eat dinner
all at one table with their family
the television silent
& bless the food,
father
we thank
THEE
& their maids
off
with their families
& everyone rested
until the Sunday
when the rains
began
and crashed
thru the wind
moving away the dirt
but somebody didn’t
stop it
and the
little river
rose
and
rose
till the cars
and televisions
and blankets
and people – all
washed through the
streets and past
their neighbors
for blocks
and blocks
The troops came on Wednesday
The water had
stopped
the wet
merged with the dirt
mud
was
all over
and
the troops shook their heads.
They could not
bury
the dead.
In the
death murk
they could not tell
the
Black
from
the white.
Pied Piper
She sits,
ebony skinned,
drawing sun rays.
Children cluster;
a jagged circle
presses inward.
Sand-covered feet
Lean,
in homage to
the High Priestess.
The classical reed
will not suffice.
A Conga
Willowy notes
are not heard.
Deep, tense, beats
climb down the drum,
Jumping out in the air,
Lions roaring at children.
Conga
Black hands
beat the skin;
a white bred
with sweat.
Conga
Drum beats
dance over the waves,
& children’s kayaks
drift inward.
The priestess rests.
Her fingers cuddle
the drum head.
Children query, with
eyes showing no hate,
“What kind of drum is it?”
“Conga”
“You play good;
Is it a message?”
“Message?”
“Yes, what does it mean?
What song is it?”
“It’s a Mau Mau death song.”
i wonder
how many matches
it would take,
to lay a single-file trail
from here –
to richard nixon’s ass.
It’s probably not a good idea.
I can see him now –
Waving his singed prick
on nation-wide television,
telling how it was saved
by a tub of confidence
provided by
his silent majority.
Where do you go to become a non-citizen?
I want to resign; I want out.
I want to march to the nearest place
Give my letter to a smiling face.
I want to resign; I want out.
President Ford vetoed a jobs bill
Sent to him from capitol hill
While we sit by being super cool
He gets a $60, 000 swimming pool.
I wanna resign; I want out.
$68,000 to Queen Elizabeth to not grow cotton.
Yet there’s no uproar that this jive is rotten.
$14,000 to Ford Motors to not plant wheat
I guess the government don’t want wheat all over
the seats.
The CIA Commission was in session for 26 weeks long
Said the boys didn’t do too much wrong
They gave out acid – a test – they tell
Yet if you and I used it – we’d be in jail.
I wanna resign; I want out.
And from Taft College – a small group of fools
Chased all the Black students out of the school.
And good citizens worries about property sale
Chased away Black teenagers from picturesque Carmel.
I wanna resign; I want out.
The Little League after using all excuses up
Says a 10-year-old-girl must use a boy’s supportive cup.
An international Women’s Congress in Mexico to make plans
Elected for their president – a white-liberal man.
I wanna resign; I want out.
The A.P.A. finally said all gays aren’t ill
Yet ain’t no refunds on their psychiatry bills.
A federal judge says MCC is valid – a reality
Yet it won’t keep the pigs from hurting you or me.
I wanna resign; I want out.
I wanna resign; I want out.
Please lead me to the place
Show me the smiling face
I’m skeptical – full of doubt.
I wanna resign; I want out.
“Don’t let the fascists speak.”
“We want to hear what they have to say.”
“Keep them out of the classroom.”
“Everybody is entitled to freedom of speech.”
I am a child of America
a step child
raised in the back room
yet taught
taught how to act
in her front room.
my mind jumps
the voices of students
screaming
insults threats
“Let the Nazis speak”
“Let the Nazis speak”
Everyone is entitled
to speak
I sit a greasy-legged
Black child
in a Black school
in the Black part of town
look to the Black teacher
the Bill of Rights
guarantees
us all the right
my mind
remembers chants
article I article I
& my innards churn
they remember
the Black teacher
in the Black school
in the Black part
of the very white town
who stopped us
when we attacked
the puppet principal
the white Board
of mis-Education
cast-off books
illustrated with
cartoons &
words of wisdom
written by white
children in the
other part of town
missing pages
caricatures
of hanging niggers –
the bill of rights
was written to
protect
us
my mind remembers
& my innards churn
conjures images
police
break up
illegal demonstrations
illegal assemblies
conjures images
of a Black Panther
“if tricky Dick
tries to stop us
we’ll stop him”
conjure image
of that same Black man
going to jail
for threatening
the life of
THE PRESIDENT
every citizen
is entitled to
freedom of speech
my mi
nd remembers
& my innards churn
conjure images
of jews in camps
of homosexuals in camps
of socialists in camps
“Let the Nazis speak”
“Let the Nazis speak”
faces in a college
classroom
“You’re being fascist too.”
“We want to hear what
they have to say”
faces in
a college classroom
young white faces
speak let them speak
speak let them speak
Blacks, jews some whites
seize the bullhorn
“We don’t want to hear
your socialist rhetoric”
socialist rhetoric
survival
rhetoric
the supreme court
says it is illegal
to scream fire
in a crowded theater
to scream fire
in a crowded theater
causes people to panic
to run to hurt each other
my mind remembers
& now i know
what my innards
say
illegal to cause
people
to panic
to run
to hurt
there is
no contradiction
what the Nazis say
will cause
people
to hurt
ME.
