photo credit: Bill Cottman

 Kulture is a Klub

For George Coleman

An old man named Change limped

Awkwardly

Clumsily up an avenue downtown

In his hand was a large unwieldy

Envelope labeled REVOLUTION

On his body hung a worn and frayed

Bluesed uniform embossed in

Stitches with the words

SPEEDY DELIVERY

He was expecting revolution

To come swiftly

But change comes slowly

We can’t make change at once

So we follow inch by inch

Had I known George was leaving

I might have said something else

Something about life in a maze

Seems always bordered by

White walls

Or something about love sometimes

Looks like fear of loneliness  

I might have said George

Write it down

I might have said let me help you

In the colors of our liberation

We walked among them proudly

Like Mau Mau

We asked the right questions

At the right time

How many times do we have to escape

How many trips up a Sisyphus climb 

We spend too much time under control

Not enough time in exploration    

We filled freezer bags with words

Then thawed them to feed hungry youth

 

Had I known Mau Mau was leaving

I might have said life like guacamole

Taste like what you put in it

Or told him that the voice of nature

Whispered to Umar Bin Hassan

That victory was his if he wanted it

If it is his then it’s ours

(I might have said)

We want it too

Word by word the saga unfolds

Like John Coltrane in concert

The solo is the song and the soloist  

Evolves in every rendition

Stories unravel as sentient forces

Changing spaces by occupying time

Telling truth by ear

We solo because rhythm wants to leave us

We exist in percussive rumblings  

Reverberating from ancestor voices  

Words of warriors

Slain freedom fighters

A host of fallen heroines / heroes

Who fell forward for freedom

 

Dawn Renee Jones said

We be living on a vibe

A vibration on a fault line between self-loathing

And self-consciousness

Between paranoia and paranormal

There’s a sound that doesn’t stop

A beat that defies the grim reaper

It’s a matter of limitations being absurd

We are medicated with lies

Our bodies believe will cure us

We are burdened with visions

Our minds believe will fail

Our history mendacious and dysfunctional

Is to be found in grooves

We be living on a vibe

And slow dancing to it

Like it’s all we know to do

We dance belly to belly with MEDUSA

In blue lights

Sweating fears as we wet

Dreams

We wet her ear with our words

Words improviXing themselves

Promising trouble

Change

Rumblings