Socioeconomic Justice
As read for the Black History Month Program for Seniors on the Move, a ministry of New Faith Baptist Church, International 1980 Panther people on the rise 1990 Panther people on the rise Year 2000’s Panther people on the rise Energize our minds/ we ride the skies In the 2020 the times is dark Corrupt eruption got the nation stark […]
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For Martin Luther King, Jr. Jagged edges. Broken echoes. dream shards of holy war assault senses in fitful sleep. Chaotic visions run arpeggios down passage streams of days. I remember Martin, strident prophesying song weathered dim and distant in nebulous rust of years. Dream fragments resuscitate voices/ broken echoes from mausoleums of long time gone. they rise, singing songs of […]
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shivering sun rushes to horizon beneath gray sky as I commence December family ritual of lights wrapped around front yard trees barren except for winter seed dropping into damp soil bearing spring hopes and earth promises. green lights wrapped on trunk white strings hung on branches, in conformity with silly esthetics of holiday suburban blocks. wireless speaker serenading yard with […]
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I don’t think Democrats can box. They follow the Queensbury rules, have good conventional form and style. But when the boxing intensifies into a fight, and things get down and dirty, the focus is trained more towards appealing to norms of boxing than punching their way off the ropes. Like “Iron Mike” said: “Everybody has a plan until they get […]
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The storm is coming The storm is here No time for trifling No time for fear The mystic revelation The mystic demonstration Is love Love live love The imps are winning The imps are bold Never satisfied With what they stole The mystic revelation The mystic demonstration Is love Love life love What you reap You got to sow The […]
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Legendary singer Gladys Knight’s decision to sing the national anthem for the Super Bowl has sparked much controversy. Seemingly every A-list performer in the nation has rejected the NFL’s desperate attempt to have the type of half-time extravaganza we Super Bowl viewers have come to expect. This boycott has been in support of Colin Kaepernick “taking the knee” to protest […]
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Post Obama Traumatic Stress in rear view: “Folks didn’t think about … white supremacy any more than a fish thinks about the wetness of water. But when you step out of a system that people have told you is the only way, and then you look around and there are these people in the world working under a different set of […]
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Tiger and the Old Man It’s first Sunday late night in the church basement. Congregation members have long gone home. The Old Man is holding court with a group of neighborhood church pastors and ministers. He lives at the church. He offers this space and time for highly stressed ministers to unburden and unwind. Books and ancient manuscripts of every […]
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Survivors Young survivors of bullets blood and screams And parents of tender psyches ripped at the seams, Elected puppets placate with diversionary chatter But show Black lives ain’t the only ones don’t matter, You cry you plead you shout you bleed They give thoughts and prayers and nothing you need You rally and carry placards in deep duress; They speak […]
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Natural Head Revolution (Inspired by an Angela Davis Lecture at ISU) Natty heads arise Natty minds surmise Natty time to radicalize Natty eyes on the prize Black souls naturalize Resurrect our soul ties Freedom fighting voices rise Revolution of the wise Lift your mind drop the gun Freedom calling forward run Flash your dreads like Rastaman Keep on climbing to […]
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