Poems of Injustice
(all included within the larger sets of poems)
St. Francis
Raise the Wage
Miss Baker
Caste
Cleared
It Sees!
Whites
Jubilee
Double Delta Blues
Missed Confessions
"A Raisin in the Sun" Moment
Mothers' in New Orleans
Epiphany!
Amend White to Black
Lady Justice
Fig Leaves
Mayan Recovery
Congo Square
The Enormity of Iniquity
Serenity Prayer Alternative
Father's Sun
Pandemic at Passover
Heed
Apocalypto
Rowdy Beauties
Poems of Injustice
(all included within the larger sets of poems)
St. Francis
Raise the Wage
Miss Baker
Caste
Cleared
It Sees!
Whites
Jubilee
Double Delta Blues
Missed Confessions
"A Raisin in the Sun" Moment
Mothers' in New Orleans
Epiphany!
Amend White to Black
Lady Justice
Fig Leaves
Mayan Recovery
Congo Square
The Enormity of Iniquity
Serenity Prayer Alternative
Father's Sun
Pandemic at Passover
Heed
Apocalypto
Rowdy Beauties
St. Francis
eight feet
of black,
Saint Francis
prays
under Spanish moss
canopy;
open-to-birds
arms embrace
leafy stage
facing
clay road
bordered
by ancient oaks
leading
to ruins
of oyster shell
walls, windows,
the remains
of plantation
stable
kitchen,
owner's plush home,
slave abodes...
six centuries
before
cotton kings
reigned,
Francis' father
sold silk
to French society;
dad raged
at son's choice
of poverty,
inner voice
over paternal authority,
and tried,
frequently,
to beat
humility
out of his progeny
who fled
to escape,
to persist on a path
to his destiny
seeking empathy
"to understand;"
this statue stands
in gated
island today;
embedded
round ruins -
a new creation -
of gentle mowed flats,
curves,
gradations,
sand traps,
greens unfurl
for eighteen
fair ways
where the pastel-capped
practice resistance
to temptation
to divert, distract
from the goal,
a tiny flagged hole
beckoning
masters
to sink
white balls
in fewest shots,
winner takes all;
"seek to console,
rather than be consoled..."
tabby walls stand,
remembrances
of prior inhumanity
to fellow man
those deemed
three fifths human
with full hearts,
minds
gathered the white bolls
of yesteryear
to fuel finance;
a stone's throw away
stands today
lunch room,
patios, fancy baths,
leather arm chairs
for cocktails;
whites
pay to play
and partake
in the game
while blacks,
beloved by all,
serve in the kitchen
in linen napkin
dining hall;
"seek to love
rather than to be loved;"
black Francis
came to be
in nineteen seventy
as a father
grieved;
his beloved child
fell
lost her horse
to never show, tell
or breathe again;
did this stricken man
suspect
ghosts of harvests past
had reaped from him
at last
to hoe his heart
that he might feel
part of pain
sustained
by those millions stolen
from homes
kidnapped,
called
to tend, maintain
white cotton bolls
or golf balls?
Prayer of St. Francis
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life."
eight feet
of black,
Saint Francis
prays
under Spanish moss
canopy;
open-to-birds
arms embrace
leafy stage
facing
clay road
bordered
by ancient oaks
leading
to ruins
of oyster shell
walls, windows,
the remains
of plantation
stable
kitchen,
owner's plush home,
slave abodes...
six centuries
before
cotton kings
reigned,
Francis' father
sold silk
to French society;
dad raged
at son's choice
of poverty,
inner voice
over paternal authority,
and tried,
frequently,
to beat
humility
out of his progeny
who fled
to escape,
to persist on a path
to his destiny
seeking empathy
"to understand;"
this statue stands
in gated
island today;
embedded
round ruins -
a new creation -
of gentle mowed flats,
curves,
gradations,
sand traps,
greens unfurl
for eighteen
fair ways
where the pastel-capped
practice resistance
to temptation
to divert, distract
from the goal,
a tiny flagged hole
beckoning
masters
to sink
white balls
in fewest shots,
winner takes all;
"seek to console,
rather than be consoled..."
tabby walls stand,
remembrances
of prior inhumanity
to fellow man
those deemed
three fifths human
with full hearts,
minds
gathered the white bolls
of yesteryear
to fuel finance;
a stone's throw away
stands today
lunch room,
patios, fancy baths,
leather arm chairs
for cocktails;
whites
pay to play
and partake
in the game
while blacks,
beloved by all,
serve in the kitchen
in linen napkin
dining hall;
"seek to love
rather than to be loved;"
black Francis
came to be
in nineteen seventy
as a father
grieved;
his beloved child
fell
lost her horse
to never show, tell
or breathe again;
did this stricken man
suspect
ghosts of harvests past
had reaped from him
at last
to hoe his heart
that he might feel
part of pain
sustained
by those millions stolen
from homes
kidnapped,
called
to tend, maintain
white cotton bolls
or golf balls?
Prayer of St. Francis
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life."
Raise the Wage
good white folks,
the dems,
on the golf
plantation-island
mention
to the admin
that higher wages
were ap-pro-pre-it
since home owner
stock ass-its
new highs hit
capital boom
big profit
in Corona Pandemic
many millions of dollars
flowed into coffers...
sound of
hem...
haw...
ummm...
talk of costs
and how worker
budgets
remain razor thin
"don't want to set
a precedent..."
so...
good white folks
let raise go
after a brief moment
of tension
justifying
an extra shot of bourbon
a second glass of
"oh, that's a good red wine"
at cocktails.
when asked about it
a month later
good momma lied
and said they were raised
and I?
let it go.
good white folks,
the dems,
on the golf
plantation-island
mention
to the admin
that higher wages
were ap-pro-pre-it
since home owner
stock ass-its
new highs hit
capital boom
big profit
in Corona Pandemic
many millions of dollars
flowed into coffers...
sound of
hem...
haw...
ummm...
talk of costs
and how worker
budgets
remain razor thin
"don't want to set
a precedent..."
so...
good white folks
let raise go
after a brief moment
of tension
justifying
an extra shot of bourbon
a second glass of
"oh, that's a good red wine"
at cocktails.
when asked about it
a month later
good momma lied
and said they were raised
and I?
let it go.
***
Ms. Baker
the bread's being sucked,
extracted from
blacks and browns
to feed jail system,
keep the crowns
on plantation heads
bail bondsmen;
prison kings see red
if men and women
under arrest
don't have to pay
to go to their nest
before trials,
that presumably attest
to innocence, guilt,
never what's best
for the other-ized,
a human being,
out-side,
marginalized;
The dough is rising
at remarkable rates
jails outsizing
from slow trial dates
sixty five percent
of those posting bail
(those not sent
to wait in jail)
are arrested for
most severe assails
on justice's scales;
isn't it a crime
something wrong
with time
spent locked up
if problem's a dime,
no savings, no silver cup
tucked in mattress
limited funds
no stash access...
bakery's dough,
now publicly owned,
by those
who place out of reach
a living wage,
a way for each
to get-stay free;
"my daughter needs braces"
"i go to the races."
"Vay kay in Bermuda!"
"Organic salmon steak
has Omego-3
to keep me healthy!"
“Don’t blame me
If the business is shady,
pays its employees
nothing but a penny
for labor each day;
that's far and away;
Hey, I've got lots to say
about the state
of affairs
this Trump man's
insane so who cares?
I'm pee wee
part of the sea
of insanity
relative to
corporate crooks;
look what they took!!!"
Ms Baker says
"All nothing new"
I feel her rage,
which grew
when white flour
moderator
in do-good tower
spoke to her input
"not to diminish in the least
what you are saying.,."
liberal white deafness
has all the answers
can't hear her voice,
experience ancestors,
her-story
baring truth of what she,
her people have seen
countless times before
walk through doors -
each time black men
flourish,
the devil gores:
bomb Black Wall Street
10 years Vietnam
white powder in cities
incarceration sham
it keeps morphing
a virus deadly
hearty yeast
raises gluttonous beast;
white bread's
the rage;
Miss Baker exclaims,
"Can't keep it caged!"
***
Caste
Dalits, Blacks, Jews
all know
the suffering
doesn't
stay below
but sickens
those "on top,"
who pull out all stops
to keep purity
"pollution" free
safe guard
heredity
scripture-led
sanctity
so deluded as to believe
that's "free;"
what happens to
someone who
bows down to
the who's who?
do they sleep at night?
awake in fright?
ever mend fences?
suffer eternal consequences?
conscience obliterated
day after day
by distractions,
injections
of confirmations
that entitlement
is heaven-sent;
the British crown,
declared divinity,
imprisoned a woman
in palatial penitentiary;
there she lived
a severed quark
puking in the dark
captured in caste
superiority
Diana!
goddess of childbirth
locked up, alone
to produce
two for the throne
once accomplished
went home
crushed bone;
cause?
a drunken driver, bad Mercedes
but really
from heart dis-ease.
