MASKS - The Collected Poems of Tolbert Jones Small

MASKS Has Moved to a Web Site!

2009-01-13T10:21:00.003-05:00

.
Please redirect your web browser to the new MASKS web site.

Just click the link above or copy/paste the URL:

http://sites.google.com/site/maskspoetryofdrtolbertsmall/

See you there!

History

2008-05-22T08:02:00.001-04:00

We sing to the victors,
Who always write our history.
They ride their heroic horses through the sky,
While they plunder, rape, and murder.
Only their religion survives.

In their history, the victim becomes the devil,
As the devil becomes a hero.
The victim becomes the terrorist;
The terrorist not only becomes the victim;
He also becomes a hero.
It’s either an Indian massacre
Or a Custer victory.

In truth,
Sometimes both sides wind up as terrorists;
Sometimes there are no heroes.
To find a hero,
Sometimes one must look into the mirror.

Chicken Hawk

2008-05-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

I wear the mask of a hawk,
But I have the heart of a chicken.
I send brave men to die,
While I cower behind my lies.
Scoundrel that I am,
I hide behind patriotism.
I love neither my country,
Nor my people
I only love the goddess Dinera.

Although I wear the mask of a patriot,
I walk like a chicken,
But I squeak like a hawk.

Brotherhood

2008-05-22T07:59:00.000-04:00

One day, there will be brotherhood.
Blacks, whites, yellow, and brown will break bread together.
Muslims, Christians, and Jews will live peacefully together.
All the churches, synagogues, and mosques will be museums.
All the totalitarian dictators will be in the ground.

Close your eyes,
This will only occur in your dreams.
Sweet dreams, Señor.

Global Warming

2008-05-22T07:56:00.002-04:00

Boom, the dinosaurs have self destructed.
But their carbon spirits will rise from the grave,
To lead the homo sapiens to self destruct.
Heat the ocean.
Scorch the earth.
Burn the arctic.

Homo sapiens will burn
their grandchildren’s future
To bring hell on earth.

Tati at 26

2008-05-22T07:56:00.001-04:00

Twenty six years, sweet and sassy,
You are no longer a Niña.
You are now a Muher.
Work hard,
Study hard.
Party hard.
Develop yourself to the fullest;
Not only to help yourself,
But also to reach out to help others.

Reach for the moon,
And you will touch the sky.
Truly, “the bad seed” has become
A beautiful Swann.

Like a beautiful butterfly,
You will travel the world over,
But you will always return home.

Illegitimate?

2008-05-22T07:55:00.000-04:00

How can a baby be illegitimate?
Aren’t they all created by God?
How can one be an illegal alien?
Didn’t God create the world for all of us?

To The Healers (and their patients who have the right to be healed)

2008-05-20T23:25:00.003-04:00

We are healers.
We toiled for years to learn the mystery of the human body.
We nourish spirits from birth to the grave.
We mend the bones.
We sew the cuts.
We kill the pain.
We cool the fevers.
We soothe the spirits.

We are healers.
We bring new life.
We close old life.
We pick the herbs.
We needle away the pain.
We cut out the cancer.
We poison the germs.
We calm the troubled minds.

We are healers.
We treat the whole body as one universe.
We treat each part of this universe.
We keep the hearts pumping.
We keep the lungs breathing.
We know, as long as life exists,
We will be healers.

Freedom

2008-05-19T15:56:00.000-04:00

All tyrants beware;
The winds of freedom
Will spring up like a wildflower
To choke the weeds of greed.

Yes, freedom is a wildflower.

Like a hurricane, the winds of freedom
Will blow from the east to the west,
From the north to the south
To break the chains of slavery.

Yes, freedom is a hurricane.

Resistance

2008-05-19T15:54:00.003-04:00

You may poison our wells;
We will resist.
You may break our bones;
Resist we must.
You may bulldoze our homes,
We will resist.

We will resist
To the last drop of our blood,
Once the seeds of freedom
Have been planted in blood.
The winds of freedom
Will blow these seeds
Into your wicked heart.

You may throw our bones into a barren desert.
They will sprout forth a beautiful rose,
Whose vines will strangle the enemies of the sun,
Those who
Plunder,
Rape,
And murder.

Jazz

2008-05-19T15:54:00.001-04:00

Jazz is to poetry
As the egg is to sperm,
As yin is to yang,
As man is to woman.

When jazz embraces poetry,
The muse explodes
To create a dancing orgasm

Nothing But A Man

2008-05-19T15:52:00.000-04:00

What are you?
I am a Baptist.
I am a Jew.
I am a Catholic.

In spite of all that,
You are what you are.

What are you?
I am wealthy.
I am poor.
I am a communist.

In spite of all that,
You are what you are.

What are you?
I am a man.
That’s what you are.
You are what you are.
In spite of your beliefs,
In spite of your money,
You are nothing but a man.

Farewell To Playa Careyero

2008-05-19T15:50:00.002-04:00

Farewell to the emerald tides which touch the sky.
Farewell to the pisces de mar who swim and swim.
Farewell to the foamy waves which caress the sands.
Farewell to the golden sands which kiss the sea.

Farewell to the mystical turtles who lay their magical eggs.
Farewell to the brown pelicans who soar and dive.
Farewell to the savage bluffs, frozen in a permanent erection.
Farewell to the verdant palms which shake our spirit.

Farewell to the palapas with their eternal roofs.
Farewell to the crazy Gringos with their everlasting spending.

Farewell to today,
As we await tomorrow’s greetings

Nigger Rose

2008-05-19T15:50:00.001-04:00

I am the nigger rose.
Don’t water me.
Don’t nourish me.
Don’t prune my vines.

Blame me for my dwarfism.
Blame me for my wildness.
Blame me for my ugliness.

One day my thorns will get you.

Sixty

2008-05-16T10:37:00.000-04:00

Sprung from the spirit of the 60’s,
Fight racism;
Feed the hungry;
Clothe the naked.

Sprung from the spirit of the 60’s,
Cloud your mind,
Live your dream,
Flow with the rainbow.

As the spirit of the 60’s meets the age of sixty,
My work has just begun.

St. Mary's Children

2008-05-16T10:36:00.000-04:00

As the children of St Mary’s fall like leaves,
T’s true, another leave has fallen.
Let us not shed a tear for her.
She lived the life that she wanted to …
And she died when she chose to.

Neil at 60

2008-05-16T10:35:00.000-04:00

Reaching the age of 60,
My life has just begun.
I shall carry it on
To heal the ill,
To raise my boys
Both spiritually and physically.

I shall carry it on
To serve as a partner
With Gale.

As I approach the age of 60,
My work has just begun.
Today, I will learn to enjoy
The world which sits at my feet.

Hideo

2008-05-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

The past and the future rest with you.
You are our past.
You are our future.
In you,
The yin submits to the yang;
The yang submits to the yin.
The seeds of the yin
Unite with the fertile earth of the yang.
To create a new life, Hideo.
A new spirit,
To fight for justice,
To fight for healthcare,
To fight to end racism.
Let us pass the torch to Hideo
To light the fires
To burn the enemies of the sun.
Hideo, we await your coming.

Ayanna and Tandaji

2008-05-16T10:33:00.000-04:00

The West Wind blows to the east.
The East Wind blows to the west.
Joined together, they now flow as one,
One life,
One love.

Our love shall light the candle
To lead to a new life, a life together
Of struggle,
Of sharing,
And of giving.
A love that gives and a love that takes,
One life,
One love.

Our love will create new life.
Our love will shelter old life.
Our love will burn during the joy of youth.
Our love will shelter us during the storms of middle life.
Our love will nourish us during the wrinkling of old age.

