Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Non Existent: Hear My Cry


Tired of watching 
All that whip lashing,
Foot cut off
Women wailing
Children taken
Shiny black bodies
Peered at
Highest bidder
Plantations

 Don’t want to hear about no walking
Miles and miles down no Trail of Tears
Turned into rolls and rolls of Dawes listing
Names and names

Don’t  want to hear about landings
Fighting way up in the sky
Blasting enemies in planes
Escorting the friendlies back to safety
Was it all a lie?
Those men of Tuskegee
  
Don’t want to hear about no towns after sundown
Riots in the streets,
Burning houses down,
Men, women arrested
Dragged and caned
Always a repeat
Thousands die

Don’t want to see names of birds that fly
Politically Fort Bend Texans cry
That crazed black man Bob Chapel
Singings songs he wailed
Woodpeckers and Jaybird War
Black vote… No, No, No to control
Unconfirmed rumors
Run black men run somewhere far
They got those guns

Colfax Massacre one hundred fifty down
Louisiana tears
Families can’t be found
No thinking about “And Still I Rise”
Makes no sense hearing those long ago cries

Whispering Voice: Wake Up!

No baby daddy no going to school
No Bible Verses or Golden Rule
No living on March or Naha Base
No visit from Auntie no kiss on the face
No Uncle Les or Uncle John
No skating, hop scotch or having fun

No watching James Brown at his best
No 7th Avenue Elks Club’s dance
No laughing or talking at the Masonic Temple
No hard fought ideas made fairly simple
No projects, no Lucky’s hamburger place
No South side, West Side, No Golden Gate
No Eastlake No Alkire or University Park
No playing at the Triangle after dark
No falling in love not once but twice
No Children no grands of two
No staying together or remaining tight
No one to kiss goodnight

Whispering Voice: It's kind of hard not knowing where you are going isn’t it?

Damn, I swear I exist
Am I non existent
OMG! Oh my gosh,
Say my name, say my name

Hear My Cry, Say My Name!