i am new york city, by jayne cortez

i am new york city
here is my brain of hot sauce
my tobacco teeth
my mattress of bedbug tongue
legs apart, hand on chin
war on the roof
insults pointed fingers
pushcarts
my contraceptives all look at my pelvis blushing


i am new york city of blood
police and fried pies
i rub my docks red with grenadine
and jelly madness in a flow of tokay
my huge skull of pigeons
my seance of peeping toms
my plaited ovaries excuse me
this is my grime my thigh
of steelspoons and toothpicks
i imitate no one


i am new york city
of the brown spit and soft tomatoes
give me my confetti of flesh
my marquee of false nipples
my sideshow of open beaks
in my nose of soot
in my ox bled eyes
in my ear of Saturday night specials


i eat ha ha hee hee and ho ho
i am new york city
never change never sleep never melt
my shoes are incognito
cadavers grow from my goatee
look i sparkle with shit with wishbones
my nickname is glue-me


take my face of stink bombs
my star spangled banner of hot dogs
take my beer can junta
my reptilian ass of footprints
and approach me through life
approach me through death
approach me through my widow's peak
through my split ends my
asthmatic laugh, approach me
through my wash rag
half ankle, half elbow
massage me with your camphor tears
salute the patina and concrete
of my rat tail wig
face upface downpiss
into the bite of our handshake


i am new york city
my skillet-head friend
my fat-bellied comrade
citizens
break wind with me

Centrifugals

Solid Gold Bullion
Streaking Flash Gordon
Fish down in the City Atlantis
Throwing tulips at Candace
Man, look at this
Centipede liturgy
Never feisty
Combine these
Adverbs, predicates, subjects
Into proverbs
Made for the many that came
While few are chosen
Like the Jewish
You ain't wishing well
Trying to kiss and tell
These vivid fables
Memorable like Aesop
Rocking rough and stuff
With my Afro puff
Laughing with Melvin Van Peebles
Spitting watermelon seeds
Bigger than Greek bonds
Unforgettable like Barry
In every way

A Quick Glance

You want to change things
But things don't change
You want to take this away
But the bill ain't paid
Strange legs
Gain weight
In strange places
This time
Razed up the centimeter
Asking Peter to pay Paul
Rather than borrow
Subprime mortgages razed
Our 401(k)s
And blood pressures
Which people find amazing
Why?
Why didn't California Raisins have golden hues?
Why didn't Bill Clinton admit what he did?
Why did Kraft have to buy Cadbury?
Why does hip hop love the industry?
Why does the price of cigarettes rise and health care fall?
I wonder
Without the bread

Shall Not Be Moved, by Kashan Fields

I am a man
A black man
I am song
I am the writer of song
I am poetry
I am the spoken word
I am the Renaissance
I am Christian
I am creative
I am my past
I am the present and the future
I shall not be moved

My history is golden
Filled with stories of triumph & silver
In spite of the situation
I am all that
And non apologetic about it
Who am I to be president?
Who am I to be King?
It is a part of my present past
Therefore, I am King & I am President
I shall not be moved

My skin is enduring
Elastic to no end
You can age me, tear me, and abuse me
And it stays strong
In fact, the pain that you bring
Gives it a newer hue
Called Wisdom
Thru adversity
Rising to my very best
I learn the lesson
I shall not be moved


Days were long
With the sun on my nape
Knowing soon would come the escape
From my captor
Who held me for some 400 year
A people can only take so much
Especially since we never asked to come here
But now,I am here
I shall not be moved

No announced recession
Can make me lose my rock
We have always known how to make a little into a lot
No depression could ever stunt the path
You tried your best to break us
But, it couldn’t last
The solidity of the family
Stands so tall
Even if we lost it all
We’d count our blessings
And know who to call
We shall not be moved


The foundation was laid
Many debts went unpaid
Senseless bodies were laid
Because of the color of skin
To day there is no real win
Unless we accept this
And change our real ways
And accept they we all are kin
A nation of sisters, & brothers
Uncles & cousins
Mothers & Fathers
Grandmothers & Grandfathers
Aunties and Friends
It can only end
When we all make a move towards the end
Ending Racism, that is
We all shall not be moved

The Loss of Love, by Countee Cullen

All through an empty place I go,
And find her not in any room;
The candles and the lamps I light
Go down before a wind of gloom.

Thick-spraddled lies the dust about,
A fit, sad place to write her name
Or draw her face the way she looked
That legendary night she came.


The old house crumbles bit by bit;
Each day I hear the ominous thud
That says another rent is there
For winds to pierce and storms to flood.


My orchards groan and sag with fruit;
Where, Indian-wise, the bees go round;
I let it rot upon the bough;
I eat what falls upon the ground.


The heavy cows go laboring
In agony with clotted teats;
My hands are slack; my blood is cold;
I marvel that my heart still beats.


I have no will to weep or sing,
No least desire to pray or curse;
The loss of love is a terrible thing;
They lie who say that death is worse.

200 Rand

The Afrikaners like to be apart
The British like a human mart
The Zulu spears were shot down
The Xhosa impuphu, grounded out
Indians served tea and curry
Without cardamom
To flavor the dulled countenances
Of the coloured
The Rainbow nation rose
Out of apartheid rubble
ZA's future rests on many shoulders
Along with billions of dreams
The World Cup of 2010
Begins the REM stage
As 2010 continues the reality
Of a land glowing
With velds, mountains, and springboks
Oceans, rivers, and huts
Weathered by knives, abuse, epithets
Ignorance, avarice, and indigence
That the Big Five alone can't make alive

Her Lips Are Copper Wire, by Jean Toomer

whisper of yellow globes
gleaming on lamp-posts that sway
like bootleg licker drinkers in the fog

and let your breath be moist against me
like bright beads on yellow globes


telephone the power-house
that the main wires are insulate


(her words play softly up and down
dewy corridors of billboards)


then with your tongue remove the tape
and press your lips to mine
till they are incandescent