Our love will strive during the spring of life.
Our love will grow during the winter of life.

To Ayanna and Tendaji,
One life,
One love.

Katrina Res Ipse Sequitur

2008-05-16T10:32:00.000-04:00

Babies dying, people crying,
Where is the help?

No water, no food, no insulin
Where is the help?

Rivers flooding, homes collapsing,
Where is the help?

Newspaper specials everywhere,
Where is the help?

Lots of noise, signifying nothing,
Where is the help?

Bodies flowing into the streets,
No food for days,
Where is the help?

Living people dying,
Where is the help?

Will help always be a day away?
Help delayed is help denied.

Res ipse sequitur.
The whole world is watching.

Pax Terrae

2008-05-16T10:31:00.000-04:00

The earth will embrace peace,
When Christians practice Christianity,
When the Communists practice true Communism,
When the Jews practice Judaism,
When the Muslims practice their faith.

The earth will embrace peace
When the believers in democracy
Practice their believes instead of preaching them,
When human beings practice their
Faith rather than preaching it.

Then all the streams will flow into one river;
Hindus will embrace Muslims;
Muslims will embrace Hindus.
Arabs will embrace Jews;
Jews will embrace Arabs.

On that day,
Their faith will bring them together,
Not apart.

On that day,
The lions will live with the lambs.
Rivers will flow upstream;
Then we shall have peace on earth.

Thanksgiving

2008-05-16T10:30:00.002-04:00

What does Thanksgiving mean for us?

We give thanks to the Africans
Who survived the middle passage.

We give thanks to the slaves:
Who survived their masters’ rape,
To the blackmen who survived
Their masters’ beatings.
To the yellowmen who built your railroads.

We give thanks:
To the redmen who survived your genocide,
To Crazy Horse who defended his people,
To Harriet Tubman who drove her train to freedom.
To the Colored man who resisted your back doors.
To the Jews who survived your ovens.

We give thanks:
To the Colored soldiers who fought for a double victory,
For Malcolm X who always spoke the truth,
To the brave peasants in Chiapas,
Fighting for land, food, and a better way of life,

We give thanks:
For my mother who scrubbed Ms. Ann’s floors,
For my father who worked and worked,
For my wife who put up with me for thirty years.
For my children who are healthy, spiritually and physically,
For all our friends who will break bread together.

We give thanks
For all who carry on the fight against greed and racism,
For those who fight for healthcare for all,
For all who fight for good good education,
For those who fight against unjust wars,
For the day when all wars will be ancient history.

That is what thanksgiving means to us.

The Good Politician

2008-05-16T10:30:00.001-04:00

When the power structure squeaks, “Right is wrong.”
The Good Politicians shouts out, “Right is right.”
When the storms of unjust wars rain down upon us,
She fights for the peace found in all of our hearts.
She knows that once the seeds of peace have been planted in blood;
They will always sprout forth again and again.

When the clouds of death hover over us,
The Good Politician stands strong against the winds of tyranny.
She speaks the truth when lies roam the land.
She strives the mountain tops for the poor and helpless.
She fights for:
Healthcare,
Education,
And economic justice.
She fights for
The end of racism
And religious bigotry.
She fights to end hunger, greed, and poverty.

She bows to neither kings nor presidents nor princes of wealth.
The Good Politician only bows to the people she serves.

In her final hours, the seeds that she has planted will
Insure that her spirit will continue to speak truth to power

To Maudelle Shirek,
Thank you for 93 years of serving the people.
Your spirit will retire only when the sun no longer rises.
Give them hell! Maudelle.

The Spirit of the Panther

2008-05-16T10:28:00.002-04:00

Today, the Panther sleeps;
But one day, the spirit of the Panther
Will rise again.

The spirit of the Panther will rise
When there are no homeless on our streets,
When healthcare becomes a right not a privilege,
When quality education is available for all.

The spirit of the Panther will rise
When we spend more money on education than on prisons,
When police truly serve and protect,
When our children will no longer die in wars fought for oil and greed.

The spirit of the Panther will rise
When no child wakes up or falls asleep with hungry pains,
When children no longer kill children in our mean streets,
When our society creates the new man.

The spirit of the Panther will rise
When race, color, and sex no longer matters,
When corporations no longer serve as puppet masters,
When our government becomes of the people, by the people,
And for the people.

For now the Panther sleeps,
But she will not sleep forever.
One day she will arise from the grave
To walk these mean streets.
Beware!

The Happy Ending

2008-05-16T10:28:00.001-04:00

My long suffering has ended.
Gone are the sharp pains only partially blunted by morphine.
Like winter into summer, my tears are now perpetually frozen
Into the joy of death.
Stillness for me reflexes a lack of suffering

One Hundred Years

2008-05-16T10:26:00.002-04:00

Let a hundred lights ring out.
Let them ring out
For the mending hearts, beat by beat,
For the shattered bones, now straightened,
For the troubled minds, now soothed.

Let a hundred fires burn.
Let them burn
For the crippled limbs, now working,
For the pus lungs, now cleansed,
For the spirits which drain the poisonous
Sugars from our blood.

Let a hundred candles be lit.
Let them be lit
For the angels who nurse the ill,
For the scientific lights that grow from year to year.
Let the candles glow brighter each year.
Let them glow for our compassion;
For without compassion,
We have nothing.

Let a hundred tears flow.
Let them flow for the shame
That it took over 100 years
For our clear sky to become a rainbow of colors.
Let them flow for the shame
That it took over 100 years
For women to hold up one half the sky.
Let a hundred tears flow,
Let them flow
For the years of sorrow
When all men were not treated equally.

Let one hundred applauses ring out.
Let them ring out
For those who scrubbed the floors,
For the maids who made the beds,
For the cooks who served the meals.
For without them,
There would be no one hundred years.

Let a hundred flowers bloom.
Let them bloom for the birth of the new.
Let them bloom for the death of the old.
Let the flowers bloom for those who heal the ill.
But above all, let the flowers bloom
For those who are healed

Let a hundred stars shine.
Let them shine out
For the foods flowing through our veins,
Let them shine out for the surgeons,
Cutting and sewing through mirrors.
Let them shine out for the healers
Who labor from sunset through sundown.
But above all, let the stars shine out
For one hundred years of caring;
For without caring,
We have nothing.

Let the lights ring out.
Let the candles blaze forth.
Let the fires burn in celebration.
Let us celebrate 100 years of mending;
So that we can mend the hearts for another 100 years.

Nightingale

2008-05-16T10:26:00.001-04:00

Once the spirit of the Nightingale
Rises within you
To heal the ill,
Ease the pain,
Cool the fever,
And kill the germs.

That spirit will never die,
Once, it has planted its seed.
It will always sprout forth
Again and again.

Even in death, the spirit of the Nightingale
Will cast forth its shadow to be born again.

Even in death, the spirit of the Nightingale
Will rise forth like a phoenix to be born again.

Holidays

2008-05-16T10:25:00.001-04:00

Golden bells nestled against the trees,
Chanukah lights blazing towards the sky,
Kwanza gifts passing from hand to hand,
Yet an elderly wrinkled lady squats in the snow;
Honey, can you spare a dime?

Children sparkling smiles with their eyes,
Incense burning throughout the midnight mass,
Rainbow lights sparkling and glowing from tree to tree.
Yet, a wrinkled man squats in the gutter;
Honey, can you spare a dime?

Ghosts

2008-05-16T10:24:00.000-04:00

One day, we shall all be a memory,
Walking in the footsteps of yesterday.
Look in the mirror my children;
You will see tomorrow’s ghosts.

