Kash Baloch — Poetry on Identity, Love, and Survival

You,  made me believe that maybe we could  achieve  some picture-perfect peace to relieve, release; to ease our anxieties, undeniably the parts of us that were diseased our tormented entirety, oh how it reeks, this irony that maybe we could be free too blind to see there was no vacancy no vacancy for emotions that had no agency, amazingly abrasively, we returned to being strangers in the streets like two opposing ships at sea the beasts but not the bees like ghosts who would not grieve, the gifts that we received, that day that we, conceived this wicked web we weaved. a melodramatic make-believe. how prepubescent juvenile, infantile, without blessing, the next best thing. Inexpressive, undeniable inattentive, unreliable, wreaking havoc through speaking words so viable.

  Gigantic. I'm manic, Atlantic, like the Titanic. Why panic? Not like you'll be in the attic, or in the annex, you didn't vanish, these antics are so erratic, but you love my Johnson cos you know I'm Magic. You talkin to me? Let's talk about tragic. Gremlin like Gizmo, inspector gadget. Get you lit, wanna play with matches. No press passes, just fat asses, big butts, and tiggolbooties. Take you on a date, out to the movies. Make those milks shake sip on those smoothies. Call me big poppa, I'll get it juicy. Tequila shots, let's keep it boozy. Buy you a Mickey, let's get it Goofy. I'm not Bill Cosby, won't be no roofie. Dr. Huxtable without the Rudy. Don't come for me, cos I'm Judge Judy Got some splainin to do, you can call me Ricky, & you be Lucy. You can pick your nose, but don't get choosy. All tied up, so I say this loosely, if you act like Suzy, then you're gonna lose me. Come see the wizard, we could get real woozy. He...

  Dear warrior, while you weather storms through wars waged against your worth, remember, you have purpose, and come from the deep, cool Earth. Although the sinister & sly may have tried to steal the innocence of your smile, you remain; stand your ground & stay, you are so much more than sorrow, although it seems to be a stain. And when malevolent men manipulate through tactics meant to intimidate you cannot let them conjugate you, for they could never capture the courage that has made you. For you were meant to soar, do not let the rest clip your wings to steal your flight. Fly away, or fight, dear warrior– they could never dim your light.

When I rage, I rumble, cave, and crumble, slip and stumble, bleak, I bumble, like the thunder, I crash, then clap, snap, crackle and POP against the still & silent night I slip, and spew, acidic ash, then steal the stars right out from the sky. I scream, to shriek, to prey on passersby. I flash like lightning, with all my might, I bite, so brightly, fighting all the blessings in my life. My ego roars awake, it makes the ground shake, like I'm an earthquake, leaving disaster in its wake, determined to bruise our beautiful land, and dehydrate its lakes. I climb higher, growing stronger— making marks, and lasting longer. A tsunami of me, that spares no sinner, and saves no saint. Unrelenting, unapologetic for the lives I'd take. I throw a fit, and let it rip, and tear apart entire towns. A sonic boom that blasts and razes cities, without a sound. Voracious, when I vanish villages in overflowing, rivers of venom. Amplified by the acid that I spit, ambivalent, as I annihilate ...