Who Are We (Poem )

Who are we
this universal entity
known as Blacks
scattered throughout all worlds,
scheming conniving dying surviving -
Why are we hated
what have we done
that our history must bleed
We shall overcome

Have we ever made an endeavor
to conquer This world?
was Cesar, Bonaparte, Hitler, Blacks?
Why are we hated
what have we done
that our history should be
one to Overcome.
Blacks, subjugated
by many nations of This world
captives in their backyards,
mass human cargo,
shuttled from lands to lands,
economic assets easily identified
in the nation of thieves,
to be dehumanized emasculated
raped maimed murdered martyred,
unable to call for sanctuary asylum.

Who have we hurt
caused to suffer or killed en mass
other than ourselves
in Rwanda Congo Hutu's Tutsi
bloods and crips.
Who are we
This universal race of Beings
known contemptuously
as niggers apes blackamoors
spooks and little monkeys.

Who have we chained and shackled
sold like animals on auction blocks
forced on reservations concentration
and internment camps.

Where have we sent missionaries
and archaeologist
with guns and bibles
picks and shovels
to rape and plunder women and children
land and treasure.

Why us! why are we hated
what have we done.

Who have we conquered -
napalmed mai-lied.
Did we bombs away Hiroshima Nagasaki
kill six million plus Jews
Have we divided countries
created parallels condominiums.
Whose knee have we wounded
whose gold did we steal
whose diamonds ivory uranium plutonium
heritage culture Spirit.
Are we the authors of imperialism
colonialism militarism fascism racism.

Why are we second-class citizens
in this and that country
we of the darker hue.
What international war have we ignited
what global catastrophes.
Who are we
this struggling entity
known as jigaboos darkies coons and sambos
scattered throughout This world
carbon copies of different masters
earth-logged servants scapegoats
baked and blessed by the sun
why should our history be
one to overcome?

911 Aftermath (Poem )

Nothing will be as before,
We'll look over haunched shoulders
For nonexistent shadows dogging
Our footsteps and see demons
Grasping at our coattails ...

Nothing will be as before
Except the creeping fear of doubt
That terror sows and reaps
In war and peace on quilted soil ...

Nothing will be as before
From Gotham City to Dog patch,
War between McCoys and Hatfields,
Earps and Blandons, Lee and Grant -
One nation, one Spirit, one Flag,
Ol' McDonald and Mother Hubbard reconciled.

Nothing will be as before,
Shape and form, color and sound,
Noted differences in design and fabric,
Wiser with answers and questions:
Where from here, Why, who, what?

Nothing will be as before,
For Mary's little lamb
Whose feet are red, black and blue
From blood, dirt and searing steel.

Nothing will be as before
For Jesse James, Captain Kidd
And the Dutchman's buried treasure
Hidden mid stalagmite and stalactite
In mines and caves in Missouri and Afghanistan.

Nothing will be as before
For GI Joe and Uncle Sam.

Piggy Soul Cafe (Poem )

Whenever I am famished in a hoggish kind a way
I take a quantum leap to the Piggy Soul Cafe,
There's all you can eat for five fifty-five,
sometimes  I've had to ask myself,
Will I leave the Piggy alive.
They have a five star salad bar
Fit for queens and kings
Mushrooms, carrots, cucumbers
And purple onion rings.

I grace the first of my three plates
With beans and pepperoni,
Chunks of ham, candied yams
And a scoop of macaroni.
Positioning a second plate
I add mojo potatoes
Brussels sprouts, asparagus
And miniature tomatoes.

Once seated at a table
Knife and fork in hand,
I'm ready to take charge
Of my gormandizing stand.

After my first encounter,
I'm ready for round two,
Ah, the Piggy Soul Cafe
Is also famous for its stew.
It's mixed with savory spices,
Hunks of beef and celery
Oodles of noodles, chili sauce,
Oxtails and leafy parsley.

 I add extras to the dish,
Garlic and curry powder
As my thoughts race ahead
To Piggy's great clam chowder.

