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OH MARTIN

Oh Martin

Sometimes your voice was the thunder..
    Sometimes it was the falling rain.
        Always it burst our hearts asunder
                 and made them vibrate.. empathic in pain.

(to Dr Martin Luther King)

FIRST LADY SALLY HEMINGS

The reflecting waters..encircling the Jefferson Memorial..
are your liquid monument. As seas receive slaps without
responding so you absorbed over and over
the humiliation of being hidden in a back room.. You watched as he
showered his white children with public love

ignoring the children of his
desire. You heard the news of his White
House dinners as you were kept out of sight
in Monticello..he broke your heart

again.. and again as he broke his
promise.. to grant freedom to yours and
his children...

200 of your fellows were auctioned
off in slavemarkets... You grew tired of
reflecting him.. Your waters mirrored
kinder faces, as they flowed
past the cold marble.

BLACK IN AMERICA

Is every black in America born
to a waiting crown of thorns...

-----------------------
Footnote:
Each of us can help to change
that

MOTHER EARTH'S SKIN NUTBROWN

From Mother Earth's
skin nutbrown
grows her newmint
grassy gown.
With uncut lilies
the sun her crowns
while her purple thistle
floats round her as down.
Her love flowing
causes all flowering
freeing verbs
from jailcell nouns
and lifting away
sad violet's frown.

(to all those who
respond to racist hate
with divine love)

*
(Buckminster Fuller said
love is a verb not a noun)

24 BLACKBIRDS

"Four and twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie"
the old English sing..
of Malcolm X and
Martin Luther King
Rep Mickey Leland
and Secretary Ron Baker
of Ken Saro-Wiwa
and Steve Biko
and all the other martyrs
to the racist power structure

Even so like a party
person springing up out of
a vegan birthday cake..
they all spring back to us
in new forms.. with resurrected
and multiplied power

THROWN OFF TRAINS ..
MOVED TO BACK OF BUSES

Rosa Parks refused to give up
her seat on a US bus.. and the
world was changed.
Mohandas Gandhi was thrown
off a train in South Africa,
and the world was changed.
Plessy was thrown off a train
in Louisiana because he was
black. The Supreme Court's 8 racists ruled
against him.. only 1 for him.
Lee Archer was moved from a
general to a nonwhite
traincar in Washington DC.. before
he became a war hero*.
Neem Karoli Baba was taken
off a train in Neem Karoli India
and the train could not move.**

BLACKBERRY BLOSSOMS

The white cat casts
a dark shadow...which gives
shade to hot ants

The white snow not as soon
as winter's black water
will flow to the sea

while white blackberry blossoms
bloom into blackberries

and black saints reach their
hands down from heaven
to lift racist whites into
redemption

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

His will became law's
force
as William Wilberforce
was the driving force
behind ending British slavery
in history's river course.

RICHARD PRYOR

For a time
the falling snow
white
clouded the
brilliance
of the morning light
but then the clouds
melted away
and then snow white
multiplied the
brilliance
of the morning light

(to Richard Pryor.
one of the billions
of victims of a
racist world)

NELSON MANDELA

Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
your name is a mantra
which invokes great
courage.
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
your face: a mandala

BALLOTS

Bogus ballots
backed by bullets
.. and belligerent
bullies .. who
want our baby boys
body bagged in Baghdad
... for the buillion
of billionaires

BIRD CHAUVINISM

He put out the bird feeder..
and was angry when squirrels
came..
.. he wanted only some
of God's creatures to eat

DICK GREGORY

Some put on a black
robe that they might
judge their brothers
but he donned a black
robe that he might
help all others.

http://www.dickgregory.com
author of Cookin With Mother
Nature For Folks Who Eat,
advocate of fruitarian diet,
peace, nonviolence, equal rights
for all

OUST THE THIEVES

BANKruptices
BANK robberies
BANK foreclosures
BANK domination of mutual funds
BANK thumbprints
food BANKS for the hungry

... signs of the growing poverty
caused by the GOP..
which we can turn around
with prayer, visualization,
votes, boycotts, networking,
media

....
SCARLET VEINS

The October brown leaf
and the November
gold leaf
both had scarlet veins
.. as those of
bronze and gold
hue
external
have the same
crimson blood
internal

OH OHIO

150 years ago
.. Our River Ohio
where you did flow
.. marked
the unlocking
of chains of slavery
.. as people crossed
to freedom
through bravery

FLESH MADE WORD REVEALED AS SPIRIT

The ravenwinged ones
those whose souls
slipped into black gloves
those heroes with
their clarion calls

..
far away they fly
and high high
into the sky

They disappear
.. their winged black script
devoured by the great blue
cotton paper of heaven's vault

She once again is empty
awaiting new penned mantras

as the Birds of Spirit
return to their One

MARY CHURCH TERRELL

At the age of 89
Mary created a picket line
.. to protest that
people of color
in certain restaurants
could not dine

LARRY DOBY!

Each of the
humiliations
.. the insults
.. the rejections
.. the exclusions
.. suffered by you..

each thorn
... has become a rose
each scar
.. has turned to star
each taunt
.. became slow admiration
  .. and then loyalty
  until love broke forth
like a fountain out of
stony hearts
       *
********
*
    *          ******
    *    
        *
          
  *

SPORTS

They liked to support
spontaneous sports
where each had a port
to onfield play of sorts

SAME

The indwelling Lord
of Love and Light
is the same in atheist,
Muslim, acolyte.

NOT DEMONARCHIES BUT DEMOCRACIES

There are DEMONarchies in the world..
in which moneybought violence
and muzzling of the poor
have combined in corrupt
illegitimate governments.
Bring back DEMOCracies..

BUSHRED GOREBLUE

All those states
of bushred hue
would have been
recorded as al gore blue
had the votes of the bronze
not
been stolen from view

ATMICALLY EQUAL

All beings are atmically equal
All beings
are shrines of the Divine

EMMIT TILL

The body of Emmit Till
They did with clubs and fists till
Even today rage upwells
Though Emmit Till's
body is still
His spirit does
the story tell        

ROSA PARKS

The rose is rooted
Herself she parks.
She moves not..
but her fragrant fire
lifts the world entire

NO ROOM IN THE INN

The servant of the wealthy had tired weary feet.. and the busdriver said..."in the back
of the bus.. take a seat"

The hired hand of the wealthy had a tired weary back..
.. the mansion owner said..
" sleep tonight.. in the hayloft.. in the barn..
in the back".

The black musician traveling around
came to an unknown strange new town
and was told.. to take his frayed
carpet bag.. out of the inn

The homeless man came to the door..
"no we can't help you"
.. said the church secretary
.. to the stranger

The pregnant woman came to the wayside lodging..

" we have no room in the inn".. said the
innkeeper..
"go down the road.".
and she did.. and placed her new born baby in
a strawfilled manger.

Each filled the place he was assigned
with a new and holy light.

KISSED BY THE SUN

In one life the white sun
kissed him brown
In another the gold sun
kissed him cream
In a third the orange
sun kissed him bronze
******
to G MacCray, gentle
master artist, holy man

LARRY DOBY IS

The bee is buzzily doing..
while the dew is glowing being...

dobedobedo.

WABBIT WIGHTS

Not just for
wabbits white
are wabbit wights
said Bwown Wabbit.

THERAPIST

Count Vladmir
Pistov

When he heard the
rates of
the therapist
was very pissed off

and thereafter
spelled
therapist as
the-rapist

KNOW ALL CARDS

Because she will
not give clues
or betray trust,
she is able
to
circumambulate
the poker table

SCULLERY MAID

In a previous life
she had been a scullery
maid..
Some of the chores of
the maid of the scullery
.. to throw into the trash
tiny birds' skulls
and then to store
the marmelade

NOT BLUEBELL BLOSSOMS

White blossoms give way to sweet blackberries.
Pink blooms blow away and lo are scarlet cherries.
Bright orange flowers replaced by purple prickly pearies.
Not blue bell blossoms but white bell clusters become
blueberries.

In the same way souls incarnate as whites in one life,
blacks in another, Asians in a third.

NO BRONZE

Those states mapped in
Bushred instead of Goreblue
were often so
because they excluded the
bronze.

SCARLET VEINS

The October brown leaf
and the November
gold leaf
both had scarlet veins
.. as those of
bronze and gold
hue
external
have the same
crimson blood
internal

OH OHIO

150 years ago
.. Our River Ohio
where you did flow
.. marked
the unlocking
of chains of slavery
.. as people crossed
to freedom
through bravery

ONLY BLACK WATER FLOWING

Everywhere the frozen
white winter..
except the black waters
of the river
flowing toward the sea.

POKER PLAYER

He was one of the best poker players
in the world..
famed for his phenomenal memory,
his amazing physical stamina,
the complete mask of his face,
the control of every muscle

But one day the grief of a loser
affected him so much he decided
never again to take money others
do not want to give

MORROWS OF THE MOOR

Gone are the days when a Moor
could his boat in marine harmbor moor
but may not make his home on the moor.

KELLY GREEN

Green
Olive and Avocado
and Lime Trees
name some of Mother
Earth's infinite palate
of green.

April days of spring
with willows of chartreuse green,
grass of kelly green,
and fir trees of darkest green

as loving souls grow together
with each and every being

IMAGINED CONVERSATION BETWEEN FLIP WILSON AND IMOGENE COCO

I'm from genes cocoa
he said to
Imogene Coco
as the two melt racism and sexism
as they taught the
world

that geniuses of laughter
turning the pain
of race exclusion or a woman's
appearance not considered Hollywood
beautiful into divine comedy.

-Saiom Shriver-

24 blackbirds
acolyte
atmically equal
ballots
bird chauvinism
blackberry blossoms
bushred goreblue
dick gregory
emmit till
first lady sally hemings
flesh made word
imagined conversation between flip wilson and imogene coco
kelly green
kissed by the sun
know all cards
larry doby!
larry doby is
mary church terrell
morrows of the moor
mother earth's skin nutbrown
nelson mandela
no room in the inn
not bluebell blossoms
not demonarchies but democracies
oh martin
oh ohio
only black water flowing
oust the thieves
poker player
richard pryor
rosa parks
same
scarlet veins
scullery maid
sports
therapist
thrown off trains
wabbit wights
white christmas
william wilberforce

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