by Nancy Mercado (New York)
Military
in a hurry
Time to scurry
onto shore
To restore
It's a chore
Years of damage
U.S. manage
To create
Then escape
Anarchy
Starving pleas
Charity
Misery
Bigotry
Crown Heights
Given time
Ignorance
Laziness
Television
Stomp the mission
To envision
Our control
Stop patrols
Of our souls
Neighborhoods
Welfare goods
Manipulate
Our innate
Driven state
To be free
Peacefully
Liquid assets
Different facets
Of a leash
So to cease
Origins
Of our kin
Darkened skins
James Baldwin
Tito Puente
Palmieri
Leonard Jeffreys
Will not stand
Give up command
To the man's
Masterplan
To disguise
L.A. rights
Black/white
To death fight
Missing flights
Into space
Shuttle craft
As they laugh
In our face
We're fooled
Out of school
Drugs are tools
To exclude
Original
Man
From the plan
To withstand
Our demise
Live as one
Daughters, sons
Fathers, mothers
Sisters, brothers
Earth and sky
Animals
Never stalked
Never game
Just the same
For all time
Human kind
Use our minds
Make connections
No such thing
As elections
Earth runs on
Stocks and bonds
All our pride
Banish us
Into dust
Will not be
We'll not flee
Historically
Cherokee
Apache
Incas
Mayans
Arawaks
Kings & Queens
Of the sun
Of all men
This the plan
We Will Stand!
poem taken from Bum Rush the Page Tony Medina & Louis Reyes Rivera, ed.
