Poison Ivy

...you're gonna need an ocean, of Calamine lotion ...it's not just a catchy song by the Coaster's. it's a warning. stay with me for a second...

i grew up in southwest Atlanta, the SWATS... and some things can only be found in the hood: Fanta Pineapple soda, the candylady, shoes draped over power lines, old men loitering outside of the gas station, chicks offering to give it up in the parking lot at the Ritz on Old Nat'l, church that doesn't let out 'til 2pm, hair-dos that cost more than rent #section8, bootleg EVERYTHING from movies to shoes, flea markets, pieces of weave lying in the street, 2-for-1 food stamp transactions, Kool-Aid, and poison ivy... big patches of a plant that, if you insist on playing in and around it, is well-known for causing discomfort on a good day...

what does any of this have to do with the price of tea in China... and how much was cabbage #Cosbyflow...

most people subscribe to similar principles, just give them different names, different ways of explaining the same belief system... where a bible thumping church goer may say you reap what you sow, common sense sayings stress "what goes around, comes around"... while my atheist friend might resolve that you get back what you put out into the universe, my ex, Michelle a more earthy natural hair having neo-soul loving chick might say "karma's a bitch"... right before she waits for me to fall asleep and cuts a runway thru my "good" hair...

...making it plain

"when i was a child, i spoke as a child. i thought as a child. i understood as a child. but when i became a man, i put away childish things" - the Good Book

i've done my share of dissing, ducking, ignoring, stringing along, and generally mistreating... here's hoping that in this quest for love if you will that my attempts to make amends for past ills and do things better buys me some grace, makes that bitch karma miss my ass, gets me safely to my destination