Dutch Sisters
Corrie, Betsy Ten Boome
hid Jews
S. S. threw
father and the two
into Ravensbruck
watched Reich women
brutalize;
Betsy, under breath,
agonized,
"those poor women"
please realize
she spoke of the Germans,
not the Jews.
frozen souls lost
within the lie's noose
(Betsy therein died
Corrie survived and thrived
to tell her truth
of God's real Presence
in seeming absence.
Roger Ailes
Fox founder
sex assailed,
"want to play with the boys?
gotta lay with the boys."
so women sucked
or got fucked,
men kissed ass
bought the razz ma tazz
as he raised Nixon,
Reagan,
Bush, and Trump,
to claim the mightiest tree stump
til Murdock him dethroned
locked out
removed his clout,
no longer reigned
in his high rise domain;
His name said it all,
Roger AILS.
this country,
birthed an economy
of kick-off-a-craving
commodities:
cotton,
sugar,
tobacco...
that to-this-day
require slavery
minimum-wage
'bout seven twenty;
But "dominant"
lead
in suicides,
psych meds,
impotence in bed;
meaning-sapped lives
struggle
to make peace inside
with the great divide;
Let's rebirth society
in love that's steadfast,
the opposite of caste,
move towards a greater we
shared humanity,
take care of those in poverty,
live for equality
not assessed in money
since the LORD
declared
"you will always have the poor"
so rather listen, seek
to meet the universal need
for love, justice, and human dignity.
"Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson inspired this piece.
.
Dalits, Blacks, Jews
all know
the suffering
doesn't
stay below
but sickens
those "on top,"
who pull out all stops
to keep purity
"pollution" free
safe guard
heredity
scripture-led
sanctity
so deluded as to believe
that's "free;"
what happens to
someone who
bows down to
the who's who?
do they sleep at night?
awake in fright?
ever mend fences?
suffer eternal consequences?
conscience obliterated
day after day
by distractions,
injections
of confirmations
that entitlement
is heaven-sent;
the British crown,
declared divinity,
imprisoned a woman
in palatial penitentiary;
there she lived
a severed quark
puking in the dark
captured in caste
superiority
Diana!
goddess of childbirth
locked up, alone
to produce
two for the throne
once accomplished
went home
crushed bone;
cause?
a drunken driver, bad Mercedes
but really
from heart dis-ease.
Dutch Sisters
Corrie, Betsy Ten Boome
hid Jews
S. S. threw
father and the two
into Ravensbruck
watched Reich women
brutalize;
Betsy, under breath,
agonized,
"those poor women"
please realize
she spoke of the Germans,
not the Jews.
frozen souls lost
within the lie's noose
(Betsy therein died
Corrie survived and thrived
to tell her truth
of God's real Presence
in seeming absence.
Roger Ailes
Fox founder
sex assailed,
"want to play with the boys?
gotta lay with the boys."
so women sucked
or got fucked,
men kissed ass
bought the razz ma tazz
as he raised Nixon,
Reagan,
Bush, and Trump,
to claim the mightiest tree stump
til Murdock him dethroned
locked out
removed his clout,
no longer reigned
in his high rise domain;
His name said it all,
Roger AILS.
this country,
birthed an economy
of kick-off-a-craving
commodities:
cotton,
sugar,
tobacco...
that to-this-day
require slavery
minimum-wage
'bout seven twenty;
But "dominant"
lead
in suicides,
psych meds,
impotence in bed;
meaning-sapped lives
struggle
to make peace inside
with the great divide;
Let's rebirth society
in love that's steadfast,
the opposite of caste,
move towards a greater we
shared humanity,
take care of those in poverty,
live for equality
not assessed in money
since the LORD
declared
"you will always have the poor"
so rather listen, seek
to meet the universal need
for love, justice, and human dignity.
"Caste" by Isabel Wilkerson inspired this piece.
.
Cleared
What fear made man
so intent,
so violent
that stoning her
had God's consent?
Says Torah law
she must be suppressed
lest others be drawn
into similar conquest,
by the wrong man possessed.
With her death so near
how did she get cleared?
Our brother
listened
to the Pharisee band,
let them speak,
wrote in sand
as they questioned;
in effort to negate
mandated reprimand;
he stood straight,
"Let him
who has never sinned
cast the first stone."
One by one
each dropped his rock,
went home
memory unblocked
a shame, a splot
I wonder what
past acts came up?
bubbled to the top?
Was her lover among
those ready to fling?
Was he first
to go skulking?
Maybe a man
with only daughters
envied neighbor's wife
who brought sons to life?
Had some killed
during a fight?
planned a murder?
connived to hurt her?
Did others lie?
Fail to buy?
steal honey? hoard money?
carry idols in thier purse?
utter God's name as a curse?
Those blood-lusty agents
of Torah law
deserted the pageant
their own fault saw
enough to thaw
a deep conviction
a miracle of self reflection
sufficient to release
extend a new lease;
adulteress new years wore
with "go, and sin no more."
Do some of us never own
our love of stones,
electric chairs,
chemical warfare,
bullet rounds,
auto weapons abound,
razors to wrists,
clenched fists,
steel cages,
garnished wages,
critical sneering,
mocking, jeering,
aimed at brothers,
sisters, or ourselves
morning, noon,
half past twelve;
falling short!!
how dare you distort!!!
as kings and queens
in mighty courts
we're ravenous,
never finished
with deep need to punish
treat others as flies:
swat, cage, or electrify?
Isn't that all the same mess
as stoning the adulteress?
Can we drop our rocks,
memory unblock
a shame, a splot
that puts our stomach in a knot
as it bubbles to the top?
Can we soulfully sing along
find ourselves in the song
"was blind but now I see?"
or are we relentlessly holy?
What is your fear?
Do you need me to hear?
I am willing to listen,
be that loving ear
trusting it will allow
the living to be cleared.
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery,
and placing her in the midst they said to him,
“Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them,
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
But when they heard it, they went away one by one,
beginning with the older ones,
and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said,
“Neither do I condemn you;
go, and from now on sin no more.”
John 8: 3-11
***
It Sees!
Why stay
in "the rooms" another day?
a sea of supremacy
masked as spirituality
sedated
with prayer
"Just calm down"
advisory
mistaken as "sanity"
negates messy way
we heal in reality.
Man hides a hand
behind a book;
says, "I show two fingers.
No, can't look..."
Says she,
"Might be three."
He unveils two,
states quietly,
"You need to believe!"
Seriously?!!
God advised me
to "be wise as serpents,
innocent as doves"
because,
old snake knows
sometimes you just got to get free
of that old dry skin
like the sin
of trusting a man
rather than going within.
To believe you,
my brother,
would simply prove
I'm that sleepy lover
after years of our good God
trying to extricate my head
from my ass and yours;
never found freedom
in unprotected integrity;
got to ground identity
in my Creator,
One who sees, knows
you, me
from head to toes.
I'm a work in progress
have kicked and screamed;
the steps aren't an easy ride
unless you decide
to keep HP from inside;
"Blessed are those who mourn"
who share their pain
tears fall like rain
and heal over time
Like Richard said,
"Can't take your own inventory?
then maybe it's me HP
designated to help you see;"
I do step work to love you
as you are -
no pede-stars
Nope!
But that is dope!.
to respond to divine and human energy
that lights a fire
I can feel;
you? my siblings,
as misaligned as me
generally
and I don't give a shit
how many years of sobriety
If it walks like a duck,
quacks like a duck,
it's a duck;
if energy is stuck,
it's stuck.
I've learned
faith is not blind;
When I look to both heavens
(in and outside)
God I FIND:
cosmic order,
honesty,
geometry,
water cycle,
formulae for energy,
gravity,
humility,
theory of relativity,
reason, logic, beauty,
quantum physics,
numerology,
twelve steps,
generosity;
I find peace down deep,
dance, suffer, sing, grieve,
wrestle, surrender,
extricate
right from wrong,
love from hate,
see blue, different hues,
connect, painfully,
calmly,
joyfully
with truth
there,
here,
with or without fear;
it's for me always,
for free.
Yes, I have faith but
it is NOT blind.
It SEES!
