8.21.2005

eyes on the un-claimed prize poem

untitled fragment (screed)


I roll thru streets where
Black Power sits threadbare
in folding chairs propped

against crumbling liquor stores.
revolutionary lore forfeited
by its electees, who: (a) got power

and (b) bullshitted. once (c) keeping the role
trumped all else, (d) patronage raised
its color-blind head; (e) people

showed their true colors (i.e., (f) their ass).
now, (g) what benefits have we reaped
from one of the most amazing

movements in human history? the
meek may well inherit the earth, but
(h) right now they still catch hell

in Detroit, Chicago, D.C.(HIV rate on the rise
for Black women—hello!), Los Angeles,
NYC (Black male unemployment at 50%,

motherfuck!), never mind the plight of
the Black farmer— see (i) Zimbabwe or
(j) anywhere in the United States.