Monthly Archives: December 2015

murdered twice

murdered twice
a thousand times
noose, baton, bullet to the back
each electric jolt makes me shed my skin
i molt
then return again
with heart that you lack

you killed my body
then slandered my name
murdered me twice
in your violent game
lynched me as emmet
lynched me, tamir
you never dreaming
that your end is near

murder me now
keep eyes peeled for when
a million of me stand before you
flowers in hand, guns at the ready
we band together to tear you apart
by any means necessary
we’ll make a new start without you

my name is tamir
my name is emmet
my name is tamir
my name is emmet
my name is tamir
my name is emmet
rice and till

bound together by your violence
my name is legion

worries

waking at every sound
or no sound at all
startled by silence
footprints down the hall

ghosts of real and imagined threat
wafting from rafters
crouching under floorboards
smirking from behind paintings of safe places
seeping out from fountains of fear
pent up emotion paces
exploding from mountains of weariness
years of exhaustion
my face wet
each teardrop an expression of grief
my own or someone else’s loss
engraved like a tattoo on my heart
then another, and another
just when i start to recover
yet another grieving father and mother appear

these worries are as real as my face
changing form with the mood
tangible as bills not paid
a table without food

we eat his words for breakfast

honoring the prophet john trudell

 

prophet is dragged away kicking and screaming
or silently dreaming
leaving the battle behind

world steadily turning
churning with degradation, greed, confusion
reed blowing soft notes
whispering lamentation
reminder that earth is mother
humanity is other

voice of reason dispersed
tiny particles of sound joining ancestors
enormous soul of love joining ancestors
booming voice of warning joining ancestors

tiny particles of sound joining with my own soul
enormous soul of love joining with my own soul
booming voice of warning joining with my own soul

we suffer this loss in tearful silent weeping
loud wailing
intermittent grieving

as this spirit departs
our own spirits, refilled with passion
rise up to the daunting task
we will be replacing this guiding voice
with a million of our own tiny voices

intermittent grieving
alternating with bursts of new action

this one soul departing
leaving many souls replenished

as we bemoan loss of this prophet
we eat his words for breakfast
shoring up our promise to continue his work
his courage becomes our own
his depth of knowing infuses our brains
his unrelenting tenacity
infusing our blood
a life sustaining transfusion
emphatically dispersing delusion

deadly forces lurking in shadows
now struggling to emerge
as the one voice of one man
multiplies to millions

the prophet becomes the people
the people become the prophet