The memory of my history is all about my culture. I miss it the most while I am up here in Maine. Donald Byrd, Ronnie Laws, Confunction, Parliment..........anyways
I'm Black Like:
Playing dominoes and a game of spades
it's night time and I still wear shades
Eatin' watermelon with a fork and some salt
drag my feet every where that I walk
Cook my bacon and I save the grease
even my baggy jeans gotta have a crease
Lettin' the phone ring when somebody's calling
sleepin in and never seeing the morning
Wearing slippers and I bent the heal
seasoning salt, paprika, and a box of cornmeal
Pancakes with a side of scrapple
fried bologna, fried bananas, and fried apples
Ashey skin and my lips get all chapped
my uncle's outta jail, next week he's going back
You think I'm good at every sport
you think that all I smoke is weed or Newports
I'm Black Like:
Saturdays and the Kung Fu flicks
grandad using scissors to get the toe nails clipped
Do rags, hair grease, and straightening combs
pigs feet, cornbread, black eyed peas and neckbones
My Kool-Aide is always to sweet
always wearing socks and never showing my feet
Whiskey and honey makes everything feel better
my corns are singing and I can smell the weather
Never knowing how to end a song
being in church on Sunday and staying too long
Baked macaroni and eatin' a sammich
saying I'm getting money because my hands itch
At the movies always running my mouth
all my cousins live somewhere down south
I'm black like...You can't say that word but I still can
I'm black like..."Who dis?" and saying words like
Daaayyyeeeem!!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Hey Marlon, I hate poetry (usually) but I have to confess to liking this very considerably. I can't do justice to all that I like tonight 'cause I'm nearly asleep, but I'll try tomorrow.
If you turn off that word verification feature dashboard/settings/comments, I'll be a happy man.
I keep happily rereading this, seeing different angles, picking up different tones and subtleties, but, as I say, I'm asleep now and will try again tomorrow.
I just turned that word verification off. Thank you for the heads up.
There's a place for this piece outside just a course blog. When you're rich and famous, don't forget to tell them about your great teacher at EM who taught you everything you know by the middle of week 2.
Aw hell, I'll finish this tonight. Back in a few minutes.
Show me the way.
Okay.
So you hit a million stereotypes and both validate them and undermine them, keeping the reader guessing. Some things we guess are true, some we suspect aren't, some we can only try to puzzle out from across the divide, narrow or wide, that separates white and black, old and young, culture from culture.
That kind of messing with a reader's mind is excellent (there is mind-messing that's not.)
Ordinarily, at this point I'd start pointing to items I particularly like, ones poignant or amusing--but since there's that divide and since the subject is black and white, I could get it wrong and piss you off, so I don't think I'll touch it. But this is packed full of goodies, no slack verses or lines, every item counts, and every item has its little or big electric charge that keeps the whole thing vibrating and flashing.
I'd love to save and use this in the future as a sample or model. Yes, no?
Any help that you can provide would be appreciated.
You may use this as an example if you like.....Thank You
Aw, no way I could help with a piece like this. Only the author could dare fool around with something as finished, done, complete, and strong as this. So, tap that vein again....
Check it out--I added it to week 2.
Thank You.
Thanks for the comment. I do appreciate outside points of view. I took a sec to read your stuff and loved it. The way you rhymed every negative stereotype in a positive fashion makes me smile. I too once lived in that setting in Denver and now can't find a true representation of that culture here in Maine. The words of Koolaid being to sweet and I only smoke newports had me laughing in a way I have to try to remember. Keep it flowing. Whether it rhymes or not I can tell you have a lot of truth to say.
Post a Comment