Pallet

We Took To The Streets (How I Celebrated MLK Day)

then
we wore afros and dashikis
and took to the streets with poetic words for our women
militant words for our people
revolutionary words for the establishment
 
incarcerations and interments would soon follow
as sure as Willie’s dice would roll up 
seven eleven
every Saturday night in the back room of Grady’s bar-be-que shack
 
we took to the streets
with the fire of the sun in our eyes
blazing through our black shades
black berets
partially covering our black afros
and a sea of black fists in the air
 
God
it was a beautiful sight…
 
then
we took to the streets
burning our neighborhood stores
our homes
our businesses
our lives

that was then…
 
each year thereafter
we took to churches and auditoriums in suits and t...

Blizzard In DC (Can You Dig it?)

blizzard in DC
but don't look for accumulating flakes of snow and ice
not sure today what the actual temperature might be
just know for sure
that there will be a 
blizzard in DC
could be Jack Frost nipping at noses
or the sun providing a January mid winter tan
already called out sick
will spend the whole day curled up on the couch
watching Netflix with remote in hand
or scanning other channels to view anything
but the daily weather report on CNN 
or FOX
or...
'cause I knew it from a week ago that there would be a
blizzard in DC
such a storm predicted 
driving on the city streets
and walking on local sidewalks will be hazardous to ones health
already 
warnings issued for folk who are not essential personnel 
no telling what will happen to life and limb
if caught in the middle of that
blizzar...

The Way It's Supposed To Be

silent audience
eyes transfixed upon stage lights of multi-colored hue
awaiting the commencement of the evening’s entertainment
 
announcements concluded
the opening notes from Noel Pointer’s violin
hovering above the frozen throng
a leaf is shaken from its place of birth
fluttering to the earth without a sound
 
she is
as Coltrane plays abstract soliloquies
she is
as Hendrix blows my mind with virtuosity

she is
as classic jazz sounds make sweet love to my ears
as I recline
resigned to dwell in wondrous transfixation
the way it’s supposed to be
 
summer sunset
island breezes conquering the August humidity
she holds my hand
as seagulls sing in motion above us
no words needing to be spoken
a gentle caress
a moment frozen to examine facial details
the smoothness...

Untitled (Birthday Thing For The Wifey)

she makes my heart flutter 
and my words stutter
raindrops ask permission to fall upon her face 
and the evening meal stands at attention 
pausing silently before it says grace
the stars reach out and close her curtains
as she gently falls to sleep
and God has it on record
her soul He will always keep

another year
she is here
to bless me
to bless you
to bless the world
for she is marvelous
so named
so purposed
so fulfilled

Tomorrow Morning

she is going to call tomorrow morning
and I will wait by the phone
preparing myself for just about anything
fifteen rounds of sparring
lefts and rights 
conversations about Malcolm
Martin
Medgar
or just ourselves

when I hear her voice for the first time
is it the sound of a gentle stream floating by
as I rest underneath the shade of an old tree
or is it the sound of a mighty wind
a hurricane hiding from behind dark clouds
or maybe something in between

she is going to call tomorrow morning
so I must either brush up on my street etiquette
Shakespearean soliloquies
militant revolutionary politics
Barry White bedroom banter
or do what I have done for all these years
just be myself 
dry martini
neither shaken nor stirred

the phone will ring
and she will smile
as she says she likes to do<...

Caribbean Jones

damn
this was an easy poem to write

just looking into your eyes seeing sparkling
dancing
cool white foam waterfalls and crystal-clear ocean waters
my toes
sinking deeper into the soft sand of your shores

yeah
this poem was no trouble at all

watching two white hot bolts of lightning
dangerously flashing within above your Caribbean skies
parallel
dancing for a while
never once intersecting causing continuous claps of thunder
Greek gods
making mythological love in the heavens above us
and the worlds rejoicing in their union

I know your name ain’t
Jones
just happened to see the name
Jones
sitting all by its damned self

an island surrounded by cool coral waters
schools of tropical fish in military formation
palm trees swaying
orchards bursting
full of all kinds of island fruits
...

If Brother Gil Was Here

If Brother Gil was here
he would sing to us with poetry set to sounds and strings
and Brother Brian
would take his sax and not lull us to sleep
but blow us violently away into outer space while we weep
never forgiving us
and we say to 
Brother Gil
and to
Brother Brian
we knew not what we did
but we did know what we did
sheep devoured by wolves dressed in red
instead of lying down peacefully in fields of green
it was not the mirage we think we saw
but the burning embers of the world
 
Brother Gil 
said
I told you so
all those yesterdays and albums ago
accompanied by Brother Brian’s sax solos 
when he sang out his poetry
and we paid no attention to the
B-Movie in our ears
computer screens turned off
while the revolution was actually televised on YouTube
and CNN
and th...

A Conversation With Somebody I Know

this poem is mine
I don't have a receipt for it 
because I didn't buy it during Black Friday advertising
or fight for parking spaces and crowds at the mall 
it wasn't advertised on TV
and no salesman interrupted my day with unsolicited calls
offering differed payments and low interest if I bought more than one
 
this poem is mine
it was given to me
and I personally attended to its alterations
snugly fitting like my own skin
approving of its style
its color
the material is so comfortable
I don't know why I didn't get one earlier
 
this poem sees what I see
feels everything I feel
and you can't understand it
because this poem don't belong to you
gotta get your own
try it on
and see if it is really
you
 
can't copy my poem
because its facsim...

Bad Breath

when you spoke
I envisioned a long ago audience in such a horrid rage
John Coltrane and Miles Davis blowing passionately on stage
yet
their notes were consistently off key at the Blue Note cafe
and watching your interview on TV
yeah
I felt that kind of way
uneasy and perplexed
when you spoke

what you said
awakened the distant memories of decaying lynched bodies
softly falling to the ground as they dropped from southern trees
their freed spirits rose from the ashes and laughed in the wind
then suddenly cried out after horrid double takes praying that you would rescind
every syllable and word of
what you said

when I saw your face
grinning like a porter shining shoes on an old Chicago train
tap dancing in rhythm to "Hambone" in the sun and in the rain
large white teeth blinding my television set like the familiar Cheshire Cat

12:01 A.M. (The New Day)

12:01 a.m.
I look forward to the new day

others will worry about how much they lost
how much time it will take them to recover what wasn't rightfully theirs in the first place
maybe the next day
the next month
the next millennium
and I will turn on CNN
because the evening's entertainment won't be courtesy of Mister Bojangles in blackface
or ten inch characters in plaids and pastels
puffy afros and ten inch platform shoes
 
I am gonna sit back in my recliner and watch the revolution
not the revolution Gil Scot Heron was talkin' about
but a different spinning of the planet
 
the times
they will be a changin'
like Bob Dylan said it would
 
a rebroadcast of
‘'War Of The Worlds”
but they can't blame me for the pandemonium
because I was sittin' at home in my recliner...