***
|
Whites at the Opening: Part 1 whites who won't talk to whites whites who talk to whites when blacks are present whites with wine who talk to whites with wine whites who talk to themselves whites who flirt with light-skinned blacks whites who make sure to say hello to everyone whites who don't make eye contact with whites who say hello to everyone whites who watch who is talking to who whites who pale when called out whites who assess in silence whites who talk to militant blacks whites who talk to safe blacks, like the nice young lady at the sign-in table, phew! whites who talk with whites or blacks about non-profit stuff whites who talk intelligently with the black museum director whites who feel out of the matrix talk to blacks who feel out of the matrix whites who talk to blacks in suits or in pantsuits with pumps whites who talk loudly on their cell, inviting others to the opening |
Whites: Part 2 white humans self-centered maximally... let's be desperately uncomfortable see clearly - how destructive of harmony now previously we be... supremacy's a whack-a-mole that finds another hole... after and in disturbance, turbulence of on-going honesty (and its frequent partner, misery) stay real with me God loves us all ferociously on this journey... and provides IF we live and seek (yes, imperfectly) the Will of HP |
"Jesus said: The seeker should not stop until he finds. When he does find, he will be disturbed. After having been disturbed, he will be astonished. Then he will reign over everything." - the Gospel of Thomas, saying 2
***
Jubilee
Yesterday,
the whole country
was diagnosed ADHD
by God Almighty
and mandated treatment
so every web site
was deleted
the TV's
computer screens
collected
in the street
and someone screamed,
"a rose is blooming over here!!!"
Oh my God!!!"
and everyone ran
and gave a loud cheer,
"Yeah God!!!!"
the billionaires
shared
showered
everybody with stuff and money
precious gems, metals, ores
were all returned
to Africa
presidents, homeless
doubled over
laughing together
over funny stories,
bus boys got to drive
the Maseratis,
cashiers ate caviar
drank champagne
for free
all debt eliminated
all dogs unleashed,
and the debutante
got to taste, really taste
Mama's beans
and feel see
the beauty of that rose
in her bones,
in her toes.
Yesterday,
the whole country
was diagnosed ADHD
by God Almighty
and mandated treatment
so every web site
was deleted
the TV's
computer screens
collected
in the street
and someone screamed,
"a rose is blooming over here!!!"
Oh my God!!!"
and everyone ran
and gave a loud cheer,
"Yeah God!!!!"
the billionaires
shared
showered
everybody with stuff and money
precious gems, metals, ores
were all returned
to Africa
presidents, homeless
doubled over
laughing together
over funny stories,
bus boys got to drive
the Maseratis,
cashiers ate caviar
drank champagne
for free
all debt eliminated
all dogs unleashed,
and the debutante
got to taste, really taste
Mama's beans
and feel see
the beauty of that rose
in her bones,
in her toes.
Double Delta Blues
|
1963 my hard-working dad paid good money for white-washed Egyptians in World Book lie bury; 50 years passed before I saw the crime the false paradigm began way back in time at Nile delta metropolis, Alexandria; Greeks stole credit for what Africans merit. |
Nile flows north to sea where sweet and salt meet still waters run deep at water's turn rip tide churns; yearn for restoration as Greek grandiosity flooded over black footprint; steps hidden under the Mediterranean wave by depraved who claimed African wisdom, science, Spirit, mathematics without shame; source untold bankrolled the new estate's stronghold; river tell your tale sing the delta blues let the guitar wail of a people misused truth abused |
1963 Birmingham's Chief Conner permitted no mention on page one of children of the sun who heard King's call to march Africa born within each one; meanwhile the Delta grieved Chief Kennedy who dared and cared, strove to set free, give liberty: |
Mississippi flows south to sea where sweet and salt meet still waters run deep at tidal turn rip churns blacks yearn for reparations for injustice sanctioned under a steeple stolen people rendered subhuman "slaves" chosen by color by crooks who mistook sophistication alignment with spiritual law for "primitive" mislabeled harmony as "simplistic" conceptualized God's chosen children as two thirds human only to assure laws work in favor of their flavor melanated hands slated the means to an end - commodities to send river tell your tale sing the delta blues let the guitar wail of a people misused truth abused |
Deltas wet for penetration invite entry promise of elation, bliss needed fix for one eyed men addicted to power, erections, towers to come better, harder "all over the land" grabbing credit for ideas for bank notes capital seed semening beliefs into genetic pool green eyed blacks bear witness to the rape; green backs testify of financial landscape; the rich's rampant green envy bears witness to truth disfigured shape of any golden nest financed by a foot on the neck of the oppressed. river tell your tale let the guitar wail belt out those delta blues born from the blacks'; cuz whites rarely choose a guitar and song to sooth. |
***
Missed Confessions
Articulate hate
fabricate
conviction
by tapping deepest fear -
appear soft, "queer;"
so be strong,
never-wrong
Fairstein whipped
cops in petri dish
virus brewed
"justice for the jogger!"
politically screwed,
looked to the necks
of children of the sun
nothing new
the One's son,
was lynched, too;
the "Fair" one's noose
gave go-ahead bell
to interrogators
to chisel, quell
self-incriminators
out of five boys
manipulated, destroyed
to get what detectives,
spitting invectives,
need today
get them to say
confessions
to stifle a jury's
questions
blind to truth
eyes hypnotized
by what DA
repeatedly parades
to twelve
made slaves
to deception
a story concocted
made sense
if accepted
that a man is guilty
without evidence
just circumstance,
coincidence,
and level of melanin
God's got him in;
to further clinch
get the victim
to appear,
instill fear
distract from fact;
it's all stacked.
Each young man
showed integrity
yet was broken
to some degree;
wonder at capacity
to believe
"you can go home;
just say what we need,"
demanded by authority;
counter-heart submission
to play the system
crime-against-humanity
commission
extension of reality
in exasperated schools;
city classrooms
beyond comprehension;
take it from me,
completely ineffective
is not the exception
children are deeply accustomed
to unjust detention.
dig further back
in history
Sir Francis Drake
stole African men,
seized
"cargo" to please
plantation kings
to harvest the offering
of New World bling;
but this reaping machine
bleeds, loves,
has family;
cried commodity king,
"NOT TO ME
sub humanity
"these are headless hands
for my lands,
ready to harvest
what I suggest
at my mercy,
my behest
without controversy."
What's the consequence?
England's recompense?
Did he who stole or so cried
stand tried
before peers
or been allowed to hide,
the means justified?
No, never vilified,
instead made a knight
by Elizabeth, the Queen
Can't we call this obscene?
A template for Jim Crow,
mass Incarceration scenes?
But for God's Grace
I'm just like Drake,
criminals leaving no trace
but God's angels in grief;
But for God's mercy
I'm a mean detective
seeking solutions
without being objective.
God let me live,
with racism overt,
before painful rebirth;
beliefs downloaded
into my mind
normalized unkind
starting with Nixon
needed fixin'
but couldn't get past
arrogant head
truth outcast
claimed "not racist" instead;
my denied condition
let to crime commission;
falsely accused
my black neighbor;
truth emerged
fast and strong
put my nose
where it belonged
smelling my gross
interior stew
made to face
the whole truth
can't give excuse
so hard to see
injustice's tree
when its current root
is deep inside me;
Confessions:
the Five's coerced,
Feinstein's, Drake's
so many others
never heard,
my own, given words;
I pray that we
stay close to thee
in Spirit and truth
what sets us free.
not easy to face
the reality
of craved confessions -
those that will never be -
but don't envy those
who never speak,
who never attempt to "let it be"
let the world see
and set their soul free.
Psalm 32
Verses 1-7
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against who the LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of the summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance."
***
"A Raisin in the Sun"
How does it feel
to write a play
so chock full of truth
have mom walk away
and say
in the lob-bay
"how enjoyable"
"well acted," "well staged"
(cell-mates talking
right after the play).
A raisin by Lorraine
dried up without sun,
deep message unheard
turned to mush
hum drum
dream deferred
punched to hush
like Muffet's curds
my pride hurts
off its chain
ego blurts
- I'm not her
she's not me!
don't judge harshly
all you in dashiki's
I've broken free
peeled white frailty
scab by scab
to some degree
melanated my heart
graduated white society
to join humanity
Now in the lobby
I am the spider
along beside her
abandoned my mother
for approval of other?
she bred-raised me
fed-clothed-bathed me
sang songs in the car
scraped off beach tar
true she throws stones
from her glass home
she's quite blind
to the plight of mankind
expert at
excessive moderation
lacks compassion
for every addiction
but can't see her own
to judgement,
manipulations,
and parades of distractions.
yet she too
was in womb
innocent mind
born with a chord
to infinite, sublime
birthed, emerged
in haughty mess
upper east side
N.Y.C. nest
to a Zha Zha princess
"Goodness!
Do the right thing;
Cross your legs!
Learn piano, sing!"
Encyclopedic
rules and regulations
require master execution
no defection
e.g.
no black society
he taller than she,
with ivy-league degree,
(not she! that's for he)
white tennis-dress
calm under duress
"right" address
kids' uniforms pressed
husband king
dinner waiting
good entertaining
control in maintaining
slender body
agile mind
perfect pedicure
cute behind
gardener, nanny, cook,
assure house cleaner
gets all nooks.
of silver, tables,
faucets, moldings
monitor towel foldings
such that monograms
appear center top
glam cursive drop
necessary to
cultural expectation
part of higher-order
demarcations
on golf clubs, spoons,
linens of dining rooms
my mom to her credit
started to shed
rigor of those trappings
chose instead
to push back
for half a century
enough to pave the way
for me
to defy, fly
keep my head to the sky
(once reborn from the
dizzying descent
I underwent
without a clue
of how to be unglued
from earthly stew
of rules
into heaven's truths).
