Club Dread

I hear the gun go off
An afterlife
On the tip
Of your tongue
Club Dread drums from the fog
A fever pulse, a dull vibration
I call your phone it goes to voicemail
I call your phone it goes and goes and goes
Club Dread like nothing bleeds
Like baby gets what baby needs
Like violence couldn’t find us underground
Like each night’s an oyster world
A phantom life, a swallowed pearl
My girls and I, we lead our own designs
Unyielding to time
Lost in everlasting fog
Your body broken open
Oh you spine-tousled child of god
Life must not care for us
Sticky like a mango
Tapioca bellyache
Oakland to my West
I dream of you as distance
Though only longing remains
And love’s sapped my strength
I could never hold a smile
Like you held mine
After years, acting out against your care
I can barely say your name
Without a tremble in my voice
Heaven has changed
For every time the morning sun
Snuck up on us out here making off
There’s a coyness to that tender light
To undestroy you
Well you can waste our time
Anytime that you’d like