a litany for the possessed
cultural whoremongers
appear on MTV
disguised dapper fresh
as third day bleached linens
from a sun not raised
on cotton indigo or gold
shaking singing ringing
baking dipping gliding
stomping sliding prancing
be-bopping dancing praising
hip-hopping slipping slurping
belching fucking
grave pirates
sucking on the bones
of spirit prophets
malcolm ray miles
martin charlie
eldridge audre denmark
sojourner frederick countee
nat langston zora
louie richard nell
mahalia billie bessie
marcus gwendolyn
kwame toussaint mohammad
kente tie-dyed
refried batiked bleached
mudclothed dreaded blonded
matted twisted reddened
curled permed blackened greened
slinging
swords of quran bible torah
bringing
lies death deceit disgrace
juneteenth blood bones
sipping on holy water
that runs backwards
cultural whoremongers
holding hostage
prayers altars crosses
allah-hu akbar
axe
amen
namaste
shalom
addicts with poems
stuck between their teeth
join the night
pray for a vampirical moon
bootleg poems
sold beside remixed coltrane
rinsed out aretha sonnets
poets posing as undertakers
slip nip tuck drain
splinter irrigate protract
stitch catheterize graft
skin to word skin to history
skin to lies skin to truth
skin to battlefields in algiers
iraq vietnam korea somalia
johannesburg selma brooklyn
compton queens atlanta richmond
detroit afganistan
poets posing as seamstresses
sew faces sew teeth sew wombs
sew laughter sew tears sew regret
sew joy sew uprising sew anthems
sew constitutions sew treaties sew bombs
sew graves sew babies
brothas on the down low
sniffing for game
while sistas play
diva bohemian princess
sable goddess queen mother
high priestess of counterfeit
on a corner
that becomes continent
sahara amazon latin kurdish
the new immigrants
learn to walk
talk
become invisible
eat fire
twist glass
flat joins round
night forgets that
day is his true sister
rivers forget to open to skies
freedom is exposed raw naked
unadorned unnamed
cultural whoremongers
dressed up as words
metaphors preludes
benedictions
die alone
under skies that rant
retrace the scorn
theft murder
lynching of
a fallen muse