Dancing Feet

2008-05-16T10:23:00.000-04:00

Dancing feet, jump up to kiss the sky.
Hippity hop, hippity hop bow down to touch the sky.
Shake, shake your chega like a pound of jelly.
Our spirit lives through dancing;
Dancing lives through our spirit.

Caretakers

2008-05-16T10:21:00.003-04:00

We are not owners of Mother Earth;
We are merely caretakers for future generations.
We must let our forests grow.
We must let our animals roam.
We must let our rivers flow.

We should take only what we need.
We must pick only flowers for today;
We must leave some for tomorrow.
We must save the future for our children’s children.
We must let the salmon swim and the buffaloes roam.

America

2008-05-16T10:21:00.001-04:00

We are America:
We who mop the floors,
We who pick the cotton,
We who farm the valleys.

We are America:
The sharecropper who plowed his mule,
The ironworker who forged his steel,
The women who bore our children.

We are America:
The Chinese men who built the railroads,
The Yiddish men who passed through Ellis Island,
The Redmen who lived here first.

We are America:
The slaves who chopped and picked your cotton,
The Black faces who nursed your babies and scrubbed your floors.
Though we were the other America,
We are still America.

We are America:
We pray to Christ,
We pray to Allah,
We pray to Jehovah,
We pray for humanity.
We are America.

Alma de Jazz

2008-05-16T10:20:00.000-04:00

El Viejo, the magnificent one,
Galloping across the beach,
Surfing the waves,
Protector of su casa,
Ever faithful,
Ever loyal.

Listen! The magnificent one has not died.
We hear his spirit with the howling of the winds.
We hear his spirit with the roaring of the waves...

Mourners! Open your eyes;
Once again, you shall see the magnificent one
Bounding across the beach,
Forever faithful,
Forever loyal.

Whenever the burning sun sinks its head
Beneath the verdant mountains,
El Viejo raises its head.

On Acupuncture

2008-05-16T10:19:00.002-04:00

Phantom Horse winging its path through the sky,
Showering light upon the East,
Though masked from the West by cultural clouds of doubt,
Yes, Westerners cut away your cultural shrouds;
Investigate the New Changes. Don’t ignore them.

A Cancao do Brasil

2008-05-16T10:19:00.001-04:00

I sing of Brazil, Brazil, Brazil:
African drums pounding in the square,
Many shades of black singing as they dance,
The spirit of Yoruba smiling as we run.

We sing of Brazil:
Marble stone churches, spiraling towards the sky,
Golden gilded walls stolen from our ancestors,
Rainbows of glass flowing forever upward.

We sing of Brazil:
Golden sand flowing, naked beneath the sun,
Stormy waves nestling between your golden thighs,
Sexy palm trees bristling against the wind.

We sing of Brazil:
Fertile jungles dancing with the sweat of the panther,
Shaking vines twisting with a warm embrace,
Sparkling birds glimmering through your lustful bosom.

Oh Brazil, today we caress your sensual thighs,
So that tomorrow our spirits will flow together as one.

Violence

2008-05-16T10:18:00.001-04:00

Round and round, we roar through this circle of despair.
Violence spiraling forever, terrorists killing terrorists,
When will the flowers sprout forth again?

Violence begets more violence,
As an eye for an eye leaves both parties blind.

Criminal?

2008-05-16T00:41:00.001-04:00

Puff the magic bush, smoking through the sky.
A rainbow of colors clouds my vision.
The sky and the ocean roar together.

I am not a criminal; I am a drug addict.
I am not crazy; I am a drug addict.

Pop, white powder splits the skin.
Viruses of plague rots our body.
We choose years of pain for one brief high.

I am not a criminal; I am a drug addict.
I am not crazy; I am a drug addict.

Weep Not for Me

2008-05-16T00:39:00.004-04:00

If I die,
Let me go swiftly through the night.
Let there be no wailing at the gates.
Let there be no gnashing of teeth.
Let there be no weeping of hearts.

Weep not for me;
I have fought the good life.
Weep for yourself;
You who refuse to fight.

Weep for yourself;
You have died before you were borne.
Let the fools who have wasted their lives
Weep for themselves.
I have lived my life to the fullest.
Weep not for me.

Don’t cry over my death;
Cry over your life.
Cry over your refusal to live.
Weep not for me
But for yourself.

If I die,
Let me go swiftly through the night.
Let there be no wailing at the gates.
Let there be no gnashing of teeth.
Let there be no weeping of hearts.

Angels

2008-05-16T00:39:00.003-04:00

Angel of Mercy,
Fly like a dove through the hospital
To bathe the ill,
Dress the wounded,
And feed the weak.

Angel of care,
Fly like a butterfly through the hospital
To massage the aching muscles,
Ease the suffering,
And decrease the pain.

Angel of love,
Fly like an eagle through the hospital
To cool the rising fevers,
Soothe the aching bones,
And raise the gloomy spirits

Truly, nurses are angels,
And angels are nurses.

What's Important?

2008-05-16T00:39:00.001-04:00

After we have poisoned all the rivers,
Will we then only drink oil?
When we have caught the last fish,
Will we only eat diamonds?
When all the plants have wilted,
Will we then only sow rubies?
When we can no longer breath our polluted air,
Then shall we only breathe perfume?
When the flowers have all gone,
Shall we only smell war?
When the sun no longer flies
And the moon no longer glows,
What value will our eyes have?
When the birds no longer fly
And the mammals no longer walk,
Shall we then eat money?
Perhaps, what’s important is not
What we want
But what we have.

For Margie

2008-05-16T00:38:00.001-04:00

Born in Chicago
a day before her time,
a red diaper baby.
Her parents taught her,
“It is no crime to fight,
to fight for the poor,
the homeless, America’s have-nots.
She married a black man
when that was a crime in America.
Strong-willed woman
who led her family,
She worked two jobs
to keep her family.
She raised four children
to be strong like her.
She not only taught them
right from wrong;
She taught them to fight for
what’s right and
to change what’s wrong.
She taught them to dig up
America’s racist roots.
She taught them that
the only race was the human race.
For her children, she would give
Her money, her house, her all.
With a fiery temper,
Margie took no prisoners.
From her death bed,
Margie has passed the baton
to us who live:
to feed the hungry,
to clothe the homeless,
to root out racism,
to provide health-care for all,
to vote,
to educate our children.
Long live the fighting spirit of Margie Keller Price.

Serve the People

2008-05-16T00:37:00.002-04:00

Hurrah! Red flags blazing across the sky,
Cadres, swarming over the mountain slopes,
Only, through toil, shall our barren hill die;
Then shall they fertile fruit for our hopes.
Comrades, seek wisdom from our long struggles;
To cure that cruel disease, don’t kill the man.
Don’t blame speakers, be warned by their fables;
Judge self and friend alike, fighting red van.
In our last hours, backed up against the wall,
Stand strong, with spear and hoe, resist we must.
And if, by chance, moving forward we fall;
No cruel demons shall dare trample our dust.
Ever forward, men, red banners waving.
Let cries, “Serve the People” forever ring.

Another Farewell

2008-05-16T00:37:00.001-04:00

Five sweet years
Both good and bad.
Now let us move on
To bury the past
And challenge the future.
Friends, we shall always be,
Whatever else, let fate decide.

Hey Soweto

2008-05-16T00:36:00.000-04:00

Gentlemen awaken from your slumber,
Death for your cause is really a birth.
Can four million butchers forever
Enslave nineteen million warriors?

Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping.
Wake up to rattle the world.

