[audio http://amirsulaiman.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/mark-my-words.mp3]
mark my words
words will mark their marksmen
words will push bullets backwards into their barrels
and brothers back into the bosom of their mothers
betwixt lovers
language pushes love into love
and thereafter pushes love into life
if it weren’t for rumi
they would have
ruined me
luminous language
lit
lovers lane
traversed by the drunk and insane
language
like liquor
an elixir
that licked her
earlobe
to let her know she was not alone
not the only lonely
soul knowing
that in the morning
we’d be mourning
the night
that kept our nakedness
from sight
in private
I speak the truth almost inaudibly
such that
I can hardly
hear the God in me
there is a harmony
if sang with sincerity and clarity
one’s soul will transcend
one’s anatomy
angels and ancestors
in one’s veins and arteries
the silent majority
attempted a lobotomy
to cut the lumumba malcolm marley mansa musa outta me
no more fear
they either martyr me
or pardon me
it doesn’t matter
I am not matter
I wish I was an anomaly
but im more normal
than I thought I ought to be
but it is not fitting
for me to
ignore the most precious part of me
my secret
the difference between
melody and harmony
harmony
requires more than me
your secret
in unison we must all sing
your secret that is lost in me
my secret that is swimming
in your heavenly body
until God is in plain sight
the full moon on a cloudless night
mark my words
hallelujah
amen
#1 by Mustafa Davis - May 28th, 2009 at 20:15
Probably the most powerful thing I’ve read this year. No, not probably… For certain.
#2 by ms_kiki0520 - May 28th, 2009 at 20:36
I REALLY like this. I have been looking for ur works and noticed u on muslimhiphop.com
May Allah continue to reward u!
#3 by Jon Juan Goode Bueno - May 28th, 2009 at 21:22
It’s good work my man the opening imagery is crazy powerful:
“mark my words
words will mark their marksmen
words will push bullets backwards into their barrels
and brothers back into the bosom of their mothers”
You could have stopped there! but no! you went on with more wonderfulness:
“luminous language
lit
lovers lane”
You could have just stopped there, that alone is a dope line, doper than some cats entire poems. But no! then you had the NERVE to really get into the alliteration and say:
“language
like liquor
an elixir
that licked her
earlobe
to let her know she was not alone
not the only lonely
soul knowing
that in the morning
we’d be mourning
the night”
I could go on but I’d end up quoting the entire poem, it’s crazy good work my man. crazy good!
#4 by lizagarza - May 28th, 2009 at 21:42
absolutely beautiful. Our Lord has indeed placed his affection upon you.
i am grateful. for so much.
#5 by efuru - May 29th, 2009 at 05:17
wow! i can’t stop reading it!
#6 by str8deeningpoetry - May 30th, 2009 at 00:43
salams!,
mashAllah this was very good, actually it has inspired me to write a poem sumthing i have been meaning to write but never really kno how to translate it form “thought” to “poem” again mashAllah brother Amir.
-Hieyam A.
#7 by mash - May 30th, 2009 at 03:48
so good!
#8 by mash - May 30th, 2009 at 03:51
it doesn’t matter
I am not matter
I wish I was an anomaly
but im more normal
than I thought I ought to be
love this bit
#9 by mash - May 30th, 2009 at 05:18
Salaam,
quick question , after reading the poem and also listening to it. I noticed you read it slightly differently to how it’s written… the line ‘the violent majority’ for example.
is there a reason for that? do you improvise bit sometimes when reciting?
#10 by Mohammed Hassan - May 30th, 2009 at 06:11
Salaam,
Mashallah Akhi. Another great and inspiring poem. Keep it up. Looking forward to the videos.
#11 by ibraheem - May 30th, 2009 at 09:13
This smarks of sufism…I don’t believ in the deviant views of the shiite sufi called rumi.Plus, i mean….all this in me, in Him thing!!????
#12 by Halima - June 1st, 2009 at 04:35
Give thanks to all prophets, saints and awliyya, language can be so spiritual and at the end of time only heard with a sensual ear and yet it should be feared coming from the hearts of God fearing men, who listen to reverberations of the Earth and speak on its behalf, as do you. May Allah bring you harmony.
#13 by rissa - June 3rd, 2009 at 15:33
Amir – I love this piece. Thanks for sharing your words.
Ibraheem – God is closer to ourselves than we are. He’s EVERYWHERE in His knowledge and power… argeed?
#14 by suthee - July 4th, 2009 at 03:53
That was a nice read.
#15 by locky - July 4th, 2009 at 05:51
good information to me
#16 by Soorya - July 21st, 2009 at 13:26
That’s beautiful.
#17 by nadia - August 31st, 2009 at 04:38
amen…. allah kareem