R.hythm A.nd P.oetry by Desdamona

Twin Cities spoken-word high priestess Desdamona has been mentioned in this space before, but I never heard any of her poems until about three weeks ago at the Poet’s Groove. This can be found on her latest release, Inkling

I’m sharing this particular poem with you because this is Desdemona telling her story.

Sometimes I rhyme slow
Sometimes I rhyme quick
You thought I was nice and smooth
But I’m really just slick Rick I
Tick and tock with my biological clock
And I crawl when I can’t walk.
I’ve seen joy and pain, and realized
That there’s always sunshine after the rain
I’ve got it made
Got everything from cotton to suede
Seen the ledge from the edge
Wanted to be a leader of the new school
But ended up in special ed
They told me I was too short and too Vanilla Ice
Said I shouldn’t rock the mic because I wasn’t too hype
They called me MC Lyte
(And it wasn’t because I was skinny)
See I thought P.E. stood for physical education
I called in a request, and they said I had the wrong station
I drifted from the Pharcyde until I saw the De La of my soul
But the beat kept passin’ me by, so I decided to let it go
I found the honeycomb and that’s where I met A Tribe Called Quest
But the Killa Bees chased me out of the nest
See, I just wanted to be part of the Goodie Mob
But they told me I was just an Outkast, and that I would never, ever last
So I went down to the Lords of the Underground
But they told me not to bust a rhyme, they said
“Common sense will tell you that it’s just not the right time”
I went from Biggie to Smalls to find lyrics that fit
And then they asked me if I was ready to be a true fooshnit
They showed me the M.E.T.H.O.D. and the treacherous techniques
They blessed me with the rhythm, but I still couldn’t find a beat
They scribed heiroglyphics and traced it back to the roots
I saw the show, and then I got juiced
I met this cat named Eric B. and I asked him to listen
But he told me I didn’t rock him, and he started dissin’
I put the needle on the record, and thought the sound was Mos Def
Went to the store with 50 Cent and bought some Eminems
I passed out on the way back to my house
My mom found me on the sidewalk with water she doused
She said “Are you concious, daughter? Or should I call Dr. Dre?”
And I said “No no, it’s ok, I just need a tall glass of LL Cool J”
That night, I dreamt of black stars and jazzy Digable Planets and it made me feel high
Then I saw little red men floating in the sky
The Beastie Boys who lived next door woke me up, the little creeps, and they said,
“If you’re gonna be an MC, don’t sleep”
I thought these Souls of Mischief have got to be alcoholics
Because they took my bottle of Brass Monkey and then they stole my wallet
That’s when I realized that this hip-hop thing just wasn’t for me
So from then on I called on my rhymed poetry

And the rest, as they say. I give you R.hythm A.nd P.oetry by Desdamona

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