Hey fat merchants
With your blood money,
Hawk your diamonds and gold
Throughout the world.
Build your mounds of profit
On our graves.
Yes Chrysler,
Yes I.B.M.,
Yes G.M.,
Your empires are dug
On the Graves
Of our babies.

Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world.

Dainty flowery gentry
Tip through your courts;
Dine on wine and honey
As you pluck our grapes.

Your sweetness rests on our sweat.
Your cargoes sparkle with diamonds and rubles.
Your trade winds blow throughout the world.
The skeleton of our fathers
Man your ships
And load your cargo.
Just as with leeches,
Your boats run on
Our blood.

Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world.

Fat flimsy women bear your children
For our mothers to raise.
Your children grow plump from
The milk of our babies.
Your women grow fat on
The bones of our mothers.
Yes, soft women play your harps
While black women scrub your floors.

Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world.

Your mines thrust down to the heart of the earth.
Your greased machines roll and turn
With a never ending fervor.
Our hands, our arms, our backs
Fuel your greedy machines.
Our blood shall one day rust
Your splendid machines.

Just like peacocks and princes,
So you strut about our land.
Our fathers roamed this land,
Strong and Free;
Now we crawl about as slaves
Carrying slave passes.

Hey Soweto.
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world.

Yes we hear the shadows of our past.
Footsteps after footsteps are rising
From their graves.
Should a dying man fear death?
Life is worth dying.
Death is worth living.
As resistance breeds torture;
So torture breeds resistance.
Never shall four million butchers
Forever enslave nineteen million warriors.

Arise brothers!
Our bones shall crumble
The mighty stones of Capetown.
Together, the many shall
Trample the few.
We don’t need to cry for justice;
We only need to make our justice.

Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world.
Another Farewell

Five sweet years
Both good and bad.
Now let us move on
To bury the past
And challenge the future.
Friends, we shall always be,
Whatever else, let fate decide.
Your silk comes from our nakedness.
Your table stands on our crumbs.
Your life depends on our death
Just like maggots around our grave.

Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world
Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world.

Fat farmers flushed with the cattle
Of our fathers,
Rich green fields grow around your gentry.
Harvests aplenty fatten your pens.
Yet only dust and starvation await our children,
As we crawl through your barren grounds
To feed on your gravel,
And live on your sand.

Hey Soweto,
We hear you.
Shake your chains sleeping giant.
Wake up to rattle the world.
Rich ocean ports sail your golden ships.

So What! Or, “Farewell to Love”

2008-05-16T00:35:00.003-04:00

As fear of day cuts short night’s flowing love,
To cloud the feel of thy unravished breast,
So now, I cease to tempt the fleeting dove
And flee beneath heaven to home to rest.

My restless soul ponders in search for light,
“Shall I forever swoon beneath thy bust?
Enough!” my hope cries out, “Now end this blight!
Unhand me! Thou untouched bride of lust.”

Aye, though I wreck thy vessel of evil,
And smash the pier of love’s inviting docks;
Unless idle heaven so vents its will,
Hope forever shall crash against the rocks.

Adieu, my once sweet love, spill thy last sigh.
As all beneath heaven, thou too must die.

Imperialism

2008-05-16T00:35:00.001-04:00

Imperialism is fascism.
Fascism is imperialism.
Long live imperialism!
Long live fascism.
Long live Pax Americana!
Long live racism, corruption, and greed.

In the Land of Chile

2008-05-16T00:34:00.005-04:00

In the land of Chile,
Sharp fanged assassins
Crawl through their slime
To slowly creep
Around Chile’s pumping heart.

Vipers of death, deceit, and decay
Coil your entrails around liberty’s
Gasping breath.

As these gray ghouls
Attempt to murder ideas
By burning books,
The Great Moral Giants of the world
Speak out:
“Fascism in the defense of corporations
Is no vice; there is no greater virtue
Than raping in the name of freedom.

And so, the World Bank awards millions to fascists
For the preservation of freedom.
For the sake of peace,
Let’s teach old torturers
New ways to burn, shock, and maim.

And so, the fat prince of Washington
Squats in his capital,
As the red blood of Chile
Gushes through the streets.
Hey! Fat prince,
Ask yourself,
For whose security
Are you fucking
The world’s human rights?

Fools, Fools, Fools!
Do you not know?
Once the seed of liberty
Has been planted in blood.
It shall always sprout forth again.
Surely our harvest will come.
For tyrants can never abort freedom;
They can only delay its birth.

The Sanctuary

2008-05-16T00:34:00.003-04:00

Our Village’s finest sanctuary lies crushed under your boots.
Your new world order brought us:
Babies rotting under the sun
With gaping holes in the back of their heads.
Breasts, which once suckled infants of beauty,
Now quiver with sweet lips frozen in perpetual agony.
Scorched babies forever shriveled and gnarled in dismay.

Your new world order brought us:
Flower girls with faces blown off.
Market flowers scattered with arms, a leg,
A head with no feet.
Corpses swollen in the sun, whose only crime
Is that they once lived.
Doctors, patients, hospitals all blown apart.
Death to all, mother, father, children.
Spare none.

You, strutting viper, sneak lions among lambs;
Then as Pontius Pilate, you wipe your hands in innocent glee.

The Greeting

2008-05-16T00:34:00.001-04:00

Candy colored rainbow smashed, havoc, wasteland.
Joyful yet painful greeting,
Golden colors rusting in the sun.
Bid adieu, yet smile hello.
We unite, but in our union we depart.
Tears of joy and sorrow flow together in one stream
Heroic but frail mankind move on.
Adieu with a kiss, hello with a tear.

Che

2008-05-16T00:33:00.003-04:00

Last night, I dreamed that I saw Che, puffing on a cigar.
Larger than life, he smiled, “I am not a spirit
I am not a dream. I am a man who lives
As long as the hungry of the world struggle for food.
I live as long as one child’s belly screams and aches with hunger.
I live as long as our people thirst for water.
I live as long as one peasant lies ill with ignorance.
I live as long as the world’s wretched suffer without health care.
I live as long as one “redskin, spic, or nigger”* thirsts for justice.
I live as long as we poison the world for the wealthy.
I live as long as the wealthy steal the wealth of the world.
I live as long as one woman picks up arms for justice.
I will live until the last victory.”

*”One abused as redskin, spic, or nigger”

Malcolm X

2008-05-16T00:33:00.001-04:00

As grief’s cruel hand cuts down our prince,
Spirit of rebellion, spirit of justice arise!
As the savage tides crash against the rocks, never more,
Revenge him, we cry.
As the ever turbulent ocean, twists and turns, now still,
Seize his spirit, seize the time!

Oh shade of justice, rape the land.
El-Hajj Malik Shabazz lives.
Oh fiery ghost riding through the mist,
Trample them, we scream!
Oh burning spirit, searing and singeing,
Scorch them once more!

They who killed him, killed themselves.
He lives within us.

Your Choice!

2008-05-16T00:32:00.005-04:00

Naked! We flee once more to hear the roar
Of foamy waves, leaping across the sky,
Splashing through cliffs, to froth along the shore.

Run! Clothe yourself in your soft urban fold
Squaloring in your plastic world, only
To smother within its rusty tin mold.

The Heroic Guerilla

2008-05-16T00:32:00.003-04:00

Scream! Scream! Scream!
About that man
Who threatened the fires of hell.
Stalk forward Bronze Dragon.
Breathe pits of fire
To melt the molted bars of slavery.
Conquer concrete walls
With courageous conviction.
Teach us the art of raging, Heroic Guerrilla.

Steal my writings, resist we must.
Steal my weapons, resist we must.
Steal my life, resist we must.

