Talking to Ghosts

"[1: A.D. Carson] It’s the anti—everything that you believe you stand for Cancer that a man stores in his hands for Laying ‘em on parishioners wishing for some malignance I’m really just saying what I’m writing is sickening What I’m writing is vision What I’m writing is healing What I’m writing is flashes of lightning across the ceiling Flames from the floor, flickering, licking your feet to move you Fool you into believing that when you move, it’s the true you Voodoo dance from dude whose hands expand reality Puppeteering, but from what you’re hearing, you do it naturally And actually I’m to blame for it all— I’m the reason, even your breathing—if you rise or you fall They said Hip-Hop’s dead. I said it must be a joke ‘cause if it’s really the truth that means I fuck with the ghost And I ain’t—above believing in what people don’t see But I can’t—believe in it if don’t believe in me So where are you? [2: Bad Dreams] It’s that long night sleep tight now that you think you woke up Soaking in your psychosis I’m dosing you with the donuts You wading into them rivers just wishing for this deliverance You floating in them oceans and just hoping for your atonement Cooking up something frozen Cooling off the commotion What I quote is drums invoking tongues of the chosen Black Rhapsodies Rap tapestries get woven Bodies contorted jerking the circle is never broken Like the slave embracing godliness, embrace the bodiless Authorship beyond consciousness that’s where the party is Burn Down the plantation regardless The ghosts told me never the fear the darkness That’s where the realest part is They said the blues is dead I said it must be a joke Amiri Baraka handed me some smoke and I just took a toke And I ain’t above believing in what people don’t see I believe in ya’ll even when ya’ll don’t believe me So who are you? [3: A.D. Carson] God bless the child that can hold it in Believe…enemies bleed when I hold my pen Let these words be the first to my unborn seeds So they hear the voice of God clear—blast for me Blast for your you, and those who come after you Keep your peace, until they make you have to use it— Have to lose it—clear choice: after music Comes the fall. So, really, what I’m doing’s for y’all But you’ll never know the truth, never see it for self Never believe ‘cause you can’t understand it, or else Have it chewed and spewed back at you, pick it up and endorse it Then you’ll support it, get it to fit. If it don’t, then you’ll force it They say my people are dead. I said it must be a joke ‘cause if that’s really the truth that means I’m talking to ghosts And I ain’t—above believing in what people don’t see But I can’t—believe in it if don’t believe in me So what are you?"