While standing in the kitchen, my roommate says Luke Cage ain’t shit

Lyrics

after Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib while standing in the kitchen, my roommate says Luke Cage ain't shit and such defiance is risky in a house surrounded by what the setting sun left behind, so I say, I have nothing but fear in the face of two hands and pointed metal ready to tear into this body. And he goes, Nigga every hood already got at least one dood sitting on the corner with half his shirt hanging off his shoulders so the homies would never forget about that plugged hole he got in his ribs from that one time them niggas from the east caught him slippin. I'm saying I can find you a hero if you need one. And the house has a bit of a rumble to it now and we're standing right in the belly of it, and he says, A bullet don't always gotta be a bullet to break the flesh. There are terrors eager enough to pluck your daddy right from under your nose but someone still gotta wake up early to pepper the fish on Sunday and make sure the plantain is at least sweeter than last week so those left behind could have a bit of joy to make a feast out of. and I know what he means, for I too have prayed for a familiar face when grief has held on and refused to let go but I do not think the hands of my loved ones will reach me if I should ever have to stare down the barrel of a gun, so I say, If you found yourself in one of the dark corners that this world has left, would you look death right in its eyes? And he says, Fuck yes, I will. Cant lift two tons but I be hitting the gym everyday so a nigga could catch these hands before I catch a bullet. And even if a bullet makes it through this body and I fall my boys will be right there in my place, more bodies to fill the space of one body, an endless pot of peas and rice. I am the nigga that keeps on giving. And only so many taunts you can throw up into the air until something wicked comes charging at you so I'm not surprised when I look at the stove and don't see flames but still smell the gasoline and I'm not surprised when the faucet turns itself on and starts filling the sink with blood and I'm not surprised when claws start scraping at the bottom of the door for I know these are all the signs of hunger. The night has swallowed better men than us both and would show its teeth if we were to peek out the curtains, and yet I've seen this dood walk out this bitch like he run shit, like he can't be touched. So I say, Don't act like you don't know the weight of this fear. To be unbreakable is to be set free. Then he walks right past me toward the sliding door and pushes his face right up against the glass and says, Can't you see? The night is only relentless until the sun comes to break it. And I look at him as he stands in the open jaw of an empty and impatient thing, and say, I only see a ravenous thing ready to lick its tongue across your flesh. And he reaches for the handle, spins his head so our eyes could meet, cracks a smile and pulls opens the door.