Poem #28
They’re saying with the MJ movie surpassing 200 million
he was never really cancelled
That he the music prevailed
But I think of how he died
A hefty dose of propofol
Mixed with lorazepam, midazolam, and diazepam sedatives
Enough drugs to anesthetize an ox
How he lay there
angry
Broken
Sad
Sorry
The Mississippi waters
The Nile no match
for flooded eyes
Straw legs
Straw feet
Hands
Neck
a tiny bird voice
wanting to sleep
I mean die
Say what you want
yell scream to high heaven
curse
He may have given the drugs
But It wasn’t
was never the doctors fault
Might have been what Toni Morrison once
wrote at a books end
a mercy
Poem # 23
Up for an adventure
I went to a soul food restaurant in Harlem
owned by Africans recommended to me
the food was fresh
Tasty fried chicken collard greens corn bread Mac and cheese coconut cake
which they’re warning Black people not to eat too much of now as it’s deemed unhealthy
At the end of the meal curious I asked the cashier and company where are you from
in Africa
They seemed surprised I asked
The same surprise I get sometimes when I as a Black person ask for chop sticks in Asian restaurants
The cashier replied Burkina Faso
pointing to a picture of Ibrahim Traoré on the wall behind the register
Oh he’s great I said
He’s developing wealth for Burkina Faso
He’s not giving everything to white intruders
The men shake their heads in agreement
I just wish his politics about Queer people were better I state referencing the new anti gay laws he’s approved
the room goes silent
The men pretend not to hear me
Suddenly don’t understand
I laughed to myself how the challenge hung there and was happy I felt safe to say.