From Steve Harvey’s Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
A Blackout Poem
You know Steve Harvey, the Family Feud guy?
Did you know his fits go hard?
How about this one: did you know he writes books on dating and relationships?
Don’t ask how, but I became well acquainted with passages of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man during my time in the UK.
There’s some wild stuff in there. I decided to give chapter three my own treatment as a blackout poem, which I submit for your enjoyment.
Transcription below
A Man’s Sum
Timothy Nisly
ain’t nothin’ on this planet, nothing
we cannot live without.
take our house, our job, our last
hold out. we don’t care;
we need.
the sons of man are waking
in pursuit of a cross.
what the hell?
see what happens.
that’s what men are made of.
and can’t one of them survive.
no matter how much a man loves,
the house maybe in crumbs.
I’ll work a little longer, because
I got a schedule to keep,
acting in my own charity.
I’m on the run
and it could be any day now.
truth is, the lord tried
to reason with me.
a friend of mine called.
“you know what I’m talking about,” she said.
“you’re halfway through
you watch.”
what that friend of mine didn’t know
was all she’d done during the course of the evening.
she was always too tired.
I can understand the logic.
if I were in the room,
I would have given some sage advice:
if a man sees his woman
he could stand ready for tomorrow.
and she, perhaps, will understand
that she’s added to his sum.
Wow, very creative & different Tim. Reads futuristic yet very realistic ha! That Steve Harvey is an interesting character indeed.
Man, that last stanza!