BlueIris
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Sat Nov-22-08 04:32 PM
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The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 11/22/08 |
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"Nov 22, 1988"
In California The day looks as though it's seen a ghost An obstreperous storm is heading for the Sierras The forecast is cloudy gloomy and gray" There is not a dry eye on TV, They're showing the archival footage Air Force One setting down in Dallas The bouquet in Jackie's hands The cruel scene in Washington as Politicians grapple with your coffin The riderless horse, Little John John saluting The face down in Cuba Ich bin Ein Berliner
You told the White Citizens Councils that if you could Negotiate with Khrushchev then they could Negotiate with Negroes You made old Miss Swallow hard You slammed Alabam' Stuffing its throat with Jim Crow Even on Dan Rather's face There is a struggle
It's been twenty years and His youngest wants to know Why did they murder you? The theories are as common as homeless People, huddled together in The Port Authority Under a bridge in Santa Cruz Lafayette Park Across the street from the White House He agrees with the day He feels like an old back pain Eloisa wants to know, why He is acting like a grinch As he swivels, grumpily, In her barber's chair And maybe Carla is right when she says You were just like all the rest—only smoother But when they took you out, Jack
It was as though His generation was hit In the belly with a medicine ball They never fully recovered Their wind Their shape Their tone and They don't care what the Tabloids say, Jack You are still their boy
And maybe it's best that you Left them, waving from a motorcade A smile bigger than Texas Fresh as that Oct. day Askia and he Saw you stride into the Carlyle Hotel Bareheaded, unovercoated Surrounded by men Shaking in their long johns It's not pretty what's become of US It's like the room inside a grisly Crime movie, about which the homicide detective warns "Don't go in there" It smells like something That's been dead in the sun Too long It jerks about like the new chief's syntax
It has the style of an inside Trader's ill-fitting collar It bungles along like Your lunkish successors In black tie, and tails, executing a mean Fox Trot at the Inaugural Ball
—Ishmael Reed
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mokawanis
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Sat Nov-22-08 05:15 PM
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Such a difficult day and difficult time.
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BlueIris
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Sat Nov-22-08 09:01 PM
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3. And still relevant today. nt |
CaliforniaPeggy
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Sat Nov-22-08 07:11 PM
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Wow, just wow...
Perfect for today...
It makes me weep...
Thank you...
:cry:
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DU
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Fri Apr 26th 2024, 08:16 PM
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