two

we them people

dream on
dreamer
the way Alvin Ailey
and Maya Angelou
and George Floyd
and Breonna Taylor
dreamed of
southern-baked
pilgrims
dancing and
slow marching
their sorrows
down the yellow
brick roads
of
second-line members
humming from
the heels of their dirt-kissed feet:
i wanna be ready/to put on my long white robe....
we are survivors
we are survivors
we are survivors
of people
who were free
and became slaves
of people
who were slaves
and became free
we know why the caged bird sings
we know what a redemption song brings
we them people
we the people
we are those people
who shall never forget
our ancestors all up in us as we sleep
our grandmother all up in us as we weep
because we are
native american
black irish welsh french german polish italian
jewish puerto rican mexican greek russian
dominican chinese japanese vietnamese
filipino korean arab middle eastern
we are biracial and we are multicultural
we are bicentennial and we are new millennial
we are essential and we are frontline
we are everyday people and we are people everyday
we are #metoo we are #metoo we are #metoo
we are muslim christian hebrew too
we are bible torah koran atheist agnostic truer than true
we are rabbis and imams and preachers and yoruba priests
tap-dancing with buddhists and hindus and rastafarians
as the Nicholas Brothers
jump and jive and split the earth in half
while Chloe and Maud Arnold
them syncopated ladies
twist and shout and stomp and trump
hate
again—
again—
again—
yeah
still we rise still we surprise
like we got Judith Jamison’s crying solo in our eyes
every hello ain’t alone every good-bye ain’t gone
we are every tongue every nose every skin every color every face mask
we are mattered lives paint it black
we are mattered lives paint it black
we are mattered lives paint it black
we are every tattoo every piercing every drop of blood
every global flood
we are straight queer trans non-gender conforming
we are she/he/they
we are disabled abled poor rich
big people little people in between people
we are protesters pepper-sprayed with knees on our necks
we are protesters pepper-sprayed with knees on our necks
we are protesters pepper-sprayed with knees on our necks
we them people
we the people
we are those people
who will survive
these times
because we done
survived
those times
where pandemics were
trail of tears and lynchings and holocausts
where pandemics were
no hope and no vote and no freedom spoke
we them people
we the people
we are those people
while our planet gently weeps
we bob and bop
like hip-hop
across the tender bones
of those tear-stained photographs
to hand to
this generation
the next generation
those revelations
yeah
that blues suite
yeah
that peaceful dance
inside a raging tornado
we call
love

Saturday, June 6, 2020
5:37am

© 2020 Kevin Powell

For New York City

1.

The Bronx—

richard avedon

snapshots of

prehistoric baseball games

and jewish b-girls and b-boys

of summer

jamaican hills that boogaloo-ed hip-hop

and doo-wop dreams

double-bagged

with spanish rice and beans

2.

Manhattan—

wall street

central park after dark

african burial ground

and faint native american sound

harlem a cousin of chinatown

as grand central plays the middle

solving this city’s riddle

3.

Queens—

fingerprints on

south asian

spices and scents

baking inside

irish and greek

stews

as suburban ‘hood

shimmies to the graffiti wordplay

of tony bennett

cyndi lauper

and nicki minaj

4.

Brooklyn—

a bridge begotten

by tongues

of the world

pride wide like

children’s eyes

at coney island

spike lee and rosie perez

craving italian icies

on a roasted brownstone stoop

5.

Staten Island—

no human is

an island

neither is this landmass

wu-tang clan

holy-ghosted it

a kung fu flik

with ferry boat

and bleached picket fences

like its neighbor

jersey

Tuesday, June 16, 2020
7:30pm

© 2020 Kevin Powell