The post-Raisin lobby
is the box,
a carton to care
for the gift of my mother
not to smother
where she's been
be not blind to sins
that she can't see
not deaf to words
that escape her reality
but loving her
just as Walter needs
the love of family
the courage to release
his blame and be
courageous
on the journey
into white community.
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."
Jaques, from Shakespeare's "As You Like It."
Dear God,
I pray to
LOVE
in,
through,
after
the play,
on or off the stage
and sustain
through your Grace
for each seven days,
each act
of seven ages.
***
***
Mothers' in New Orleans
office of disability
brown-skinned
mother and daughter
quietly sat four hours
where I,
restless after one,
complained
to my daughter
about how "take-a-number"
does not go in order;
other mother
overheard,
turned,
our inner lights merged
seemed like
Mary and I
converged;
she, resurrected
in a polyester cap
of layered black satin
folded origami
framed beauty
reappeared
an hour later
at the corner
waiting for a ride,
again connected
to the part of me
that loves
to be seen
the inside
not the long legs
eyes of green
but the decent woman
that loves the God
who truly has
remade me to be;
her blessing fed
my soul
before we entered
ugliness of
Jim Crow,
a lunchroom
where oppression
separation
outdid greens,
red beans
crawfish etouffe
fog of hate
seemingly unseen
unsmelled;
don't ask, don't tell?
I put on a mask
of enjoying
the southern repast
(disregard
the gate-guard
fat leg-spread
belly-bloated
white man
just inside the door
passing out menus
to us, the whores;
don't see
the invisible cashier
who understandably
hates me;
believes the overseer
my long-legged father,
my blue-eyed brother
my subjugation co-conspirator;
while other blacks
serve
on the line,
in the kitchen;
few ever dine;)
why love
this "authentic"
unholiness?
why not flee
this capital city of slavery?
does that sensitivity
give me immunity?
my child and I emerge,
walk arm in arm
I support her
in seizure weakness,
my reason to be.
I'll never return
to Mother's
(est. 1938),
was mercifully spared
deep hate,
obsessive self-loathing
(ancients would have
torn clothing)
to pointlessly myself recriminate
for the injustice
delivered on every plate;
spared, saved, lifted
by the Light
converged
together
with black origami-capped
mother
impossible to negate care
soul-connection
be it while we dwell
with an infection from hell
or while we wait
at heaven's or some
supremely unholy gate.
office of disability
brown-skinned
mother and daughter
quietly sat four hours
where I,
restless after one,
complained
to my daughter
about how "take-a-number"
does not go in order;
other mother
overheard,
turned,
our inner lights merged
seemed like
Mary and I
converged;
she, resurrected
in a polyester cap
of layered black satin
folded origami
framed beauty
reappeared
an hour later
at the corner
waiting for a ride,
again connected
to the part of me
that loves
to be seen
the inside
not the long legs
eyes of green
but the decent woman
that loves the God
who truly has
remade me to be;
her blessing fed
my soul
before we entered
ugliness of
Jim Crow,
a lunchroom
where oppression
separation
outdid greens,
red beans
crawfish etouffe
fog of hate
seemingly unseen
unsmelled;
don't ask, don't tell?
I put on a mask
of enjoying
the southern repast
(disregard
the gate-guard
fat leg-spread
belly-bloated
white man
just inside the door
passing out menus
to us, the whores;
don't see
the invisible cashier
who understandably
hates me;
believes the overseer
my long-legged father,
my blue-eyed brother
my subjugation co-conspirator;
while other blacks
serve
on the line,
in the kitchen;
few ever dine;)
why love
this "authentic"
unholiness?
why not flee
this capital city of slavery?
does that sensitivity
give me immunity?
my child and I emerge,
walk arm in arm
I support her
in seizure weakness,
my reason to be.
I'll never return
to Mother's
(est. 1938),
was mercifully spared
deep hate,
obsessive self-loathing
(ancients would have
torn clothing)
to pointlessly myself recriminate
for the injustice
delivered on every plate;
spared, saved, lifted
by the Light
converged
together
with black origami-capped
mother
impossible to negate care
soul-connection
be it while we dwell
with an infection from hell
or while we wait
at heaven's or some
supremely unholy gate.
Epiphany!
Astrologers followed
a luminous star
to worship,
led from afar
with frankincense and myrrh,
tree-of-life resins
valued more than gold
for their power of protection;
the Magi entered
on the twelfth night,
and there did see
what gave Herod fright,
a newborn child-king
of brown-skinned Mary,
a ruler and shepherd,
truth emissary;
his light wrapped
in swaddling,
in dark skin necessary
to survive mid-east's sun,
another adversary
aside from Herod,
who wanted him dead
an angel warned Joseph
who to Egypt in haste fled;
Ramah''s babes were massacred
in his stead;
Could that same divine power
that sent agents of protection
leave Mary's child
without a dark complexion?
In the land of the Nile,
holy family lived invisibly;
Egyptians, too, were black
just like Adam and Eve
since all agree
that God's first utopia,
the Garden of Eden,
is in Ethiopia,
not in Sweden;
so let's worship
in spirit and truth;
Jesus was a brown or black man
just as his ancestor,
Abraham;
God makes all possible,
chooses skin color, our hue
for His reasons,
perhaps as a clue
to how deluded we can be
asleep to truth
we don't want to see
to miss the connection
between the cross and the lynching tree
to miss the connection
between the cross and the lynching tree.
holy brown babes' fate and destiny;
The Magi arrived,
the new babe to see,
on twelfth night, called
"Epiphany"-
which also means
a moment when we see
what we could not,
would not see;
disclosed by angels
and a star in the sky
a Jewish child is born
without a rabbi,
in poverty
in flight all his life
says "love your enemy"
while defining one site
of that enmity
as within
the family;
he grilled and ate fish
after resurrection;
his rebirth confirms
this world's misconception,
lack of depth perception;
we are all made of light,
salt of the earth,
whatever class, creed, color
at our birth;
these suits we inhabit
are temporary,
left at some point
deemed necessary
as bodies turn to dust,
souls fly free;
death's cause?
the same for us all,
a miraculous birth,
an epiphany,
***
Amend White to Black
Harm
to my sister:
graced
to see the mocking,
abandonment
to mean small town
wolves;
told her the
stuck-in-my-throat-for-years
truth from
waiting-for-us
garden chairs;
moved forward
chastened
to change, amend;
love dismembered
re-membered.
Harm
to my black brothers and sisters:
graced
to see wrongs
tell some truth
in this poem
to move forward from
a love
dis-membered;
I speak
without consent
for “white" people.
I make amends for:
Lies
about Black Africa’s
role as cradle
of all civilization
age to age
the same deception,
hiding Truth
of Luci’s testimony
humanity’s conception date,
of Annunaki
engineering energy,
uncovering the Creator
by observation
Ma’at’s verifiable
Good
Orderly
Direction
expressed by Africans
in mathematics,
God’s language:
formulas for
area of spheres,
value of pi,
volume of cylinders,
truncated pyramids,
ratio of spheres
to corresponding cylinders
trigonometric ratios
thousands of years
before the Greek hijack
for deaf ears
blind eyes
of those who saw
Archimedes’ lies,
erasing footprints
to sources of ideas:
“the genesis of the
great number of propositions:”
Ignorance
African seeds
of infinite and finite
in Heh, Hehet
for resurrection, redemption,
in Osiris and Isis,
and the trinity
“I was one:
I became three.”
for the Dogon's knowledge:
celestial effects
invisible star
one thimble forty tons
altering the orbit of Sirius
for discerning the relationship
of earth and sun,
for the calendar
for squelching minimizing
the truth of your science,
engineering,
teaching
as evidenced
in the alignment of
Giza’s pyramids
to Orion
to mathematical formulae.
Distortion
for portraying
Enoch and Daniel’s
woolly-haired
Ancient of Days’
as straight-haired,
white,
slender-nosed,
thin-lipped
for letting Constantine,
King James
warp the Word to be
un-loving
anti-loving
anti-rational
platform for
inaccessible suffocating theology
for failing to see
the parallel between
the black Son of Man
killed
on the cross
and black Sons of Man
killed
on poplar trees,
for separating
science, love, God
for lying so well
as to make truth
unbelievable.
Robbery
kidnapping stealing you oblivious
to majesty,
humanity
in beyond-cruel transport
cross-Atlantic coffins
multitudes tortured,
humiliated,
starved,
thrown to sharks
why
are we not weeping
hysterically
as movies, documentaries, books,
expose
our horrors
explicitly?
whites rage when pricked
while neutral to blacks'
impalement.