In your last hours, caged but unconquered,
Stand defiant
Before the jaws of death.
Teach us to die as men, not as slaves,
So that even after death
We may continue to resist.

Steal my writing, resist we must.
Steal my weapons, resist we must.
Steal my life, resist we must.

In your spirit of defiance,
Let’s crawl over our slain heroes
To tumble down those prison walls
Stone by stone.

Remember well, Dragonslayer;
Truth will break the chains of death.
I shall escape from the grave
To dog your every footstep.

Five yeas have passed.
T’is a pity.
Your ideas, though alive,
Lie dead
In the hearts of your followers.

Saint Joan

2008-05-16T00:32:00.001-04:00

Winged warrior waxing towards our heaven,
Armed in spirit, seizing this time of wrath
To soar through the pale clouds of dying men,
Yes, scorch their wretched corpses to burn a path
Up to a blazing pyre of carcasses.
Burn, char, and singe that parched wasteland of greed
Which corrodes the world and all its masses.
Oh raving beauty plant thy deadly seed
Which even now sprouts up to branch outward,
Twisting its vines around that doomed ruler
Who cries out cunningly trying so hard
To hatch a court of thieves for your murder.
But your lilting bird wing skyward to soar,
For your song shall echo forever more.

For Sammie

2008-05-16T00:31:00.003-04:00

Born in a shack.
Denied an education by racism.
I also toiled the red clay of Mississippi.
I followed my husband north to the promised land,
A land of false promises.

I am a scrub woman.
Ain’t I a woman?
Didn’t I build this country?

I settled in your ghettoes.
Your teachers taught me, “My children couldn’t learn.
They will fill our jails.
They will be nobody.”
I taught them to be somebody.
I taught right from wrong.
I taught them dignity amidst poverty.
I taught them to shake the shackles of racism.
I taught my children to sail against the wind.
Never shall they be cannon fodder for your unjust wars.
They shall not hang as strange fruit from your trees.

I am a scrub woman.
Ain’t I a woman?
Didn’t I build this country?

With a smile, I caught your buses to the suburbs.
With a smile, I scrubbed your floors.
With a smile, I cleaned your toilets.
With a smile, I washed your kids’ asses.
With a smile, I scoured your kitchens.
You can steal my wealth.
You cannot steal my smile.

I am a scrub woman.
Ain’t I a woman?
Didn’t I build this country?

After toiling in your kitchens,
I went home to toil in my own kitchen.
Yes, I was the best cook in the family.
My fried chicken, my gingerbread cake, my sweet potato pies
Were the best, bar none
Though a scrub woman,
I am a woman.
Yes, I built this nation.

You can steal my wealth, my furniture, my house.
You cannot steal my heart.
You cannot steal my spirit.
You cannot steal my smile.

My spirit will live on in my children and in my children’s children unborn.
In my last hours, I feel no bitterness.
I embrace death with a kiss, a smile.
Death will end my suffering.
Death will bring me peace.
I have fought the good life.
I will not bow my head.

Though a scrub woman,
I am a woman.
I built this nation.

To You

2008-05-16T00:31:00.001-04:00

Withering Lilly, blossom once more.
Unspread thy petals beneath the dew.
Wrinkle not in yesterday’s storm.
Thou shall bloom forth again tomorrow.

To Lenore

2008-05-16T00:30:00.002-04:00

Feathery butterfly winging its way higher
As if to singe the heavens in her flight,
Marveled by all for her brilliant colors,
Yet loved by me for herself alone.

To the Dead Black Spartan

2008-05-16T00:30:00.001-04:00

Hail to thee, Oh fleeting star.
Dazzle the world in thy brief moment,
Exploding with vigor, sharp and jubilant,
Sieging the ramparts with fiery revolution,
Scourge of the oppressor,
Wisest of all in counsel,
Untainted in spirit.
Sing out in the shrillest and sweetest sounds.
“Fidel, Fidel”
Amidst anarchy, walled in doom.
Brightest of all our hopes, our desires
Purest of all, stone-willed bastion
Never tempted by self nor wealth
To thee we bow
Lovers not
Yet comrades in battle.
Nevermore shall we mourn thee.
Let not death defeat us!
Your heart shall pump within us;
And through us, you will triumph.

Ever onward, black warrior, ever onward
Heed not death knocking at your door
T’is but an echo of tomorrow’s journey
Spur thy great steed onward,
Across the dregs and over the mires,
Singing out in the shrillest sounds
Venceremos Patria o Muerte

Ride on, ride on, across the misty forest
Into the fiery sea,
Nevermore to gallop amidst us.
Rider on with thy splendid steed.
We shall not mourn thy passing;
Death will not defeat us.
Your heart shall pump within us;
And through us, you will triumph.

Turn out the lamps and wail through the night.
Weep, weep for thy shadow now gone.
As bleeding sorrow drenches our bones
To dam our spirit in that doomed box.
So thy minions gather, woe-wrecked with groaning grief.
Listen, perhaps they hear the echo of thy passing,
“Thundering hooves prancing through the suburbs,
Misty rider shrouded in victory.”
Fools! Who forever mourn, do they not know?
Through their lives, still you might yet live.
Nevermore shall we mourn thee;
Death shall not defeat us.
Your heart shall pump within us;
And through us, you shall triumph.

Hail to thee, Black Spartan,
Cast your mold of fiery rebellion.
Forge the new man,
Molded in love, cast in iron
To crack the chains of tyranny.
For you, Friend of friends, life’s worth dying.
Though dying, ride on, ride through
The decay of those who feat to live.
Rage furiously towards thy tragic end.
Yes, Comrades of comrades, embrace death with a kiss.
Sparkling eyes, now stilled, weep a tear for us;
Yes, weep for us who perish.
For in death, you triumph as in life.
Your heart pumps within us;
And within our children unborn.

The Mask

2008-05-16T00:29:00.001-04:00

Behind our smile, stands a Harriet Tubman.
Behind our grin, sits a Frederick Douglas.
Behind our shuffle, struts a Paul Robeson.
Behind our whine, screams a Malcolm X.

Yes, we wear the mask.
But Ye, who stole our labor and cheated our ancestors,
Beware!
One day your plastic world will crack open
To release the doves of justice
And to let fly the eagles of peace.

The Night Crystal

2008-05-16T00:16:00.001-04:00

In the spirit of the night, a single fire burns
To lighten the sky with sparks of freedom
Yes, the free flow of ideas.

This fire burns to lighten the sky
With the spirit of knowledge.
Yes, knowledge to educate the ignorant.

This fire lights the sky with the spirit of healing.
Yes, they who need healing have a right to be healed.

This fire burns to fill the bellies of the hungry
To bring water to those who thirst,
To educate the ignorant,
To give wisdom to the educated,
To heal the ill,
To bring truth to the politicians,
To bring morality to those who preach religion,
To bring freedom to buy and sell,
But not to exploit.

Somewhere, in the spirit of the night,
A lone fire strives to burn.
Oh, Night Crystal, you stand naked and brilliant beneath the sun.
You stand alone, sparkling beneath the dark clouds of greed.

In the spirit of the night, a lone fire quivers
Beneath a raging storm of war, plague, and greed.
A lone fire quivers as the daemons of despair
Rain down their deadly seed of blight.

As the worm rots the apple, so greed will rot the world.
Jealous of our hope, the dark clouds of war and pestilence
Storm down upon us to shatter the night crystal.
The gods of greed shatter our night crystal
To splinter jagged glass daemons into the world.

The spirit of hope, the spirit of a child unborn,
Shall one day walk amongst us
To relight our beloved night crystal

No matter how many times the vines
Of freedom, hope, and love are trampled;
Their seeds will always sprout forth again.

