Remembering the Reverend Jesse Jackson
Southern Democrats became Republicans because
Jackie Robinson stole home. Jesse Jackson eulogized
Jackie, referring to his body as a temple of God.
Some people watched the film Mandingo
Without telling their spouses which parts made them
want to go on separate vacations. I was asked once
about my hair, its texture said you must have parents
of different races.
It took me a long time to understand how Jackson could
lead a Rainbow Coalition that included people who claimed
liberals trained with Governor Dukakis at the Cirque de Soleil
and were similarly certain the Central Park Five
Received a lucrative deal from Death Row Records.
Yet Reverend Jackson reached them like Kendrick Lamar
their feet moved when they caught his rhythm, proof
that a killer crossover slays more than the opposing player.
When a friend’s father dies
Friends’ fathers have been dying for all my lifetime
they pulled dandelions and replaced deck porches
cleaned eaves with gloved hands and cursed the Yankees
They drank beer and cheered for Franco Harris
Cal Ripken had choice words for Jane Fonda it was
April 30th, 1975, and the Reds riding into Saigon
It was Morning in America and the Ownership Society
the end of the Gold Standard and a Hard Hat Riot
they loved their sons they loved their wives they liked me
Too, somehow, because I was respectful and kept my radical
imagination among the tubers in my yard: every month
is the cruelest month when friends fathers have been dying
All my life.
The loss of daylight
My street teaches me that when there is
no crown, dandelions double down
grackles become nightingales
noon sleeping poets choose telephone
poles as pillows.
As chicory forms a firmament for
leafhoppers and other keyhole creatures
raccoons pour purloined bottles
of amber between concrete seams:
tourists believe it’s piss.
When some local jester lights it on fire
God owes us nothing, for we are
watching the innards of the universe
streak past our feet; so, rejoice!
You pair of kissing cousins
who embrace the loss of daylight.
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