Know (dedicated to Mike Ladd)

No reptiles were trapped
To become my accessories
And no Italians were murdered
So I can be placed
On the best dressed list
Or is it the worst
But I converse on the daily
With the sweatshop mother
Who made these Nikes
I use to turn the ground into dust with
Equipped with a cheap CD player
To drown out the street concerto
Blasting rites of passage in the form of gunplay
Playing with guns that don’t exist
Yet they can kill you
Just as quick
Sweet dick willies standing on street corners
Flashing plat fronts and
Iced-out icons
Daring anyone
To get their roll on while they profile
And on the “right” side of the tracks
Kufi masais download
Mp3s to get back at the invisible Man
Listening to the Light while
Looking at Bike Week chicks
Bent over spreading
Pink caverns to make
Dicks hard
All the while calling them
Lost souls in search of
A real man to
“smack the shit outta that fat ass!”
Koran in one hand
Thug Passion in the other
Born Allah gives thanks
To himself for
Seeing another sunset
Another breath to breathe
Another bag to sell
This world is filled with duality
Where Good and Evil dance slowly
To Prince’s Insatiable
Dancing so close you can’t even tell
The difference
Grey does matter
If it didn’t
We wouldn’t be in awe of it
That I know
I know plenty of things
But I know that I know
Nothing
So I continue to search
For a way to make myself
Whole
I know that there are
People walking around
In need of truthanasia
So they can look in the mirror again
Without shame
I know not
To blame
The height of the pedestal
For how hard I fall
I know that
Even God at times
Comes off his throne
To cry with us
And I know that
I’ve been a career stuntman
Making everybody else
Look good except for
The main star of the show
My 28 year old self
But this wealth I hold dear to me
I’m willing to share
Money mos def ain’t a thang
When you know that in the end
It really doesn’t matter
All that does is the words
That comes out of your heart

© Lawrence "Improv!?" Ferrell 2000