By Edward Toney

Brothers and sisters of the southern sun
of the old and new moons
this side, that side of the equator
blackness of the shadows Mother Nature
can’t cast… cause their mystery buries way too deep
Hurricanes and storms that won’t dare bare our names
cause there will be nothing left standing
after we strut, swag, switch and tip on through

Why, we be the reason, Prince begs in the
high pitch squeals, wear heels and does the split
why Aretha sang Natural woman in the first place
why Nina Simone haunts the heart
and why sometimes our tears taste like molasses
It’s exactly why James Brown sang it’s a man’s world
but my brothers we wouldn’t be a damn thang
without a ….woman or a girl!

We got those bend and don’t break, back bones
7 layers of a tough impenetrable skin
and the eighth layer (they don’t have) is the one don’t keloid
the layer the whip couldn’t get through
God Dipped our molds in a variety of shades
and the last one one came from our mama’s breast milk
tongues be leather on one side, silk on the other
with an over-proof saliva they won’t dare ever bottle
immortal essence of Egyptian Kings and Queens
incorporeal spirits that define our royalty
and our songs and words rise from our ancestral spiritual depths
ordained in the Blessings of our every waking breath
conjured from the realms of our very soul

we be a Soul People!!!