MEET JOHNATHAN WHITE

© Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.
No portion of this work may be duplicated or
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Johnathan J. White is currently a doctoral candidate and teacher at the University of Pittsburgh.

Receiving his BA from Clark Atlanta University, he studies Black history and culture.

He is also an artist, writer, poet, and public speaker.

My House (built on solid rock)

when i was young
i stacked brick dreams
on legends of Dominique, Worthy, Magic, Julius Erving
countless dribbles and shots
sealed these bricks against harsh elements of adolescence

i built big bay windows
and watched LL Cool J, Big daddy Kane, and Slick Rick
perform
in my imitation
i was their reflection
in glass

i painted my house with brown earth tones,
Shaft, Mr. T, Bill Cosby
then i laid wood paneling over Michael Jackson's voice and New Edition's concept
i hung pictures of civil rights and black power brothas on the walls of my history
my daddy helped me construct rooms for manhood to sleep in
but i allowed many women
to enter

after years of living here
i realized a house is not a home
if it doesn't contain YOU,
Lord
so i became my own man
and built my house
on
solid rock
not on sinking sand

Jevon

"if i were king
the stars would be your jewelry
the sun would be your light
if i were king..."

midnight
baby, i'm staring at the tv screen
begging
for something sexy to say
to you
to blow
your mind
when i'm not even in
your presence
make you blush
hot
in front of girlfriends and co--workers
thinking
of my words scaling your
smooth textures and grabbing  you
'til you think you
smell my cologne
feel my arms approaching
you turn around
and its only the sound
of your recollection
of what i said
i would do to you
when you got home

but you see,
i keep hearing this line from an old black and white movie,
"if i were king
the stars would be your jewelry
the sun would be your light
if i were king..."

but i need something
to make your knees buckle
like
my stroke is so good
it will make you blackslap yo' mama, drink the Atlantic Ocean, and
put you in intensive care for 40 days and 40 nights
but that sounds rather
obnoxious

i keep thinking about this line though,
"if i were king
the stars would be your jewelry
the sun would be your light
if i were king..."

and yet i stare at my laptop
trying
to find something etxra clever
to say to
your elegant sweetness derived from God's patient crafting of the female-- the way he
sloped your body to fit next to mine--the way He rounded your voice into soft melody--the
way He colored your eyes to grant me a dreamy repose--the way He carved the the most
elegant sculpture from bronze and ebony floating through the universe

but
i can't stop thinking of this line
"if I were king
the stars would be your jewelry
the sun would be your light
if i were king..."

so i
pick up the phone
2 am
and leave a message

"if i were king
the stars would be your jewelry
the sun would be your light
if i were king..."

                        JeVon

Under the spell of a poetess

upon hearing your poem
i stretched out
on the tip of your tongue,
laid on its fluffy eloquence,
and curled beneath the covers of your spell
your body
soft-spoken
scantily clad in tight-fitting poetic prose
was amplified
by words of fury
and salience
i never understood 'real beauty is on the inside'
until i fell inside
your mind
that night
and experienced
black--womaness from the inside out

Endemic Heartbreak (Dedicated to Bonita Lee and all the rest of my sistas)

the first sista
God breathed into
watched
one son
slay the other one;
and Eve wept
heartbroken

grief sunk African mothers
into coastal sand
hands
beat against breasts
throbbing chests
as they realized
ships had stolen babies;
and they wept
heartbroken

plantation prisoners
multi-colored sistas
held infant heritage
in powerless arms
purging harm
one last time
before being sold
and separated;
and they wept
heartbroken

her red eyes followed
the sway
of the burnt pendulum
on a limb
dancing in the wind
what sin
had made a lover unrecognizable;
and she wept
heartbroken

Mamie coulda sworn
something didn't sit
right
that night
she sent
Emmitt down to Money, Mississippi
when she got the call;
she wept
heartbroken

rocks and sticks
spit
bricks
and insults
hurled with terrific force
Ms. Eckford
one of nine Little Rocks
why do they hate us so?;
and she wept
heartbroken