To My Vegetarian Friend
It’s not called soul food
because it goes with music.
It is a survival food.
from the grease
sprang generations
of my people
generations
of slaves
that ate the leavings
of their masters
& survived
And when I sit –
faced by
chitterlins & greens
neckbones & tails
it is a ritual –
it is a joining –
me to my ancestors
& your words ring untrue
this food is good for me
It replenishes my soul
so if you really
can’t stand
to look at my food
can’t stand
to smell my food
& can’t keep those feelings
to yourself
Do us both a favor
& stay home
For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend
The first thing you do is to forget that i’m Black.
Second, you must never forget that i’m Black.
You should be able to dig Aretha,
but don’t play her every time i come over.
And if you decide to play Beethoven – don’t tell me
his life story. They made us take music appreciation too.
Eat soul food if you like it, but don’t expect me
to locate your restaurants
or cook it for you.
And if some Black person insults you,
mugs you, rapes your sister, rapes you,
rips your house, or is just being an ass –
please, do not apologize to me
for wanting to do them bodily harm.
It makes me wonder if you’re foolish.
And even if you really believe Blacks are better lovers than
whites – don’t tell me. I start thinking of charging stud fees.
In other words – if you really want to be my friend – don’t
make a labor of it. I’m lazy. Remember.
Tour America!
a T.V. commercial said.
I will –
there are things I need:
travelers checks in new york
gas mask in Berkeley
face mask in Los Angeles
National guardsmen to protect me
– in the south
Marines to protect me
from guardsmen
– in the mid-west,
Police to protect me
from hustlers
– in the ghettos,
Bullet-proof vest and helmet
to protect me from police
– everywhere.
Tour America!
perhaps,
it would be better
to blow it up.
I’m so tired
of hearing about
capitalist
sexist,
racist,
fascist
chauvinist,
feminist.
I am tired
of hearing about
confronting
demonstrating
trashing,
smashing,
surviving,
jiving.
I’m beginning to
wonder if
the tactics
of this revolution
is to
talk the enemy to death.
The What Liberation Front?
Today i had a talk with my dog
he called me a racist – chauvinist person
told me he didn’t like the way
i keep trying to change him.
Dogs – he said – do not shit in toilets
Dogs – like to shit outside & he didn’t
appreciate being told to shit in the gutter –
just because i didn’t like the smell of his shit –
he informed me that the fish weren’t so hot
about my shit either.
& property – he wanted to know why
people expected dogs to protect their capitalist interest
he never watches television or plays
records. & how come i put tags on him.
My dog – he laughed. He is his own dog.
And what’s this bullshit about his sex
life. If he wants to fuck in the streets it’s
his business & the genocide against dogs –
now by this time he’s growling – & i just
said – he didn’t have to get nasty – i was
willing to study the problem. After all didn’t
i buy him good bones and get him groomed
once a month & then he starts hollering
about if he wanted to get dirty &
have long hair that was his right too.
And another thing he said – if he wants to
sit he’ll sit – so just shovel my shit about
sit, lie, roll over, stand up. And finally
he said standing up – the next time i patted
him on the head & called him a good boy
he was gonna lift his leg – With that,
he got up & left the house saying something
about a consciousness-raising meeting.
Snatches of a Day
Grey clouds floated past my window –
& I ignored them,
danced into the streets,
stoned on life.
A woman with brown hair
like dirty corduroy,
riding in a Malibu,
with an olive green suit,
& a big cigar
stared at me.
I stopped dancing.
An old cripple dragged past me –
I offered to carry her;
She called me a nigger.
I cut her throat,
danced around her head,
sang, “We Shall Overcome”
hung her scalp over Woolworth’s candy counter.
Cops started to arrest me.
Said I couldn’t dance without a permit.
So, I skipped slowly.
Science teacher lectured for an hour,
Never did tell me his name,
So, I didn’t tell him mine,
Just my student body & social security numbers.
A friend gave me a God’s eye –
Shocked me,
Didn’t know He had eyes.
My cousin died last week.
He was a hero.
Died defending my liberty –
O sweet liberty,
Land of the free
& the great.
Went to a dull move.
Watched a guy masturbate.
I want to go to sleep.
My cat won’t let me under the covers.
Boots are being polished
Trumpeters clean their horns
Chains and locks forged
The crusade has begun.
Once again flags of Christ
are unfurled in the dawn
and cries of soul saviors
sing apocalyptic on air waves.
Citizens, good citizens all
parade into voting booths
and in self-righteous sanctity
X away our right to life.
I do not believe as some
that the vote is an end.
I fear even more
It is just a beginning.
So I must make assessment
Look to you and ask:
Where will you be
when they come?
They will not come
a mob rolling
through the streets
but quickly and quietly
move into our homes
and remove the evil,
the queerness,
the faggotry,
the perverseness
from their midst.
They will not come
clothed in brown
and swastikas, or
bearing chests heavy with
gleaming crosses.
The time and need
for ruses are over.
They will come
in business suits
to buy your homes
and bring bodies to
fill your jobs.
They will come in robes
to rehabilitate
and white coats
to subjugate
and where will you be
when they come?
Where will we all be
when they come?
And they will come –
they will come
because we are
defined as opposite –