Cruelty
allowing laws,
underfunded jail-feeding schools,
predatory economics,
random violence
with nooses, bombs,
jails,
to terrorize, subjugate,
for robbery of peace
when on a bus,
driving to work,
selling CDs,
at church
walking in a hoodie...
Oppression
litigation of
unequal, separate trains
leading to education,
bathrooms, water fountains
the same
for rendering
intelligence and wisdom as
"nice but ineffective,"
(John Lewis, Clayton Powell...)
intentionality, purpose as
"violent," "anti-American"
(Black Lives Matter, Colin Kapernick)
creativity, talent
as "natural to those people,"
(Beyonce, Michael, Quincy)
for blasting hope,
killing Malcolm
covering the conspiracy.
For blasting hope,
killing Martin
covering the conspiracy
for hissing
ignoring
Selassee’s plea to honor
the League of Nations’
promise to protect
as Italy annihilated a
generation of beauty,
carefully cultivated
to lead with love
for making inner-city-coke snow
for that blizzard’s
devastation of
black love,
relationships,
freedom,
spirituality,
integrity,
dignity,
people in endless jail
from a bogus drug war
stemming into justifying,
marketing mass incarceration
voting rights robbed again
Jim Crow
under a new mask.
Hypocrisy
reacting
to Irma's flood victims
with compassion
while breached-levees
Army Corps
"Katrina" victims caged
in a filthy fouled Superdome
For treating
white opioid addiction
with rehabilitation
while “Drug War” victims
police targeted,
incarcerated..
for fear of
your sons,
black men
when we should be
terrified of
our sons
white men
expert justifiers of cruelty:
joyful in brutality,
as torture-whipped productivity.
made cotton
picked by blood-soaked hands
19th century
get-rich commodity
Envy
of your women
music, way, faith
voyeurs of your culture
when we should have
raised a fist,
joined the song,
marched, knelt along
all along.
For innocent verdicts
for the beaters,
murderers
of Rodney King, Philadro Castile
Michael Brown, Tamir Rice
Anthony Lamar Smith, Alton Sterling…
for ravaging-grabbing
Boar-warring
for your resources
gold, uranium, diamonds, rubies…
for hope-crushing practices
fines, fees, police,
for not telling the truth
not shaming the devil
for ‘restricted’ roads, gated communities
for alt-right-out-right racism
klu kluxian obliteration distortion
of evidence for creating
the unholy trinity of Donald Trump,
David Dukes, Steve Bannon
Silence
Expecting
funding money to set it straight
expecting
guilt to set it straight
expecting
gratitude for paltry efforts
expecting
judicial law to right the wrong
when heaven’s law
was and is broken,
expecting
forgiveness for nothing but the passage of time
the false hope something’s changed
expecting
politicians to make it right
expecting
a response when this poem is read.
***
Harm
to my sister:
graced
to see the mocking,
abandonment
to mean small town
wolves;
told her the
stuck-in-my-throat-for-years
truth from
waiting-for-us
garden chairs;
moved forward
chastened
to change, amend;
love dismembered
re-membered.
Harm
to my black brothers and sisters:
graced
to see wrongs
tell some truth
in this poem
to move forward from
a love
dis-membered;
I speak
without consent
for “white" people.
I make amends for:
Lies
about Black Africa’s
role as cradle
of all civilization
age to age
the same deception,
hiding Truth
of Luci’s testimony
humanity’s conception date,
of Annunaki
engineering energy,
uncovering the Creator
by observation
Ma’at’s verifiable
Good
Orderly
Direction
expressed by Africans
in mathematics,
God’s language:
formulas for
area of spheres,
value of pi,
volume of cylinders,
truncated pyramids,
ratio of spheres
to corresponding cylinders
trigonometric ratios
thousands of years
before the Greek hijack
for deaf ears
blind eyes
of those who saw
Archimedes’ lies,
erasing footprints
to sources of ideas:
“the genesis of the
great number of propositions:”
Ignorance
African seeds
of infinite and finite
in Heh, Hehet
for resurrection, redemption,
in Osiris and Isis,
and the trinity
“I was one:
I became three.”
for the Dogon's knowledge:
celestial effects
invisible star
one thimble forty tons
altering the orbit of Sirius
for discerning the relationship
of earth and sun,
for the calendar
for squelching minimizing
the truth of your science,
engineering,
teaching
as evidenced
in the alignment of
Giza’s pyramids
to Orion
to mathematical formulae.
Distortion
for portraying
Enoch and Daniel’s
woolly-haired
Ancient of Days’
as straight-haired,
white,
slender-nosed,
thin-lipped
for letting Constantine,
King James
warp the Word to be
un-loving
anti-loving
anti-rational
platform for
inaccessible suffocating theology
for failing to see
the parallel between
the black Son of Man
killed
on the cross
and black Sons of Man
killed
on poplar trees,
for separating
science, love, God
for lying so well
as to make truth
unbelievable.
Robbery
kidnapping stealing you oblivious
to majesty,
humanity
in beyond-cruel transport
cross-Atlantic coffins
multitudes tortured,
humiliated,
starved,
thrown to sharks
why
are we not weeping
hysterically
as movies, documentaries, books,
expose
our horrors
explicitly?
whites rage when pricked
while neutral to blacks'
impalement.
Cruelty
allowing laws,
underfunded jail-feeding schools,
predatory economics,
random violence
with nooses, bombs,
jails,
to terrorize, subjugate,
for robbery of peace
when on a bus,
driving to work,
selling CDs,
at church
walking in a hoodie...
Oppression
litigation of
unequal, separate trains
leading to education,
bathrooms, water fountains
the same
for rendering
intelligence and wisdom as
"nice but ineffective,"
(John Lewis, Clayton Powell...)
intentionality, purpose as
"violent," "anti-American"
(Black Lives Matter, Colin Kapernick)
creativity, talent
as "natural to those people,"
(Beyonce, Michael, Quincy)
for blasting hope,
killing Malcolm
covering the conspiracy.
For blasting hope,
killing Martin
covering the conspiracy
for hissing
ignoring
Selassee’s plea to honor
the League of Nations’
promise to protect
as Italy annihilated a
generation of beauty,
carefully cultivated
to lead with love
for making inner-city-coke snow
for that blizzard’s
devastation of
black love,
relationships,
freedom,
spirituality,
integrity,
dignity,
people in endless jail
from a bogus drug war
stemming into justifying,
marketing mass incarceration
voting rights robbed again
Jim Crow
under a new mask.
Hypocrisy
reacting
to Irma's flood victims
with compassion
while breached-levees
Army Corps
"Katrina" victims caged
in a filthy fouled Superdome
For treating
white opioid addiction
with rehabilitation
while “Drug War” victims
police targeted,
incarcerated..
for fear of
your sons,
black men
when we should be
terrified of
our sons
white men
expert justifiers of cruelty:
joyful in brutality,
as torture-whipped productivity.
made cotton
picked by blood-soaked hands
19th century
get-rich commodity
Envy
of your women
music, way, faith
voyeurs of your culture
when we should have
raised a fist,
joined the song,
marched, knelt along
all along.
For innocent verdicts
for the beaters,
murderers
of Rodney King, Philadro Castile
Michael Brown, Tamir Rice
Anthony Lamar Smith, Alton Sterling…
for ravaging-grabbing
Boar-warring
for your resources
gold, uranium, diamonds, rubies…
for hope-crushing practices
fines, fees, police,
for not telling the truth
not shaming the devil
for ‘restricted’ roads, gated communities
for alt-right-out-right racism
klu kluxian obliteration distortion
of evidence for creating
the unholy trinity of Donald Trump,
David Dukes, Steve Bannon
Silence
Expecting
funding money to set it straight
expecting
guilt to set it straight
expecting
gratitude for paltry efforts
expecting
judicial law to right the wrong
when heaven’s law
was and is broken,
expecting
forgiveness for nothing but the passage of time
the false hope something’s changed
expecting
politicians to make it right
expecting
a response when this poem is read.
***
Lady Justice
Get your fucking meds
offa me
take your
on-and-on-and-on
shenanegans
self-love-first bullshit
offa me
get your hands
off my child
let our fire run wild
wind blow
storm toss -
now that's free
right now
I don't give a shit
about serenity
the Psalmist cries
and so do I;
pull your critique
off my rage
and shove it
into your own old age
those last days
when you look back
and wonder
"why did I sedate God's thunder,
the dose given to me
which I let go
to squelch, squish,
squeeze into conformity?"
Breck lady I am not
and yes mother-fucker
I am practicing love
by writing this,
prayed at the top of the page
for truth to be spoken;
listened to a Sage
unrestrained
by on-going strangulation,
an excess of moderation
all make me need to explode -
BAM!
