"when a river flows..." and "whisper & smoke"

when a river flows . . .

not we the white people of entitlement blue
eyes, the encompassing peripheral grasp, an undertow
 
of taking without asking.   the fear
that babbles beneath; not even
 
we the Citizens,
an ascendant inclusive/:  every immigrant
 
an imminent frenzy of wings
from the vacuum of dispossession.   not we
 
the privileged class, whose greed so panoramic wide-
angles a stillborn soul.   not we the fantasy
 
of middle-class, the hyphenated dream of upward nobility, nor  
we the gutter tribe, our hope a side effect of saturated fats &
 
be patient . . . wanting—the GPS latitude &
longitude of collateral damage—but We the People,
 
the imagining of it, our fear itself, bearing witness to
what fear demeans.   when a river flows,
 
a river flows to empty itself
along the path of least resistance, coursing through echo chambers
 
of mass incarceration,
giving voice to Malcolm-tent, the censored,
 
detained & deferred suppressed—the panic of denial
gagged in the shadows of insecurity.   the river's
 
summary susurrus of syllables
muzzled by the state & put free speech
 
in a harness, the tweeted idiocies of hate
giving voice to deportation in motion/:  the uprooted &
 
relocated, coming into peripheral view, out of dispossession,
out of a handbook on illegal aliens, every page burned out. 
 
the literal corrugated &
metaphorical barriers, the CCTV surveillance
 
& sniffer-dog checkpoints.   a nation's want
so desperately it resembles Progress/:  the untamed roar
 
of Manifest lust, seduces polite society
with a palatable version of freedom.   the exported greed &
 
free trade slavery, the weapons sales to both sides of conflict.
the perpetual war inconsiderate of collateral damage
 
in all its shady euphemisms of bibles /
bullets / & Big-Head Benjamins.   when a river flows,
 
a river flows to empty itself,
along the path of least resistance.

whisper & smoke

after “The Urban Wild Coyote Project” by Mandy-Suzanne Wong

old man coyote   //   demigod/shape
shifter   /
dons a missionary's collar/   & snakeskin boots//   cocks
his head/   a God engine of
whisper & smoke//   a politician's wink &
a grin/sound/bite filtered honey/:  incognito
amongst the People of Hope   
 
//   wild things are wild/   not a rib
to be unequally yoked/   because the walls
we build to contain them/    mean nothing to them   /&
their Other-ness
is the filth/   that makes them feel   //
 
coyotes   //   the symbolic chaos of disorder
in white myths/:  the indigenous
colonizing their cities/   mercilessly
shot/   tortuously
caught in traps/   their progeny/gassed inside their dens   //
 
coyotes are entangled/   live under constant surveillance/
in many Amerikkkan urban networks/   where
the native tribes who venerated them
were ousted or exterminated/   but
coyotes survived   (trickster/   finagler/& taboo breaker)
 
/:  in Chicago/   radio-collared coyotes work
as civil servants/hunting rodents in the city center   /but
gunshot splayed if they overstep their place
 
//   their refusal to lie down
& die/   their adaptability/
tenacity &
elusiveness/   their uncanny staying power
even as white folks/came a-slaughtering   /&
Progress swallowed up the land/   the guns & concrete &
asphalt of Manifest Destiny/   in the name
of 'sivilized/:  a self-
generating meta-
phor vermin   //
 
we are people from shithole countries   /kid- 
napped in tall ships   /Atlantic crossing
into the Gloaming/   between bated breath & the silence   //
 
now/   we root ourselves
in tribal birthmarks/   & blooms of
bruises of old blood/   remake ourselves
from jaw bones/   gri-gri wishbones/   & backwoods ham-
bone Blue(s)   /like blood diamonds
ground down   /to whispers on the color line   /
the comet in us   /
fur-sleek over sinewy muscle/   our
multi-Colored chanting Jubilee   //   we were told
we no longer belonged/   as our endeavor to
persevere/   marched on Baltimore/   Ferguson/Sanford,
Florida/   seething to the surface iri-
descent in hoodoo magic/   & pixilated kaleidoscope
to replicate ourselves/   like schools of  minnow
glimmering gunshot celestial neon with galaxies   /or
the electrical ball lightning of fireflies flung down/   then phoenix up-
risen/   to roar again/   singing mighty protest songs   //

Note: Philadelphia, Denver, Toronto, and the Gotham Coyote Project in New York City boast research organizations devoted to metropolitan coyotes. In Chicago, radio-collared coyotes work as civil servants, hunting rodents in the city center. In Tucson, biologists found that 50% of the city’s human residents enjoy seeing coyotes in their neighborhoods. Up to 85% believe coyotes pose no threat.