After a momentary break,
I'm ready for more feasting
This nonstop consumption
Is a lesson in beast eating.
I gobble down a rack of lamb,
Ham shanks and black-eyed peas,
Olives, beets and pepper steak
And small curd cottage cheese.

I do a plate with clams and oysters
Scallops and fettuccini,
Rice-A-Ronni, beef-A-Ronni
Raw broccoli and zucchini...

I end my feast with rich deserts,
Pecans dates and cherries,
Cantaloupe, watermelon,
Whipped cream atop strawberries.
Then as quick as one, two, three,
It's some custard, pie and cake,
Then I leave the Piggy Soul Cafe
With a hellacious stomach ache.
Perhaps you think I'm greedy,
Some grotesque, ill-fed geek
But the truth of the matter
And not just the batter,
I eat just once a week.

Well No. 60-817-44169 (Poem )

Due to negligence, greed & incompetence,The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig
in the Gulf of Mexico
erupted, collapsed -
yielded up eleven men
to Davy Jones' Locker.

Neptune convulsed with anger,
his dominions violated
as water retched up plumes
of black gold - Texas tea;
coral reefs & species faced the brink
of extinction; white-sand beaches
were bleached black.
Dolphins and pelicans
became oil slick sculptures,
a creeping, still-life image of a struggle
with suffering & death.

Halitosis oiled Mother Nature's breath.
debris hitched rides
on the backs of dime & quarter size
tar balls.

British Petroleum & Halliburton
Exchanged barbs and blows
in an environmental ring
of a man-made disaster.

Toxic gases and drilling fluid
did a Danse Macabre with
time-consuming ineptitude.
Like rats abandoning a sinking ship,
Transocean engineers scurried back and forth
to suture an out of control well -
panicked emergency buttons,
sounded alarms to no avail.

Uncooperative cement,
unmanageable mud muddled operations-
Robots weren't the answer.
Mistakes and mistakes
Millions coupled million gallons of oil
to gushed from earth's bowels
as she seemed to state: How dry I am,
how dry I am. Nobody knows how dry I am.
Hooow dryyy I aaaaam- not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Locus Politicos (Poem )

Locus politicos
hocus- pocus
discombobulated leaders
dems & publicans
narrowed focused
elected gangsters
perks & favors
for friends & neighbors
special interest
no bid contracts
tax evaders
self-righteous egotists
for votes & power
gifts & flowers
golden showers
in their ivory towers

they hide lulu
kiss boo-boo
scribble-scrabble
helter-skelter
hanky-panky, mumbo-jumbo
yada, yada, yada, yada.

For every season there's a time
a time of birth
a time of death
time to laugh
a time to cry
a time for war
a time for peace
a time to fast
a time to feast.

Ah, miss Muffet on her tuffet
cutie, cutie -
Goldilocks, Cinderella
beauty, beauty
Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher,
Condoleezza,
iron-fisted ladies liberty -
whack-whack, knack-knack
crackerjacks, prozac-
Shadrack, Meshack & Abednego,
three in a furnace
let 'im go
woe, woe, woe.

Karma, kismet
writing on the wall
rapture, nirvana, end times
and all
Armageddon, doomsday
a row of dominoes
watch them fall.


locus classicus
major domo
proportional representation
affirmative action
quotas, quotas
discrimination -abracadabra
open sesame, presto
Beulah in Wonderland.
Aunt Jemima my Sleeping Beauty.

Hemidemisemiquaver.

JINN IN THE BOTTLE (Poem )

After the first sip from the bottle
I decide to continue on
To the next one and the next one
Until my sense of being escapes me
As I ooze through keyholes
And drinking straws;
Spill myself into sidewalk cracks,
Bleed on gutters and sewers
And pitched-blind oblivion ...

The Jinn in the bottle
Released into my world offers
Foggy unsteadiness instead of
Sought after comfort;
And like a house of cards
Victim to vertical rows of falling dominoes
Leave me like Humpty-Dumpty.

Lost days and weekends
Like unattended roses wither
As if placed in vases filled
With ashes and acid
Against crumbling tombstones
In unkempt cemeteries.