HARD NEWS FOR HIP HARRY
(for Nefertiti, new word journalist)
it was like
cowboys & Indians
and he was the whole
10th cavalry
diving down
into her ravine
raising dust
in a surprise
swoop attack
that left her laying
there bent back
her thighs all aquiver
with convulsive
love spasms
and when
the big guns
went off, his
coming was like
a gattling
tearing her little
target apart
each time
they got down
it was always the
same, a rerun in 3-D
the kid riding
rough and ready
into town
turning it out
at high noon
taking swift
car of business
ah, they should
of ought to
have made a movie
out of his moves
til the day
she wouldn’t roll
with his punches, didn’t
feel like faking it
anymore, refused to
be the stunt man
taking dives
and doing what
she didn’t do
she knew
there was no easy way
to release it to romeo
without putting his
love lights out,
so she simply said
“Harry, this is no way
to make love”
like a silent star
in the age of talkies
unable to learn new lines,
like a sky diver
whose parachute
was shot, falling over
committed to a point
of no return,
Harry didn’t know
what to do
so he called her
“frigid”
but it was finis
for his toy balloons
the film had rolled
to the end of the reel,
Harry’s hard humping
had become a fantasy
that no one would
any longer pay
to see
yet Harry sat
nonetheless
incredulously
contemplating
a blank screen,
unable to figure
out why the show
wasn’t going on
(he had always
thought sex
was like what
he saw in the pictures)
“Harry, talk to me”
—kalamu ya salaam
___________________________
THE WORD BAND
Kalamu ya Salaam - poet
Ginger Tanner - lead vocals
Anua Nantambu - backing vocals
Kenyatta Simon - percussion