Give me ten gavels to slam
fire to burn
I'm not crazy
can't lock me up
I never ever
give the key to free
to a lie;
liars lie,
find others to cosign
what's they've chosen
to keep frozen
hard as rock
(stay awake to who's willing to defrost);
I am Lady jJustice;
I am armed,
blind folded,
and see with clarity
to lead the angels' army!
***
Get your fucking meds
offa me
take your
on-and-on-and-on
shenanegans
self-love-first bullshit
offa me
get your hands
off my child
let our fire run wild
wind blow
storm toss -
now that's free
right now
I don't give a shit
about serenity
the Psalmist cries
and so do I;
pull your critique
off my rage
and shove it
into your own old age
those last days
when you look back
and wonder
"why did I sedate God's thunder,
the dose given to me
which I let go
to squelch, squish,
squeeze into conformity?"
Breck lady I am not
and yes mother-fucker
I am practicing love
by writing this,
prayed at the top of the page
for truth to be spoken;
listened to a Sage
unrestrained
by on-going strangulation,
an excess of moderation
all make me need to explode -
BAM!
Give me ten gavels to slam
fire to burn
I'm not crazy
can't lock me up
I never ever
give the key to free
to a lie;
liars lie,
find others to cosign
what's they've chosen
to keep frozen
hard as rock
(stay awake to who's willing to defrost);
I am Lady jJustice;
I am armed,
blind folded,
and see with clarity
to lead the angels' army!
***
Fig Leaves
Fig leaves
plucked from
garden's
grove,
hid
original gold
sacred haven
to sow
into from
Eve's tree;
two as one
once resided
entwined
inside Paradise
without green fashion
to stall
hard wired,
holy passion;
Creative Mind,
conceived
a way to make
new life
give urge
merge
man and wife
as One
something new
under the sun
so I question -
Spirit's intercession,
human-loveless
conception
within Mary's womb,
though not beyond
the One
who emptied the tomb
to conceive a child
without orgasm,
embrace,
without a trace
of mystery
warm chasm
euphoric as-one
drawn out spasm,
we lesser beings
get to taste;
why make chaste
sex thunder,
subjugate
its wonder,
complexity?
is her virginity,
a human construct
to joy destruct
impeach
render out of reach
on high
our Brother
the Son of Man
rather than identify,
social strata defy
enter together
into the messy mix
of love, passion,
choice, decision,
varied crucifix
with him
be we sober, drunk,
sinners, monks;
is it a craving
for Paradise,
for "nice,"
a distortion to reduce
the sanctity,
divinity
of sexuality,
our holy families?
who loses most from this story?
who gains
from a single man's
immaculate glory?
Aren't we all children of God,
and therefore holy?
Why would God separate
his love child,
meant to celebrate
agitate for truth
in a lived and risen life,
one of us
full of promise;
born under a star
into Herod's envy,
corrupt religiosity,
in other words,
humanity,
where lusty, thirsty,
seeking-a-way-out-of-lonely
men and women
breathe,
find Thee
break free
reach more lost souls
as very human sages
able to enter
gritty or spanky stages
with no halos to betray
soul-fishers who're heaven sent
listening from heart intent
for a way to live our time well spent
where we thrive
like Adam and Eve
strive
to hear You,
hear divinity;
as we too rise
to infinity,
purity
forever holy
out from under
fig leaves.
Fig leaves
plucked from
garden's
grove,
hid
original gold
sacred haven
to sow
into from
Eve's tree;
two as one
once resided
entwined
inside Paradise
without green fashion
to stall
hard wired,
holy passion;
Creative Mind,
conceived
a way to make
new life
give urge
merge
man and wife
as One
something new
under the sun
so I question -
Spirit's intercession,
human-loveless
conception
within Mary's womb,
though not beyond
the One
who emptied the tomb
to conceive a child
without orgasm,
embrace,
without a trace
of mystery
warm chasm
euphoric as-one
drawn out spasm,
we lesser beings
get to taste;
why make chaste
sex thunder,
subjugate
its wonder,
complexity?
is her virginity,
a human construct
to joy destruct
impeach
render out of reach
on high
our Brother
the Son of Man
rather than identify,
social strata defy
enter together
into the messy mix
of love, passion,
choice, decision,
varied crucifix
with him
be we sober, drunk,
sinners, monks;
is it a craving
for Paradise,
for "nice,"
a distortion to reduce
the sanctity,
divinity
of sexuality,
our holy families?
who loses most from this story?
who gains
from a single man's
immaculate glory?
Aren't we all children of God,
and therefore holy?
Why would God separate
his love child,
meant to celebrate
agitate for truth
in a lived and risen life,
one of us
full of promise;
born under a star
into Herod's envy,
corrupt religiosity,
in other words,
humanity,
where lusty, thirsty,
seeking-a-way-out-of-lonely
men and women
breathe,
find Thee
break free
reach more lost souls
as very human sages
able to enter
gritty or spanky stages
with no halos to betray
soul-fishers who're heaven sent
listening from heart intent
for a way to live our time well spent
where we thrive
like Adam and Eve
strive
to hear You,
hear divinity;
as we too rise
to infinity,
purity
forever holy
out from under
fig leaves.
Mayan Recovery
moving on
she craves to go
walk alone
to uncover truth
rediscover herself
discard what's not
re-member
parts to whole,
recover.
"¡Mi tierra,
mi padre,
mis abuelos
mis bisabuelos,
mi Dios
ayudame!"
grita su alma,
canta su musica,
sola nunca y siempre
en el camino
al cielo
por dentro, por fuera;
"my country,
my father,
my grandfather,
my great grandparents,
my God
help me!"
cries out her soul,
sings her music,
alone never and always
in the path
to heaven
within and without;
¡Canta
"mi tierra,
mi padre,
mis abuelos
mis bisabuelos,
mi Dios,
ayudame!"
sola nunca y siempre
en el camino
al cielo
por dentro, por fuera.
"Jesus said, If your leaders say to you
'Look! The Kingdom is in the sky!
then the birds will be there before you are.
If they say that the Kingdom is in the sea,
then the fish will be there before you are.
Rather, the Kingdom is within you
and it is outside of you."
- The Gospel of Thomas, saying 3a.
***
Congo Square!
Congo square
meet you there!
Bring your wares
something to share
a story,
a drum
all come
no worries
no cares
rumors of lands
not at hand...
together we find
what is kind
warm sand
djembe palms
soul balm
midst a southern ocean
of cruelty in motion.
A public space,
a gift of Grace,
but now stopped at gate;
she tensed,
"Fenced?"
"Just for today"
so they say...
reggae
emancipees
charge fee to
access liberty
from mental slavery
"open to
cash opportunity;"
keep company
with Jay-Z
spiritually
"we got to get past
that bended knee"
suggests Colin's fallen
ineffectively
into wailin' for liberty;
without NBC
who will tell
the message?
I've got NFL
so all will yell
"Cough it up, Goodell!"
more bravery
to sign a contract
or take a knee?
Roger and Jay
on wedding day
marriage
filled media carriage
close ups zoom
of groom and groom
cutting the cake
so much damn money at stake
all for the cause
of course
humanity first
no "all for justice" bubble
has to be burst!
Congo square!
near by
slaves were sold
mothers told
sons and daughter
no longer theirs to hold
wails went out
shouts
DNA altered
for generations forward
trauma's there
recorded, ensnared
mama's bended knee
plea
gained no child free;
Colin's bended knee
levied
new consciousness
of a race still suppressed
by aggression
transgressions
of black brown kin
and liberated HIM
no longer owned
by gold diggers
forty niners;
pass complete
a free agent
no quarter on HIS back!
Congo square!
Where drum circle
sings
under giant oak trees
beautiful breeze
statue of indian chief
slaves dance in frieze
just get inside the beat
let go of care
wrest free;
do what's right
in God's sight
in Congo Square
or anywhere!
***
The Enormity of Iniquity
the enormity of iniquity
keeps me up,
eaten me up
since before I was ten
in suburb pen
saturated in full-fridge privilege
hearing how eating those damn peas
makes a the difference for them;
Come on!
how DO I do right
by my fellow men?
every day my neighbor needs
to shake human trees
all energy spent
hitting on who's already bent
from this and that expense;
a bottleneck
cash traffic jam;
this one waits,
that one holds it up;
I lean on my mental horn,
entitled, outraged,
I watch, torn,
powerless to move the flow
make it go
tiny financial worlds
stuck and run amuck
wacked bills bite
make everyone tight
devoured by the crooked croc,
surrender to the swallowing?
what else is there to do?
Get angry, stamp feet,
laugh till we pee?