Can someone please help me find my children?
God said
fire the next time
but Hurricane Katrina never got the message
it's the not knowing
that stifles sleep;
a grandmother, mother, and daughter
weep
heartbroken

a policeman's brutal beating
of somebody's son,
a wail from
a deserted sista
cheated on for the umpteenth time,
a fatiqued African queen
leaks life onto cold earth
HIV kills her softly,
a battered and bruised sista
tries to cover her face,
but life comes in
brass knuckle flurries
all too often
breaks
black women
d
o
w
n
over and across
rounds
of time
but the black woman;
champion she is
keeps getting up
rising to the occasion
wiping tears
despite
endemic heartbreak

JeVon

i've always had a sweet tooth

i love how nikki tasted

        ecstasy sweet, deep, rich, infinite, hershey kiss bliss, sweet

tara on the other hand

        was colorful sporadic sweet, with a hard center to reach sweet, peanut m&m's can't eat

just one of         'em sweet

halle was full of grit, substance sweet, delayed determined sweet, dark complexion,

complex affection almond         joyfully sweet

illyana was crunchy stick to my heart sweet, enduring overwhelming so you can only eat

once in a while sweet,         elusively butterfinger sweet

but my favorite candy was Monie

        perfect loyal unabridged sweet, refreshing cool breeze peppermint patty sweet -- solace

        i wish i had savored her sweet

        before she melted in the heat

        of anotha brotha

        and i was left alone

with cavities

                                                     JeVon

Ali--Frazier   III

destruction of human form

muscular canons exchange rounds

brown--

faced scarred hieroglyphic expressions

        bloody horrific sketches

        on flesh canvas

fist Picasso painting painful illustrations

of black not beautiful

but grotesque!

under these conditions

i sat there

entertained

by black brutality

mesmerized

as black men snapped, uppercut, jabbed, and hooked years off of each other

afterwards,

i vowed

never to watch boxing

again

                                                      JeVon

Numerology 

8/1/05

As a Christian,

I believe in the divinity of numbers

especially, number 1,

as in 1 God I serve,

who sent 1 Messiah 1 time

to cleanse my sins

once and for all

what about number 2,

Noah built his ark,

and animals marched

two and two

so they might populate the earth

through and through

the number 4,

need I say more,

than there are 4 gospels

according to 4 men of God

number 7,

on the 7th day God rested

so remember the Sabbath and keep it holy

(notice, I will skip 6

because 3, 6's represent evil

to God’s people)

consider number 10,

parables of 10 virgins

and 10 talents

10 lepers cleansed

of ills and sins

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

on stone tablets

the foundation of lawful habits

12 is another favorite of mine,

12 divine tribes from Israel

12 apostles

who followed

Jesus

but my favorite number is 3

for you see

it figures prominently

3 youth feared God more than Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace

3 times God called little Samuel before he knew God was calling

and when Jesus was born

3 different gifts were offered

3 times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him and Peter replied yes 3 times only to have Jesus say feed my sheep 3 times

3 times Peter would deny Christ

as predicted

then Peter was convicted,

inside

3 times Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness

and 3 times Jesus resisted

Jesus waited 30 years, 3 times 10,

before starting his 3 year ministry,

before being crucified at age 33,

and before rising from the dead on the third day

and last but not least       

the Holy Trinity,

Father, Son,

and Holy Ghost

inside of me

sealed for eternity.

Funny Math  

2004

If we start with the whole number Black,

        and subtract 400 years of oppression,

        minus America’s race obsession,

        minus chattel slavery,

        minus miles of middle passage,

are we then left with African, or perhaps Yoruba, or Tutsi, or Ibo, or some other derivative?

If you are black and po’, and I’m black and rich, but he’s black and middle class, with the least common denominator still being blackness,

        does that make us brothas?

If we agree that black culture is an infinite number,

        why do some of us take more than others, making us blacker than others, when we can all

        share,

        and why do some of us only take a little just to have room to add assimilation?

