March 13, 2012
All material Copyright Devorah Major
"Emergency Alert and
the Republic For Which It Stands"
security alert
threat level red
flashing red
siren red
dripping blood red
hot exploding blazing red
the threat has never been higher
since we became a republic
of the meek
the complacent
the afraid
the corrupt
and the greedy
the threat to freedom and liberty
has never been higher
since we became
a secured homeland
of the searched and caged
the examined and interrogated
the disappeared and tortured
the reviled and exploited
land of the shell-shocked many
and home of the resisting few
security threat level red
the threat to the bill of rights
has never been higher
since we became a national homeland
that worships at the church of corporate greed
prostrates itself at the alter of military indulgence
and takes communion from the chalice of stolen oil
this land is your land
this land is my land
and this secured homeland
has become a private trust
where democracy
is turned to a strangled voice
unable to utter without stutter
often forgetting its point
afraid to speak out
clearly and loudly
for liberty
for justice
for freedom
for all
emergency alert
emergency alert
security threat level red
the threat
has never been higher
"Pelican Bay Notes- SHU Unit"
cell slightly wider
than a lead coffin
sometimes only darkness
or weeks of light bulb glare
days have no rhythm
twenty three hours
every day alone
one hour to breath wind
will a cloud drift by
a patch of summer blue sky
will a bird’s feather fall
torture knows no clocks
it’s a punishment
for celebrating
so many shades of black
"A Rose By Any Other Name..."
when you think
of the american institution
of slavery
do you think of history
black history
do you think of
slave ships
bodies pressed together
head to toe
death and misery
stories of long ago
auction blocks
flesh groped and pushed
weighed in
people renamed
chained, beaten and confined
turned from human into commodity
when you think of slavery
do you think of then
well then
what should we call it now
when men and women
chained
ankle to ankle
wrist to wrist
neck to waist
are taken
to a place
where they are
confined
in quarters
in blocks
in cells
strike one
what do you call it
when you take these
sometimes chained
and very confined people
and then give them a new name
be it toby or B253476
be it mammy or G714280
strike two
what should we call it
when these
renamed confined
chained humans
these sons
these fathers
these mothers
these daughters
these brothers
these sisters
are told that they
will never again be free
and that they will have to work
for the room they are locked in
the clothes they are made to wear
the food they eat
and for you
what should we call it
when we know
that the constitution's
13th amendment outlaws
involuntary servitude
"except as a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted"
strike three
what should we call it
if you asks me
it sounds too much like
a different brand of slavery
"Snap"
just like that
cat says it’ll
snap
reminds me how
when we were teens
we were negro
and then
snap
we were black and proud
and moving forward
claiming victories every day
on our streets
in our schools
in our souls
we’ve always been
an elastic people able to
snap ourselves
back to ourselves
time and time again
cat says she can feel it
smells it in the air
sweet and sour like it was then
only with more love this time
and a sharper even more dangerous edge
then like now
things were seething
people were hungry and
unjustly imprisoned
and mis-educated
and drugged
but then as civil rights’ long pull was bearing fruit
we snapped into a revolutionary force
climbed inside our ancestral core
snap
made our music sing change
snap
made our dances say now
snap
locked arms and spirits
snap
became a dark
snap moving
snap
tide of purpose
snap
we sharpening the rhythm again
bringing out the drums
snap
tightening up
even though we been
tossed by storm
and cracked in the wind
we coming back together
snap
we’ve got to
snap
we got to just pull in
and believe it and
snap this mutha’ back
into place