Hit the streets
fight for equity?
try to breath,
live in a world
where more often than not
the innocent get got
who say, "I knew it"
when predicted bullshit shows up
women nurture children,
take them to school,
shop for shoes, work, too,
at 87 grandma lives on a dime
still makes big time
for great great grands;
keeps local flow on the go
people who pray
(that's with an 'A')
in their own way
without religious dictates;
cuz seems those who prEy
(with an ee)
can be
blind to their identity
full of religiosity
do-good mentality
cause more wounds
to those already
heading to the grave too soon
from worries, unpaid bills
utility company ills,
water prices through the roof
quintupled without proof
(she lives alone
only flushes when she poos!)
no-good realtors,
no-raise employers,
protected predators:
seems lots of people steal
when there's not enough
or too much,
lie when high and dry
or just want an even bigger piece
of a gargantuan pie;
haves once again
drip from have nots
an angry blood clot
travels to the heart;
sedated middle class
vital to oppression.
dimmed-wit ammunition,
with conscience in remission;
are those "blessings"
fruit of the unjust?
own the condition
not just settle the dust;
The enormity of iniquity
Is way beyond me
so is the nature of the galaxy
the reality of infinity
of God's love for spoiled-brat me;
so since I'm found
and freed, i'm bound
to love my neighbor
pray with an ay
to the Creator
just for today
and not let thieves
I'm called to love
have their way;
maybe that's what he meant
by, "turn the other cheek"
pray, love, BE ferocity
when necessary!
Neither fool nor indifferent
am I created to be
in the enormity of iniquity.
the enormity of iniquity
keeps me up,
eaten me up
since before I was ten
in suburb pen
saturated in full-fridge privilege
hearing how eating those damn peas
makes a the difference for them;
Come on!
how DO I do right
by my fellow men?
every day my neighbor needs
to shake human trees
all energy spent
hitting on who's already bent
from this and that expense;
a bottleneck
cash traffic jam;
this one waits,
that one holds it up;
I lean on my mental horn,
entitled, outraged,
I watch, torn,
powerless to move the flow
make it go
tiny financial worlds
stuck and run amuck
wacked bills bite
make everyone tight
devoured by the crooked croc,
surrender to the swallowing?
what else is there to do?
Get angry, stamp feet,
laugh till we pee?
Hit the streets
fight for equity?
try to breath,
live in a world
where more often than not
the innocent get got
who say, "I knew it"
when predicted bullshit shows up
women nurture children,
take them to school,
shop for shoes, work, too,
at 87 grandma lives on a dime
still makes big time
for great great grands;
keeps local flow on the go
people who pray
(that's with an 'A')
in their own way
without religious dictates;
cuz seems those who prEy
(with an ee)
can be
blind to their identity
full of religiosity
do-good mentality
cause more wounds
to those already
heading to the grave too soon
from worries, unpaid bills
utility company ills,
water prices through the roof
quintupled without proof
(she lives alone
only flushes when she poos!)
no-good realtors,
no-raise employers,
protected predators:
seems lots of people steal
when there's not enough
or too much,
lie when high and dry
or just want an even bigger piece
of a gargantuan pie;
haves once again
drip from have nots
an angry blood clot
travels to the heart;
sedated middle class
vital to oppression.
dimmed-wit ammunition,
with conscience in remission;
are those "blessings"
fruit of the unjust?
own the condition
not just settle the dust;
The enormity of iniquity
Is way beyond me
so is the nature of the galaxy
the reality of infinity
of God's love for spoiled-brat me;
so since I'm found
and freed, i'm bound
to love my neighbor
pray with an ay
to the Creator
just for today
and not let thieves
I'm called to love
have their way;
maybe that's what he meant
by, "turn the other cheek"
pray, love, BE ferocity
when necessary!
Neither fool nor indifferent
am I created to be
in the enormity of iniquity.
Beloved Uncle
stopped the car,
took bended knee
between headlights
to ask
"marry me?"
she agreed;
four children ensued
embued
in faith
raised
in dialogue with mom
in percussion,
with dad's
sublime rigidity
belief, faith
in rightness,
superiority
unwillingness to see
"I am because of we"
included the whole
structured
complex caste
society;
classic patriarch
beloved within family,
seen with clarity
to varied degrees
but oblivious
to the over-time
wrestle
wrought
within his children,
their grapple
with beliefs
passed down
perhaps genetically
generating their own
experience
with white fragility.
***
stopped the car,
took bended knee
between headlights
to ask
"marry me?"
she agreed;
four children ensued
embued
in faith
raised
in dialogue with mom
in percussion,
with dad's
sublime rigidity
belief, faith
in rightness,
superiority
unwillingness to see
"I am because of we"
included the whole
structured
complex caste
society;
classic patriarch
beloved within family,
seen with clarity
to varied degrees
but oblivious
to the over-time
wrestle
wrought
within his children,
their grapple
with beliefs
passed down
perhaps genetically
generating their own
experience
with white fragility.
***
Totalled
Car-casses
strewn
on flats
with puncture wounds
now marooned
by insurance companies,
city fees
soon to be
moved
heaped
as dry bones
on bleak street.
"Hello, this is Jackie
from triple A;
How are you today?
The oppressor,
I mean assessor,
determined
repair costs exceed
the car's value,
as determined by we,"
Momma Poppa God
sighs from on high,
"Repair them all:
repair Jackie,
the assessor,
the car,
the gun-wielding thief!"
So much pain
it takes to
shut down
belief
in restoration
yield hope
to crowned-king
obliteration;
Earth Mommas say
since back in the day,
"children, behave!
don't turn a good car
into rusted charred parts
don't crush
human hearts
to be
unwilling to start
don't ground good
into dust,
totaled trust.
***
Car-casses
strewn
on flats
with puncture wounds
now marooned
by insurance companies,
city fees
soon to be
moved
heaped
as dry bones
on bleak street.
"Hello, this is Jackie
from triple A;
How are you today?
The oppressor,
I mean assessor,
determined
repair costs exceed
the car's value,
as determined by we,"
Momma Poppa God
sighs from on high,
"Repair them all:
repair Jackie,
the assessor,
the car,
the gun-wielding thief!"
So much pain
it takes to
shut down
belief
in restoration
yield hope
to crowned-king
obliteration;
Earth Mommas say
since back in the day,
"children, behave!
don't turn a good car
into rusted charred parts
don't crush
human hearts
to be
unwilling to start
don't ground good
into dust,
totaled trust.
***
Serenity Prayer Alternative
God, I pray
to no longer
accept what
I cannot change
but
through your
Power,
Love, and
Way of Life,
change
what I cannot,
should not
accept;
let Mother Mary's
"Let it be"
emPower we
to stand up,
speak up,
show up,
shut up,
sit down,
silence today
words tomorrow
"wise as serpents
gentle as doves"
help me listen
help me love
help me do
all with you
fueled
by your food,
our God of many names
all Power
to save,
go beyond blame;
Help us out of
serenity sedation
"nothing I can do"
dead-end station
negation
of God's power
to transform;
wake up, loves,
to the storm
my beautiful people,
the price is too high
overdosed on
"keep the head to the sky"
God with us asks
"Do you love me?"
here's the task:
tend-feed
my lambs, my sheep"
walks-talks like a duck?
call it a duck
we, the Most High's construct,
divinely made to
give a "f**k".
"Lack of power, that WAS our dilemma." - (Big Book page 45)
"We had a new employer. Being all powerful, God provided what we needed if we kept close to God and performed God's work well." (Big Book page 63)
"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus s said to him, "Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17)
***
God, I pray
to no longer
accept what
I cannot change
but
through your
Power,
Love, and
Way of Life,
change
what I cannot,
should not
accept;
let Mother Mary's
"Let it be"
emPower we
to stand up,
speak up,
show up,
shut up,
sit down,
silence today
words tomorrow
"wise as serpents
gentle as doves"
help me listen
help me love
help me do
all with you
fueled
by your food,
our God of many names
all Power
to save,
go beyond blame;
Help us out of
serenity sedation
"nothing I can do"
dead-end station
negation
of God's power
to transform;
wake up, loves,
to the storm
my beautiful people,
the price is too high
overdosed on
"keep the head to the sky"
God with us asks
"Do you love me?"
here's the task:
tend-feed
my lambs, my sheep"
walks-talks like a duck?
call it a duck
we, the Most High's construct,
divinely made to
give a "f**k".
"Lack of power, that WAS our dilemma." - (Big Book page 45)
"We had a new employer. Being all powerful, God provided what we needed if we kept close to God and performed God's work well." (Big Book page 63)
"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus s said to him, "Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17)
***
Father's Sun
stone heads
augur her:
thick lips
calm carved
almond eyes
interior
exterior
gene line
to father's
ancestors,
royals
in vision
construct
pyraminds
stone by stone
move on water
from Africa
on currents known
multi-millennia
before
Pinta, Niña, Santa Maria;
sage woman
wrought
by marriage
of cold and sun:
Gaul and African
Scot and Mayan
looks out
seated on throne
with leopard arms
agave frond,
eagle claw,
all stone;
shaved head,
gleams
in leaves-of-gold
diadem,
leans
to see beloved
serpent
wrapped round
indigo gown;
as palms
move
to make breeze
she perceives
guidance
with wisdom heart
feather-light
forever set apart
from logic
immersion
her conversion
restores
Spirit footprints
buried under
left brain burden
to live
deep within
close to Mayan,
close to African,
close to father's sun.