Rivers

2008-05-16T00:15:00.002-04:00

Rivers are the blood of life;
As our rivers flow to nourish Mother Earth.
So our blood flows to nourish the human spirit.

The Yangtze flows for the yellow man.
The Danube flow for the white man.
The Congo flows for the black man.
The Amazon flows for the brown man.
The Mississippi flows for everyman;
Yet it also flows for the red man.
Perhaps, all rivers flow for all men.

All of our rivers flow to nourish Mother Earth,
So our blood flows to nourish the human spirit.

The river gives life until poverty plagues its shores
With cholera and hepatitis.
Until greed plagues its shores with mercury and dioxin,
Then the river gives death.

What fool would fight nature to dam our rivers,
To block their flow?
What fool would poison or pollute our rivers?
Only one fool,
Man.
Man, blessed with a free will to serve.
Man, cursed with a free will to destroy.

As zealots of racism and religion destroy themselves,
So zealots of greed destroy our rivers.
Perhaps, man serves as a zealot for both good and evil.

Playa Carellero

2008-05-16T00:15:00.001-04:00

Jungle palms flower upward to embrace the sky.
Blue sky, ever imperial, reach down to touch the Pacific.
Emerald waters flow forever forward to kiss the sand..
Sparkling sand embrace our body to cleanse our soul.
Fertile sand, once again, cradle the nest of the immortal turtle.

The Last Lion

2008-05-16T00:11:00.001-04:00

Growling and growling in its lair,
The lamb does not fear the lion.
Things fall apart; the center does not hold.
The master fears the slave,
As chaos rules the land.
A hairy beast with hands of steel
Throbs home to rest.

White hooded rapists plunder through the night,
Only to whimper and scurry from your wild vendetta.
As a rugged bronze beast,
Shod with plow and gun,
Toils the soil from dusk to dawn,
Burrowing and furrowing through rusty red clay
To drain his sweat down upon our scorched land.

Fear not, towering gods of tyranny!
From what barren and distant shores,
Caverns far and empty, shall
Crawl forth a hairy beast,
Stone-faced, with a heart of iron.
Oh teeth of iron! Crush the living daemons.
The War of all wars shall end tonight.

To Sam Woods
Man among lions.
Lion among men.

Progress

2008-05-16T00:10:00.002-04:00

In the first Great War, we made the world safe
not for democracy but for corporations.
In the second Great War, our tanks and planes
crushed the fascists.
As we celebrated our days of victory,
The strange fruit of poor colored men
hung from our southern trees.

Brilliant scientist lands man on moon,
orbits Sputnik around the earth,
predicts rain or snow without divine guidance.
Yet in a Far Eastern land, one million people
are savagely murdered, with our blessing.

Perhaps human rights means to kill humanists
but to spare rightist despots.
Or simply it’s O.K. to kill those you dislike.
It’s O.K. to kill for greed;
It’s not O.K. to kill for shelter or healthcare.

Our planes circle the world in days,
cross our continent in hours.
Yet in the America of Americas,
We slaughter 200,000 natives.
What for? Banana plantations?

As science advances, we have learned
to relive our history:
Holocaust, the middle passage, the genocide of natives,
all done with both spiritual blessing and damning.

Our vaccines wipe out smallpox,
poison the dreaded polio,
and stagnate the mighty aids virus.
Yet in Central Africa, we hack to death one million lives.

In the Balkans, children of the same tribe
but worshipers of different gods,
Slaughter each other in the name of ethnic cleansing.

In the land of the Bible, the same tribe,
different religions, terrorize each other.
One terrorist drops bombs from the sky;
The other terrorist explodes bombs from the ground.
Is this progress? In the age of great science,
have we created a better world?

Our bay lies polluted with mercury,
A gift from the gold rush.
D.P.T. almost killed our national emblem.
I ask you. Has our progress created a better world?
A better humanity?

The Founding Fathers

2008-05-16T00:10:00.001-04:00

My daddy lives in a mansion.
He owns many slaves.
He wears fine silk clothes.
He writes about justice and equality for all.

My mama lives in a shack.
She wears rags.
She picks cotton all day.
The hot sun scorches her body.
Thick sweat cleans her clothes.

Masta raped my mama’s body,
But her spirit shall forever resist.

My sister shares the mansion;
My brother shares the shack.
Who am I? Neither black nor white.
Black by law.
Black by spirit.

Nat Turner, Revisited

2008-05-16T00:09:00.004-04:00

Listen! Hear the drums throbbing across the wilderness.
Today, we face our tomorrow;
Never to see yesterday, again.
Onward valiant warriors, we shall taste victory or death.
We can only loose our chains.
Death before slavery.
Lynch our spirit.
Scorch our body.
Our bones shall one day rot that vile institution.

Tastes

2008-05-16T00:09:00.003-04:00

Willie likes pepper.
Billy likes salt.
Silly likes sugar.

Ayanna likes red.
Assata likes blue.
Crazy likes pink.

Jose likes the heat.
Pedro likes the cold
Loco likes the warmth.

Truly, Non refutatio cupidionis.
Among tastes, there can be no debate.

New York

2008-05-16T00:09:00.001-04:00

We see a concrete jungle wired with sound.
We hear a Babylon of voices merged into one.
We awake to a vibrant city whose eyes never shut.

You live in a forest of bridges and stones.
Your trains thunder through the bowels of the earth.
Your roots stretch down deep into the stolen land.
Your horns blast out under the sun and moon.

You serve all the world’s foods in your kitchen.
Your hawkers hustle their golden bubbles throughout your streets.
Your gutters flow richly with rainbow water.

Steaming foods of the world flavor your air.
Towers of steel and glass stretch to the heavens.
The grime of life peppers your streets.

Your “pigs” in blue still brutalize the poor, the colored, the leftout.
Your thugs in blue still steal our lives from your streets.
Our righteous ones protest against the theft of our youth.

How can one so beautiful be so ugly?
Oh! New York, New York,
Perhaps your greatness rests in both your beauty and your ugliness.

You Are...?

2008-05-16T00:08:00.000-04:00

A weed cannot call itself a flower.
Or can it?
You are what you do;
Not what you say you are;
Not what you have done.
Thus a root which sprouts forth potatoes
Cannot call itself corn.

Thus evil is evil;
No matter how much it masquerades as good.
For even the devil can wear the mask of an angel.
A politician will always be a politician;
A wolf will always be a wolf.
Neither the politician can tell the truth;
Nor can the wolf become a lamb.
We are what we do;
Not what we say.

You say what you want to be,
But you thunder what you are.

Slaves

2008-05-15T23:57:00.002-04:00

Great pyramids, rise up from the desert to challenge the stars.
Oh monument to pharaoh, the living god, who built thee?
Surely, not pharaoh and the dead gods he worshipped.

Mighty acropolis, the height of the city,
The home of the great gods Zeus and Athena;
Who built thee?
Not Socrates.
Not Plato.
Not the great kings who bowed before thee.
What rough hands carved thy marble wonder?
How many backs were lashed to create your beauty?

Aeterna Roma, who built your great pagan temples?
Who built your mighty coliseum?
How many backs were lashed to create your beauty?
Who built your aqueducts?
Aqueducts that perpetually flows into each century.
Slaves, truly the most came from the least.

Great White House, cradle of democracy, eternal seat of freedom,
Who cast thy heroic bronze statues?
Who carved thy pristine white marble walls?
Did the lazy dark people build this citadel of freedom?
How many slaves’ backs were lashed to create our great White House?
Truly, the slaves who crawled through your backdoor built your front door.

