To share
or not to share,
that was Baraka…
showers of blessings
mixed with sludge
and dog-shit
sometimes –
but who said
America has always
been America
to most of us…
a generous leash
to hang yourself;
call it
free speech;
that was what
he was rawly
dealth –
shut up
and take it
on the chin,
bare-knuckles
slap
on your pate;
come on,
be a good nigger
like all
the rest –
speak out
of the depths
of your lungs
and be damned…
try as you may,
you can only
please some
of the people
most of
the time –
an Emir
of great
regal splendor
kidnapped
and chucked up
the slimy
sands
of America’s
strands…
in the middle
passage of
nowhere
pleasant
to be;
stripped stark
and butt-naked
to your balls
and hung,
raped
from behind
with a ramrod…
and yet,
you sang
and rapped
your “achingly
beautiful” songs,
a fellow
word-weaver
has remarked –
gone eternally
home to where
it all began –
the soft
warm and
generous womb
of Mother-Earth,
to rise again,
this coming spring
with the leaves
of tall trees
and grass –
1/9/14