A Month in the Life

"Anthem" by John Powers (1999) keep in mind this poem was written to be performed, not read.

before i begin
let me say that blank stares may abound
as round as zeros
rise in the eyes
of misunderstanding,
therefore I feel most comfortable
speaking in tongues�
i am a white man
but my eyes are not glowing green
with manifest destiny
i have no anthem to sing
& i can see you as you can see me
as you seem to know me
so i be� so i be�
�gin with the color of my skin
because extremism is a luxury
bought by those with expensive taste
but poor understanding
quickly swallowing half truths
because whole meals take too long to digest
while offering lint balls as charity
to empty stomachs growling reality
generalization is quick sand
kickstands
are sinking
rapidly
no atrocity is concrete
except for what i have done
because i resemble the cop
that kicked you in the head
i came at you
while i raped you
after you were blinded on our date
i lied to you
after i deprived you
opportunities i gave away
to keep control of the class
i am the head of
i fed insanity LSD & Narcotics!
i AM RJ Reynolds
a cancerous HG Wells
selling you a science fiction
that sells diction
in voice boxes
tied with bows
of oxygen tubes
i used to murder my father
the mad doctor
on the mountain top
i forged my green card to Atlantis
Smith & Wesson are my cousins
John Colti is my alias
URANIS IS MINE!!
i own the moon
i am the son of the sun
hiding in the shadows
revising history
resurrecting God
in my image
i have no anthem to sing
& i burned the proof
in old paintings for light
as i redrew Christ
from photo reference negatives
changing black to white
(a color that pleased us)
who was that model for our savior Jesus?
i forget, but he looked nothing like me�
but he was me�
because you & i ARE me
except i chopped down
the trees of slavery
then sat on the boards
to make prisons
used the surplus
for high backed Virginian electric chairs
presented them to every new King rising
to take my place
ignored the cries of color
muttered discrimination
let INCRIMINAION be heard
as cause because
i am not a normal man
i have no anthem
the deeds of generations
weigh me down
i am not a mortal man
i'm a guilt machine flogging myself
with unseen whips of remembrance
of everything i have done
slipping through life on the slick
my ancestors spilled greasing the system
while throwing off approaching race cars
i am that baby on board
who saw the potential i did not earn
now i'm a tourist in my own town
a bearer at my own funeral
walking below this Provident Skyline
trying to figure out how
to undo everything
i have done to the world
throughout time
SO CUT ME DOWN
my atrocities go farther back
than you can imagine
because i own the sins of the father
of my father's forefathers
& their 4 forefathers
& fathers that go farther
back than that
SO CUT ME DOWN!
the sins of a millennium are pushing
against the blade!!
of my left shoulder�
raised because my right arm cradles
my daughter
yet to be born
someone i will teach
just as i've been taught
everything my father has done
cut me down
just explain to her why
i had no anthem to sing

Labels: poetry