The Good Death

2008-05-15T23:57:00.001-04:00

Like a phoenix arising from its ashes,
Your spirit shall escape from its dying cage
To soar like a dove above the clouds.
Your spirit shall awaken to roar with the wind.

When we cross the final bridge of life,
Do not try to hold us back.
Let not your science prolong my suffering.

If death truly serves as an escape from a dying life,
Then let us celebrate death in our mourning.
Let us embrace death with a kiss.

The Journalist

2008-05-15T23:56:00.003-04:00

You seek the truth in an untrue world.
You blister the politicians in their lies and deceit.
You open up the pestilent sores that plague our nation.
Let the pus of greed and graft flow into the gutter.

You provide a voice for the voiceless.
You use the news to both educate and liberate.
You bring knowledge to the ignorant.
You bring hope to the hopeless.

You tremble the pillars of power
Who shield the "pig's" brutality.

You, sir, are a journalist, the Vox Populi.

The Graduate

2008-05-15T23:56:00.001-04:00

Armed with new ideas and thoughts,
Strengthened by the iron will of our ancestors,
So we grew in knowledge and wisdom.

A growth not just for ourselves,
Not just for our families, but for our world,
Our studies, to learn, to think, to judge, to act,
Have planted the seed to bring forth a rich harvest
For our people, the Populus Mundi.

Let us use the arts and science
To break down the walls of ignorance and greed.
Let us use our knowledge and wisdom
To fight poverty, racism, and classism.

Thus the sun shall rise in our hearts
To light a new path of struggle.
As the stage of the world opens up,
So we salute our new graduates.
They who burnt the candles to light the world.

We salute you
Remember Graduates,
We must learn that knowledge is just a collection of facts.
We must have the wisdom to judge those facts.
We must have the courage to act upon that judgment.

The Wedding

2008-05-15T23:55:00.004-04:00

Two spirits, Yin and Yang, melted together.
Water and fire forged together with an indelible link.
Man and Woman joined together to create man and woman.
Our union shall bear forth rich fruit from the planting of the seed
To the harvesting of the corn.

Sperm meets egg; egg meets sperm.
Egg conquers sperm; sperm conquers egg.
Egg surrenders to sperm; sperm surrenders to egg.
As equals, we each hold up half the sky;
Together, we hold up the whole sky.

We shall raise our children
With love and dignity, with wisdom and courage.
As the north wind flows south, so the south wind flows north,
Now joined, they shall forever flow together.

From the joy of youth to the wrinkling of old age,
Our path shall flow together.
We shall stand together through the high and lows,
Through the summer and winter,
Through the stormy clouds that lie ahead.

Love rests eternally
Like the ebb and flow of the ocean onto the sand.
We together form one spirit, one love.

War

2008-05-15T23:55:00.003-04:00

If war is nothing but flipping a coin, then each coin has two sides.
Sometimes neither side is right nor wrong.
Sometimes, both sides are right.
Frequently, both sides are wrong.
Rarely, one side is right and the other side is wrong.

Beauty

2008-05-15T23:55:00.001-04:00

What price beauty?
a pebble of sand,
the ocean spray,
a pink tulip,
an oak leaf.

Beauty is free.
Freedom is beauty.
Freedom can not be bought;
Neither can beauty.

All, all your money
Can not pay that price.

The Great Trailblazer

2008-05-15T23:54:00.002-04:00

We hear the echo of your great voice
Now silent but still singing out
Against racism, against injustice.
Your brave heart, now silent,
Still beats out against oppression.
In your heart, the wings never sleep.

Like a stout oak tree, your roots
Stretch down to the souls of your people.
Your branches stretch upward, yearning
For the freedom, denied your people.
We salute your brave journey.
Stout hearted man, we bow to your courage.
In our hearts, your fighting spirit will forever live.

They who tried to silence you,
Only silenced themselves.
Your spirit shall forever live
In the hearts of the brave,
As long as one voice cries out,
Feed the hungry,
Shelter the homeless,
Clothe the naked,
Heal the sick.

You live,
As long as one voice fights for justice.
You live;
Not even death can silence your voice.

When our men were “boys”,
Your black manhood stood out.
Like a giant among us,
You were always a man.
You were always a man for all seasons.

The Tall Trees

2008-05-15T23:54:00.001-04:00

Hail to thee,
Oldest of all that lives,
Tallest of all that grows.
We bow before thee, 0h towering steeple.
Your beauty touches the sky.
Your limbs stretch upward to kiss the gods.

Mighty cathedral cast your shadow over the forest.
Let your feet dance among the sparkling ferns.
Let your roots embrace the mountain stream.

What mystery lies in a pine cone that the tallest of all trees
Should spring forth from the smallest of all seeds.

Damn! Cursed to crawl beneath your roots,
Did the snakes of the world envy your long life?

Overnight
Devastated
Wasteland
Crime of all crimes.

What fool would cut down the most spiritual of all?
Only one fool, man, the most brilliant of all thinkers,
Man, blessed with knowledge, but cursed with a free will.

Oh bleeding forest, your barren and gnarled stumps
Serve as tombstones, relics of the life
That scraped the sky.

The Unknown Blues

2008-05-15T23:53:00.000-04:00

Our flutes flew wild beneath the sweet sky of Africa.
Our drums thundered out our victories.
Our harvests grow rich with plantain and papaya.
Our bellies grow fat with our children of love.

Stormy clouds, dark with greed, hovered over our wild paradise.
Butchers of men captured our jungle spirit.
Chained and beaten, they dragged our bones into their death hulls.
Their fat tubas farted shit upon us.
Boxed on shelves, we lay in our own vomit.
With slop for food and piss for a bath, we sailed to your new world.

Your spirit of liberty welcomed us with an auction block.
You stole our mother tongue and then laughed as we twisted your English
Your chains squeezed our bones but not our spirit.
Our body submits but our spirit resists.
Our resistance grows into the blues.

From the “get go,” you blessed us with full employment.
Working from dawn to dust, we owned nothing.
Our heart sung out from day to night.
We learned the meaning of the blues.
“The bitter fruits of yesterday bear their bitter weeds today.”
We still own nothing.

Beneath the scorched sun, we plowed, chopped, and picked your cotton.
We washed your drawers and ironed your shirts.
We mopped your floors and scoured your knives and forks.
We nursed your babies and washed their asses.
When you were ill, we even washed your ass.
We even mocked our tears over your death.
We bore your children, half slave, half master.
Thus we increased your profits.

In your eyes, the more we slaved; the lazier we became.
To free ourselves from your terror, we escaped into the blues:
“Steal away...
Follow the North Star...
No more driver’s lash over me....”

You whipped our bodies, poured hot oil into our wounds,
And starved our bellies
We ate your scraps, the crumbs from your table
You raped our women, sold our children;
You even sold your own children.
We wear the mask, smiling on the outside, bitter on the inside.
Our heart sings out the blues:
“Follow the north star...
No more auction blocks over me....”
The fiery blues of freedom burned through our hearts.
Though our bones were chained, our spirit resisted.
Resist we must, our daggers stalked your throat.
As you spit on our food, so we spit on yours.

We broke the chains; we stole away.
With grass for a bed and a rock for a pillow, we struggled northward.
With a scrub bush for an outhouse, we trekked forward.
In our trail of tears, we walked the blues.
We lived the blues,
Death before the driver’s lash,
Death before chains,
Death before slavery.

Our weary bones ached for freedom.
Scorched by the sun, numb by the cold, we struggled northward.
With empty stomachs and empty pockets,
Our heart grow fat with thoughts of freedom.
With dreams of freedom, we escaped into the blues:
“Steal away...
Follow the North Star...
Follow the drinking gourd....