Now, the circumference of my humanity is Christianity

        yet why is the volume of my black sphere filled with so much sin?

Are African-Americans multiples of our ancestors, or are they the square root of us?

If Martin is the inverse of Malcolm, and Booker T. the converse of W.E.B.,

        then is Aunt Jemima the reciprocal of Angela Davis?

        And how many Condoleeza Rices does it take to make

        one Assata Shakur?

Are the Black Panthers less than, or greater than, the NAACP?

Statistics say Blacks keep killin’ Blacks, so does one Black who kills another equal zero, or maybe the sum is negative black after we subtract

        both families’ pain and suffering

Me + money + fame + jewelry + cars + name brand clothes still equals me...doesn’t it,

        yet my women quotient quadruples;

        so what was I worth before I factored in materialism?

Jay-Z times Nelly times Missy times 50 cent to the third degree = platinum MC,

        but does it equal revolutionary?

        On the other hand, KRS-ONE times Talib Kweli times Common plus Lauryn and

        Mos Def = Black consciousness squared, I think...

The total number of Blacks in the U.S. divided by skin color, divided by religion, divided by class, is the formula for lack of black unity,

        although,

if we account for Million Man and Million Woman marches we decrease lack of black unity by approximately 15%

I could be wrong,

but it seems like Clarence Thomas sits at a 90 degree angle to Thurgood Marshall who was parallel to the Civil Rights Movement which some say was perpendicular to the Black Power Movement, yet I would argue that Civil Rights can be divided by Black Power several times with a remainder of Black liberation

Black man + black women = playa + hurt feelings + drama

        But, and don’t quote me on this,

        black man + black woman + married with children + commitment = black family,

        which is a fraction of black nation

Hmm, never have been that good at math, but this one theorem I always remember

        me + Satan = damnation

        but, me + Jesus = salvation  

8/1/05

one day I asked God for the strength of Samson

so I could tear bears and lions

to pieces

with my bare hands

God replied;

I gave you words and a pen

so with the fruit of your lips and the fruit of your fingertips;

Praise

I asked God for endurance, the patience of Job,

and God said;

I gave you a pen and words so

Praise

I asked Him for the fighting skills of Joshua,

the talent to defeat many men

due to faith within

and God said;

I gave you words and a pen

so Praise

ok God, but

could you give me the wisdom, the riches, the mistresses,

of King Solomon

but once again,

the Lord said

I gave you a pen and words to offer<.i>

Praise

yes God, but how great it would be

to have the courage of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

but God said; I know,

but I gave you a pen and words

so Praise

but Lord could you bless me with the discernment of Daniel,

the intellect of Paul,

so I could decipher all

the mysteries of your Word

and God said;

seek and ye shall find

my Word  reaches the learned and the unlearned and plus,

I already gave you words and a pen so

Praise

Finally the Lord grew tired of my requests and said;

I will give you the passionate and prose of David as long as you honor me in your poetry

and I have been writing for Him every since

JeVon

POSTCARDS FROM THE DEAD            

8/7/05

i thought i was

ready

to die

but its so cold

down here

beneath dust, as i become dust

my spirit freestyle battles the ghost of 'Pac

still got classic verses

but they come to me slower now - every once and while

haunting

the current state of hip-hop

wonder if in death i became a great MC - legendary

since many stole my blueprint

it's so cold down here

 One love, Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G.

no grave could ever hold

the tongue God created

a flaming metoer

i burned and ignited

everything in earshot

told my niggaz it was destiny

to flame and flicker so quickly

see how they love me

the world will never forget me

righteousness comes in many forms

thug-life forever,

Lesane P. Crooks aka Tupac Amaru Shakur

finally

peace of mind

at least

until Judgement

tell  my sistas not to be angry at men

it's not worth it - life is too short

momma may have papa may have but God bless the child who has self-love

i gave my fans all i had

i am not sure

what i received in return

nevertheless,

i have found peace

sincerely,

Eleanora Fagan aka Billie Holiday

JeVon