old school
i’m old school
i like it to have a rhyme and a reason
i like to know where one is
i like to slow dance

i’m old school
i believe in roots and powers
i believe in the value of place
i believe in carrying the one

i’m from the old school
you know, the one with all the broken windows,
textbooks from before the war
and real blackboards

i’m from the old school
i believe in starting with a clean slate
i believe in quiet time
i believe in snacks

i’m from the old school
i believe in not talkin out of turn
i believe in workin on it till i get it
i believe in raisin my hand

i’m from the old school
i believe in assembly
i believe in recess
i believe in physical education

i’m old school
i believe in reading between the lines
i believe in spelling things out
i believe in carrying the one

i’m old school
i like it to have a rhyme and a reason
i like to slow dance
i like to take it to the next level


catching down
about to go on a journey
you are already on it
you don’t know when the journey began
you don’t know where it began

i am often so ahead of myself
that i can’t catch up
going too fast
the way i go makes
the road less travelled
than skipped

i want to catch down

i think of a pillow fight
to be so quick
that you never get hit
misses the point


Proving Myself
Let me be me
Let why be unknown
Let i be a function of why me
Let you be variable
Let it be constant

If i is not myself, then
i is something else
If i is something else, then
all the hope and anguish
i feels is not felt by me,
which is absurd

Therefore, i exist
Therefore, i insist


Non-Euclidean Geometry
Definitions:
A point is that which has no part.
The extremities of a line are points.
The whole is equal to the sum of its parts.
Things which are equal to the same thing are
also equal to one another.

Common Notions:
People come in all shapes and sizes.
The world is a stage, and we each must play a part.
You can fool some of the people some of the time.
Space is the place.
Now is the time.

Propositions (to be demonstrated):
Some people are squares.
A square has a number of points.
A square has no part.
A fool has no point.
Some people are out of this world.
There is no royal road to geometry.


N-words and Upwards
Claim this,
you,
rap
not-a-musician so-called
artist,
and you who
would be comical,
it’s time
to recognize
that refusing to look
inwards is crazy
that now has been the time
for too long
and to get from yesterday to tomorrow
a mighty burden is our present
lifting ourselves upwards
begins with turning inwards

Inward, please

From our beloved struggles
we have to accept that inwards ain’t crazy

...and by the way
if you ever say
that nigger’s crazy
say it like you mean
that is one man
who won’t die laughing at himself
that is one woman
who can say no when
everybody else is saying yes

N-word, please

if you ever say nigger
say it like you’re talking about some
body
not some
thing

say it like you know the difference
between down and out,
like you know the connection
between inwards and upwards
like you would be priviliged
to have met the first nigger
who spoke English well enough
to call himself that
without thinking himself that




Lewis Jordan © 2008