom, for the bible says: that which is last shall become first...and that is you, i have faith in you. You are seed of my seed and i will teach you all i know. You must listen to the words your momma speaks, for through these lips precious waters flow. This land is your land, this home is your home, that brother is your brother, and through my knowledge you will sow, this land by the sides of your people. You all will come together and the violence will cease. Creating an oasis for years to come here at our very feet.

My child this is not an easy task, there is much pain and suffering in your path. You will feel like you�re at your wits end. Just remember those who came before you, and how hard that must have been. You will have the weight of the world on your shoulders, but for you like me your children will have less of a strain.
You my prince are the future. Through you spirits will grow, strength is in the numbers of hands it takes to get the work done. Power is in the sweat it takes to push your mind as far as it can go. Love is in the hearts that can see you for who you are. Faith is in the words of Jehovah the father. Life is in the womb of your woman, she is from your rib, your side therefore she is your equal. My prince, for you i would sacrifice my soul, placing it in the inferno like hands of the devil himself, if i knew i could change the minds and hearts of those against you. My beloved my love is eternal, for you i would give my world, and all i ask of you is to exceed me

I have conquered this world, my child you are my legacy.

Koia 1/28/05

*Footprints�*

This is the Most Inspiring Poem
I Have Ever Read

One night a man
had a dream that he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed
scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets
of footprints in the sand; one
belonging to him, the other belonging to the Lord.
When the last
scene of his life flashed
before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed
that many times along the path of his life there was only
one set of footprints,
and that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life...
This really
bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. Lord, you said that once I decided to
follow you, you would walk with me all the way.
But during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why when I
needed you most,
you would leave me.
The Lord replied, My precious,
precious child. I love you, My Child, and I would never
leave you. During your times of
trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of
footprints, it was then that
I carried you.
Written by
Mary Stevenson in written in 1936
I actually had to look for her name- it was listed as anonymous