politics

by

your voting resume…

a child
lies dead
drive-by shooting
not uncommon
in this part
of town
no need
for
stares
no need
for
prayers
it’s
just
the way it is
just
the way
it
is
a child
lies dead
a police shooting
not uncommon
in this part
of town
no need
for
stares
no need
for
prayers
it’s
just
the way it is
just
the way
it
is
a child
lies dead
some kind of drug-head
not uncommon
in this part
of town
no need
for
stares
no need
for
prayers
it’s
just
the way it is
just
the way
it
is
a child
lies dead
beaten by her pimp
not uncommon
in this part
of town
no need
for
stares
no need
for
prayers
it’s
just
the way it is
just
the way
it
is
a child
lies dead
no medical care
not uncommon
in this nation
now
no need
for
stares
no need
for
prayers
it’s
just
the way it is
just
the way
it
is

by

in support of the new president…

the brown bag prophet
was mulling over
several
impeachment flyers
rapidly populating
public bulletin boards
when he
said
to me
there’s
too much
criticism
of the new president
don’t these people know
the new president
believes in
bank of america
in fact
he’s using
america
as
his
bank

by

servitude…

the brown bag prophet
stopped me
and
asked
where’d
you go
to
high school
i
said
a small town
in
ohio
he laughed
so
i suppose
you never heard
of
martina arroyo
who
the opera singer
world-famous
got
her own
foundation
and
such
to help
others
in the arts
his look
turned serious
as
he said
some chains
are
invisible
the
hiding
of
information
that
provides
the soul
with
pride
is
a starvation
that
forms links
of
bondage
stronger
than
steel
he handed me
a black history calendar
and
walked away

by

conscription of thought…

ideas tailor fitted
for
public consumption
developing
an
acquired taste
for
the objectionable
killing
becomes
an act of faith
or
a necessary price
to pay
for
fill-in-the-blank causes
the
sales personnel
for
these marketed callings
dress
according
to
the product
being sold
wearing
symbolic uniforms
conveying
a contractual covenant
with
soon-to-be-named
and
documented deities
official
evidence
provided
upon request
from
handwritten human text
since
deities
rarely write
but
are more than willing
to
incite
romantic writings
quite
digestible
to
a core
of
white caned followers

by

systemic repetition …

i gave
the brown bag prophet
a copy
of
the chronicle
of
higher education
that came
in today’s mail
he scanned
the lead articles
then
said
seen this all before
maybe
several times
in
my lifetime
a group
of
minority students
make
demands
for equality
and
respect
not realizing
that
no one’s listening
nor
taking seriously
their threats
of
leaving the campus
for good
cuz
most of those folks
would say
good
we’ll replace you
with
a more docile
version
of diversity
we’ll even go so far
as to find
a syrian
or
two
maybe
a group
of african orphans
unaccustomed
to
faux
american revolutions
on
social diversity
hell
each chapter
on
university diversity
in
america
has the same list
of
objectives and goals
with
carefully outlined procedures
however
the results section
is
nothing more than
blank pages
followed
by
another
historical chapter
with
the same
text
he carefully folded the paper
and
handed it back