Your promised land, the north, greeted us not with a kiss
But with a slap.
Separate but unequal, Jim Crow laws ruled in the land of the free.
You welcomed us with
No jobs
No education
No health care.
We traded a southern shack for a northern tenement.
Your freedom was a bitter pill to swallow.

Our strange fruit hung from your trees.
In the land of the free, you denied us the right to vote.
In the land of the free, we shuffled through your back doors.
In the land of the free, we set in the back of your buses.
Your promised land turned heaven into hell.
We ran your factories.
We scrubbed your floors.
We scoured your dishes,
Such was the promised land.
During the great wars, our red blood bled for your liberty.
We fought violently for your cause;
Yet we fought nonviolently for our cause.
You embraced our non-violence,
As you spread violence throughout the world.

Our struggles opened the door not only for our people,
But also for women,

For red, yellow, and other people of color.
Yet with the door open, we still did not share in the feast
From your table.
We still fight over your crumbs.

Our heart soars.
Our horns scream.
Our drums thunder.
Our pianos bark.
We sing out the blues;
The blues lost and buried in our heart.

The City of Rainbows

2008-05-15T23:52:00.003-04:00

Our city sparkles with many colors,
Black, brown, white, and yellow;
Each color flows together to create one rainbow:
Many colors, one vision, one mankind,
Fields of roses, lilies, and daffodils,
Each its own beauty, but together one bouquet

Many roots sprout together to form one tree
Maple, oak, and pine grow together to form one forest.
Many streams and rivers flow together to form the Mississippi;
So it takes many shades of color to form our great city.

You wear a necklace sparkling with many colors:
Believers and non-believers, Jews and Christians,
Catholics and Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists.

Oh! City of cities, we pay homage to you:
Home of writers, poets, and echoes of the great there,
Shadow of the great city that sparkles across the bay,
Blue collar kingdom, birthplace of the blues,
Cradle of the panthers and the angels,
Heart of Oaktown, not glitzy with gold,
But strong as iron.

Your spirit dances under the sun,
But sleeps under the moon.
Your mean street flows into sweet streets.
Churches and liquor stores pepper your streets.

We hear the sweet blues moaning and roaming,
In your streets, through your alleys:
Drums throbbing,
Pianos singing,
Guitars wailing.
Saxes shrieking.

We cook our soup with spices from many lands:
Coal-black, ivory, tangerine, and gold.
They come from Asia, Africa, Europe, and America.
Though divided in our language, we stand united in our city.
Together, we string a necklace of rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and pearls;
All colors of the rainbow, many colors, one rainbow.

Reincarnation

2008-05-15T23:52:00.001-04:00

Let our bones rot into the decay of this world.
From this decay, our roots will sprout forth beautiful roses
Whose vines will strangle the enemies of the sun:
Those who starve the hungry,
Create the poverty of this world,
Murder the sun,
And drown the rivers and forests.

Love & Struggle

2008-05-15T23:51:00.005-04:00

As with our forefathers, love is a struggle
and justice has to be reinvented.
To seek the truth, we must rewrite our history,
that which is noble becomes ignoble.
Up becomes down; down becomes up.
White becomes black;
Black remains black.
We no longer wear the mask of deceit.
Our mask fades away,
as we sail against the wind.
Our mask fades away,
as we learn to love ourselves.

Colored People

2008-05-15T23:51:00.003-04:00

We come in many colors
We come in
Creamy white,
Golden yellow,
Sweet beige,
Chocolate brown
And
Jet-black
After “Masta” plucked the virgin cherry from our womb,
He spit forth the seed into fertile ground.
We sprouted forth into a rainbow of colors.

Before the Mayflower, we only came in black.
We now come in many colors
From tangerine to cherry,
From lemon to mahogany,
From honey to coal-black.
Let our rainbow colors bear witness;
Beauty can spring forth from evil.

The Last Star

2008-05-15T23:51:00.001-04:00

Mother of the dawn, Mother of our stars, Mother of the wind,
Bearer of the dew, we hail thee; we bow before thee.
Lovers yes, but friends always; Friend of friends,
We see you in the light:
Visions of you bring forth:
A fragrant flower forever blossoming,
A garden of joy waiting to be picked,
A juicy fruit lusting to be tasted,
A full chasm of desire, moaning to be filled,
A warm body quivering with desire,
A satisfying woman throbbing to be satisfied.
Let kisses anoint our bodies with oil as our love grows stronger.
Naked, let us dance beneath the sun.

Visions of you bring forth:
A woman of all seasons,
A brilliant healer laboring with the poor,
A strong willed bastion against the storms of petty men,
A high tech woman in a low tech world,
A toiler of hours and a healer of men,
A woman of brilliance, a woman of many talents,
But above all the lover of Orion.

Harriet Tubman

2008-05-15T23:50:00.001-04:00

Before I be a slave, I will be dead in my grave
And go home to my maker and be free.

Harriet Tubman: “I was a stranger in a strange land;
I was free and they should be free also.”
The Poet: “Like the North Star, love guides the true revolutionist.”
John Brown: You are a general who led your slave troops through the swamps,
Up the mountains, and across our vast lands.”
Vox Populi: “Go down Moses, let my people go.”
The Poet: My people were brought to the shores of America
Not for the American dream but for the American nightmare.”

For the love of my people,
Once again I crawl through the embers of hell;
Through fleeting storms and the scorching sun,
I carried my precious cargo northward.
With a sky for a roof, leaves for a mattress,
And a gully for an outhouse, we struggled forward.
Our weary bones, aching to see the light,
Struggle through the frigid night.
My train never stalled;
My train never lost a passenger.

Before I be a slave, I will be dead in my grave
And go home to my maker and be free.

Master’s blows dented my forehead.
Master’s whip scarred my back.
Master’s lust raped my body.
Master’s greed sacked my clothes.
Master can steal my body
But master cannot steal me.
For slavery can only chain my bones
But not my spirit.
The gentle breeze of freedom
Shall forever blow through your chains.

Before I be a slave, I will be dead in my grave
And go home to my maker and be free.

In Memoria

2008-05-15T23:49:00.001-04:00

She met me with the splendor of the day;
Yet I blind squalored in death chill night.
She offered me joy in her jubilant way;
Yet I spurned her spirit for hell’s dim blight.

As time ebbed on, we glimpsed of her shadow
Casting a spray of hope upon our door,
Flowing across the night ever so slow,
Twirling and twisting outward as to soar.

As if cruel fate envied my timely thought
To untimely rip your promise from me,
Damming me into such a shallow drought,
To thirst for water, though drowned in the sea.

For the love of my life, my dying womb,
Lay shriveled and gnarled within a tomb.

Working Man

2008-05-15T23:48:00.001-04:00

I am a working man.
I grow, chopped, and sampled your cotton.
I toiled the red clay of Mississippi.
I survived, though denied education and the right to vote.
I survived your lynchings.
I survived racism, a living relic of slavery.
I suffered indignities and injustice because of my color,
But I did not give up.
I kept my manhood.

I moved north to the promised land.
I built your trucks.
I ran your factories.
I scoured your floors.
I lived in your tenements.
I too am a working man.

I raised my family with a strong voice.
I taught them right from wrong.
I taught them dignity amidst poverty.
I taught them love and responsibility.
I taught them the meaning of struggle.
I built this nation.
I too am a working man.
I too am an American.

At the age of eighty-eight,
I embrace death with a kiss.
Death has ended my suffering.
To die is not a tragedy,
If one has lived and fought the good life.
In my last journey, I will not bow my head.
For I am a man.
I am an American.
I built this nation.