Pandemic at Passover
(April 8-16, 2020)
'pan' means 'all'
'demos' - 'people;'
pan-demos
no hoax,
no moment
of insanity
but one of clarity
a recognition
of commonality
bearing witness
to a truth
beyond the economy,
greater than money,
of vibrating
Supreme Reality;
shared humanity:
so neglected,
forgotten;
pinch me; I cry,
yet simply sigh
when distant others
suffer, die;
shared divinity:
so obliterated
obfuscated;
a blemish?
rush to Sephora
yet never pause
to abhor a
hurt to Thee,
meaning We
collective beauty
manifested in these
approximately
7.5 billion bodies
expressing
the creativity
of a G_d who seeks
and always sought
anonymity,
obscurity,
invisibility
to promote our unity,
our faith
not in original sin
but rather heaven within;
chose Moses
to speak,
chose Jesus
(among others)
to die and rise,
chose me
to write this poem,
you, Holy Child,
to seek
find your own;
no politico
could muster
no preacher bluster
conjure
this We,
sheltered
as the demons,
the crowned ones
(money, Covid-nineteen),
pass over
the people,
the demos;
"stay inside"
the governors cry;
we no longer
heed the blood of the lamb
the unrisen bread
so in their stead
a sacrifice
to perhaps screw on
our collective,
hard-wired-for-true-love head.
***
(April 8-16, 2020)
'pan' means 'all'
'demos' - 'people;'
pan-demos
no hoax,
no moment
of insanity
but one of clarity
a recognition
of commonality
bearing witness
to a truth
beyond the economy,
greater than money,
of vibrating
Supreme Reality;
shared humanity:
so neglected,
forgotten;
pinch me; I cry,
yet simply sigh
when distant others
suffer, die;
shared divinity:
so obliterated
obfuscated;
a blemish?
rush to Sephora
yet never pause
to abhor a
hurt to Thee,
meaning We
collective beauty
manifested in these
approximately
7.5 billion bodies
expressing
the creativity
of a G_d who seeks
and always sought
anonymity,
obscurity,
invisibility
to promote our unity,
our faith
not in original sin
but rather heaven within;
chose Moses
to speak,
chose Jesus
(among others)
to die and rise,
chose me
to write this poem,
you, Holy Child,
to seek
find your own;
no politico
could muster
no preacher bluster
conjure
this We,
sheltered
as the demons,
the crowned ones
(money, Covid-nineteen),
pass over
the people,
the demos;
"stay inside"
the governors cry;
we no longer
heed the blood of the lamb
the unrisen bread
so in their stead
a sacrifice
to perhaps screw on
our collective,
hard-wired-for-true-love head.
***
Heed
Watch
slippery,
three-six,
lauded sneak
inject
permitted
read-mind
liquid
inside
chosen people;
use needles
implants
to weasel
unwelcome
unknowns
into veins
from 'h' to
COVID cure
for disease
the oh-so pure
say needs
to be tamed;
keep
them away!
protect
brain waves,
blood flow
designed
to connect
with what makes
sane,
not provide
corporate
news feed
to and from
body-embedded
currency
for implanted
needs;
feel
compelled
to participate?
can't-wait
urgency's
old idea
used to reign
over
mind-colonies
for capital gain:
new
competitive
inside-you
territorial
imperative;
don't let
fear, greed
inject
into THEE;
turn to
the Supreme
stay HOLY,
WHOLE
stay FREE.
Apocalypto
angry god
needs
satiation
propitiation
so Aztecs
rip hearts
roll heads
down stair-lined
pyramids
"Christians"
skin-flay
hang, burn
innocence,
Holy Men,
from crosses,
from trees;
the same
antagonist,
religious authorities,
dictate, demand
other be
sacrificed
to a god
with quellable
temper tantrums
a god
with objectives
swayed
persuaded
by sacrifice,
sneaky ego's
greatest device;
"God is LOVE"
Good
Order
Direction,
Universal One,
Great Spirit,
LORD
Realm of Spirit
ONE
god's NOT love?
sacrifice
is imminent
be it on a cross,
a pyramid,
Poplar,
at Krakow-Plaszow,
a Turkish road
absorbing
Armenian groans,
within Angola's stones;
ignore-ance,
a key ingredient,
precedes
those twisted
culminating
constructions,
neutral onlookers,
blind sheep,
led by human powers
controlling beliefs;
Jaguar Paw,
hunter,
spun 180,
now's the hunted;
but revolved,
evolved
once more
blackened
by quick sand's
muddy earth
to assume
sacred identity
of the predator
the individual alone,
the victor
solitary inheritor
of sanctity;
his post-horror
holy family
turns away
from cross at the shore
chooses
new beginning
that failed
before -
so probably will die,
as predicted,
when fear of the other's
the only guide
when separated
from a nurturing tribe;
Apocalypto,
Mel Gibson's
poignant cry
"Walk in unity!
Pay attention
to me:
flee from phonies
who preach
'peace, peace
when there is no peace'
heed warnings,
prophets,
be they children
with disease,
ravaged souls,
dreams;
most of all my beloved people,
stay clear
of religious authorities!"
Rowdy Beauties
I am a rowdy beauty,
a prisoner
who picks up
sage's keys
to seek release;
I shake my fist
at the Council of Nicaea,
refuse
its heretic-making creed
stifling
of multiple Christianities
sacred diversity of belief;
I question an inerrant Bible,
narratives
that silence
the female
Gospels named
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John...
not Jobab? Heth?
Ahaziah? Medan?
I leave churches
plastering fake news
of white Jesus,
white disciples,
that instill
legalistic rules
spoon baby-food truth
minimize Power-full
Good News
of Spiritual Rebirth;
I see Eve, Adam
Sara, Abram,
as brilliant black/brown,
sassy,
long-suffering,
live-wire-agile
plugged-into-God
human beings;
see Jesus and Mary Mag
as One
as lovers,
children of love-makers,
resurrection partners
at the cross,
at the tomb;
I wish I could
blast-blitz-promote
an "image" of God
impossible
to capture
except
just maybe
though energy,
quarks in e-motion
that rev
when giving bloody birth
embracing the babe,
smelling
curry,
sculpting clay,
dance-hearing
tubas, drums,
grieving
at goodbyes,
goose-bump
connecting
in one-on-one talks,
sacred sex,
deep alone prayer times,
walks,
presence at last breaths...
LOVING!
I am grateful to be
a rowdy prisoner
in good company,
feel graced, humbled
to even see the keys,
pick them up,
put them in locks,
get free
each time an old idea,
hidden bond,
unnecessary rule
is found, unleashed
in unity with you
other rowdy beauties.
"Impose no law other than that which I have witnessed.
Do not add more laws to those given in the Torah
last you become bound by them.
Having said all this, he departed."
Jesus, as quoted in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene page 9
***
I am a rowdy beauty,
a prisoner
who picks up
sage's keys
to seek release;
I shake my fist
at the Council of Nicaea,
refuse
its heretic-making creed
stifling
of multiple Christianities
sacred diversity of belief;
I question an inerrant Bible,
narratives
that silence
the female
Gospels named
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John...
not Jobab? Heth?
Ahaziah? Medan?
I leave churches
plastering fake news
of white Jesus,
white disciples,
that instill
legalistic rules
spoon baby-food truth
minimize Power-full
Good News
of Spiritual Rebirth;
I see Eve, Adam
Sara, Abram,
as brilliant black/brown,
sassy,
long-suffering,
live-wire-agile
plugged-into-God
human beings;
see Jesus and Mary Mag
as One
as lovers,
children of love-makers,
resurrection partners
at the cross,
at the tomb;
I wish I could
blast-blitz-promote
an "image" of God
impossible
to capture
except
just maybe
though energy,
quarks in e-motion
that rev
when giving bloody birth
embracing the babe,
smelling
curry,
sculpting clay,
dance-hearing
tubas, drums,
grieving
at goodbyes,
goose-bump
connecting
in one-on-one talks,
sacred sex,
deep alone prayer times,
walks,
presence at last breaths...
LOVING!
I am grateful to be
a rowdy prisoner
in good company,
feel graced, humbled
to even see the keys,
pick them up,
put them in locks,
get free
each time an old idea,
hidden bond,
unnecessary rule
is found, unleashed
in unity with you
other rowdy beauties.
"Impose no law other than that which I have witnessed.
Do not add more laws to those given in the Torah
last you become bound by them.
Having said all this, he departed."
Jesus, as quoted in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene page 9
***