Jeffrey “Big Homey” Banks is a finalist in Day Eight’s annual open-to-all poetry competition, the DC Poet Project. Read more about the DC Poet Project here and attend the culminating reading event Saturday May 4, 2024.
A note from the poet: The poem title “No D” is a reference to the poet’s brother’s name — Ramon — and the television show “Everybody Loves Raymond”.
No D
The 70’s
After Ella & Richard
Had Some “Good Times”
Out of their Banks
A Derivation of “The Jeffersons”
Was Born
And “We’re Movin’ On Up”
“Three’s Company” became
Four
But As We Explored
“One Day at a Time”
We Press Towards
“Happy Days”
But When Ma “Dukes”
Experienced “Hazards”
I Felt “What” was “Happening”.
The 80’s
“Different Strokes” Made Me
Realize I Didn’t Have A
“Silver Spoon” from My
“Family Matters”
The “Growing Pains”
From Not Having A
Dr. Huxtable or an Attorney Clair
Had Me Know
I was Living in
“A Different World”
From My “Family Ties”
When I Thought
My “Full House”
Was Winning
Nepotism Had A
Royal Flush
So I Had to
Keep A Poker Face
Amongst “Perfect Strangers”
When I Wanted Others
To “Gimme a Break”
In My “Wonder Years”
I Had to Face
“The Facts of Life” that
Those are Few and Far Between
Rarely was There “Cheers”
For Me Despite That
“Everybody Knows My Name”.
The 90’s
This Banks Wasn’t A
“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’.
Who Knew “Living Single”
Would Be My Mandate
To This Point in My Life
When I Thought I’d Be
“The Family Guy”.
“Friends” are Fake
And They Duplicate
“Martin” & “Malcolm
In The Middle”
Became Leaders in
Learning How
To Be Comedic
“By Any Means Necessary”.
The “King” without “Queens”
Becomes A
Jack of All Trades.
Concerning Siblings
No “Sister, Sister”
And “Everybody Loves
Raymon”
As “Boy Meets World”,
I Became a “Smart Guy”
Knowing There’s No Way
I Could Plan for This.
The “Modern Family”
Of the 2000’s
Is More Digital
But Knowing
My Life isn’t a Sitcom
It Doesn’t Have
To Be Televised
But the Revolution Should Be
Jeff O’ Lantern
As the Clock Strikes 12
CinderHomey Turns into Pumpkin
Mama’s Pumpkin
Been Carved Out
With a Built-In Smile
And All the While
Praying the Light Inside
Doesn’t Burn Out
The Jeff O’ Lantern
To Stay Lit
Holistically Fit Works
Trying to Embrace
How I’m Shaped
No Two Pumpkins are the Same
Fearfully & Wonderfully Made
Protecting My Peace
So If You Think It’s Shade
*Shrug*
I’m Known By My Fruit
Writing is My Bug
Not You
It Eats from the Something Sweet
Because It’s True
Those Who Bug You
Will Steal Your Seeds
Nourish from You
While They Watch You Bleed
And the Death is Theft
As Winter Approaches
Exterminate the Roaches
That Bug You
The Insect that Should Infect You
Is Poetry
The Spoken Word Light
Burning Inside
Helps Me Fight
So the Poetry Bug
That Bites
This Pumpkin
Will Produce the Prince
Of A Royal Priesthood
Of Spoken Word Psalms
To Calm the Savage Beast
So Like Yeast
Rise to the Occasion
A Raisin in the Sun
I’m Gonna Let the Son Shine
So Others Will Find Light in Darkness
So As I’m Designed By the Divine
To Be the Nutritional Yeast and Bread
So People Can Feast and Be Fed
And Soothe the Savage Beast
In My Head
Me
Jeffrey “Big Homey” Banks has worked with America’s Got Talent champion Brandon Leake, New York Times best-selling author Jason Reynolds, and GRAMMY-Nominated artists Kevin Powell and Ethelbert Miller. He has performed nationwide, including at over 30 college campuses, and served as a Lead Teaching Artist with the DC Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative and Words, Beats and Life. He is co-editor, with Maritza Rivera, of Diaspora Café: D.C., an afro-latin poetry anthology. He was a finalist in the 2018 and 2021 DC Poet Project competitions and hopes this will be an opportunity to produce his first full-length poetry collection.
Image: User:Lusitana, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons
