it is a time of fire
an age of rising
like waves on a
black sea we are
the pouring over after
being pressed down witness
fire on the water we are
the lesson of the lynching tree
the answer to cotton
the trespassers of language
undressing the weapons
hidden in ink
we are the dreams
projected from projects
the residual of slave hollars
before the rebellions
we are the pouring over
after pressing down
we have walked
miles in the rain & not
drowned we will light
the sun we come with
fire we are of fire & water
we are closer to the dust
knowing we fall like seeds
we come forth in abundance
thrive in the flicker
of the slimmest chance
we come bearing fire
born in a time where vanity
rules truth tellers are slain
poets are labeled mad & fire
is born tended
carried in bellies
hearts minds souls
hot like fire baby
we don’t want new dealers
we want to write a new deal
renegotiate the treaty papers
the terms of engagement
the boundaries of the public
sphere & all thoughts of
manifest destiny
we come with fire
fire heals & destroys baby
we don’t want a new dealer
in this time of callous
disregard the unwashed
walk along the river’s
edge wrapped in the echo
tapped out on iron
Ogun proceeds
Shango gathers the rear
the sound conjures
an unslave ditty
with a free style
cadence breaking
the air of ignorance
disrupting sinister off-key songs of
self-divined too big to fail
democratic failures playing
one note on the backbones
of the oppressed wrapped in lawless
law ink weapons protecting
invisible war criminals above
law stealing lying dirty hands
operation stealth cloaked in subliminal
sound bites selling us crazy
at market rate
talking heads full of schemes
no quarter offered
none asked
we have come with fire baby
to light paper houses
deconstructing language
writing the narrative of
rebellion burning with forward
motion on our breath
prayer is better than sleep
action more divine than prayer
movement is life we moving
proof of life baby
on fire with no more
time to dance you a jig
juggle two realities
pretend like you make sense
truth is a sword we got
one reality we refuse to
be crazy for you
might be a good time
for you to stop pretending
like you crazy too truth
is a sword cutting through
concocted innocence
perceived fragility
& delusions of supremacy
one reality
not invisible
carrying fire
forward motion on
our breath armed
with fire & truth
hot like fire baby
