2PENS&LINT
a new direction in poetry
2 Pens & Lint LLC
P.O. Box 3292
Philadelphia, PA 19130
We Make No Apology
We make no apology for this skin
no regrets about who we are
or who you want to be
could imitate
but they’ll never be us
looked down upon
but we influence the whole globe
kids in Tokyo bump Lupe
South Africans worship tupac
Malcolm leads men to Mecca
London looking at the election just like cats in College Park
while me and Chauncey
still be in this closet racist society
tryna make the next buck
and be stand up dudes at the same time
I got a habit of hating poets
who try to hustle lame rhymes
disrespectful to the whole game
the type of cat that would ruin Haki Madhubuti’s name
plus most don’t know who he is
write my poems like history books
our story was rarely told
rarely shown
barely known
tricks of the slave trade
Europeans lying to Congolese kings
just to get free labor
showing Christ to the savage but still raping the beast
even stole our diamonds and gold
only to sell it back to niggas
so we could rock it at shows
shirts off
sweating for descendants of Apache killers
the stage becomes an auction block
and everybody’s tryna make it rain
even Australians wanna be Lil Wayne
back in north philly I ask this kid
if he’s ever heard Hollywood Divorce
cause struggle never destroyed our excellence.
An ex-addict reads Langston at an open mic
it ain’t easy being ugly
and beautiful too.
-Christopher K.P. Brown
-We Make No Apology is featured in Harlem 65.