MOJO HAND
men who worship sky gods & have no earth gods
are dicks with no place to grow their seed except
into stolen soil, turf marked off, contained, contracted
even owned, acculturated & institutionalized into weakness
is to hurt the land and dishonor the number four
is to believe in the father, the son and no mother,
is the unspeakable name of a male who gives birth to women,
is to worship macho male bonding & be enraged with womb envy
is finally to talk about protecting women from what?
from men, a gender mafia extorting feminine devotion
allegedly in exchange for promised security
what there finally is is a need to heal and nurture, in
reality we have been hurt, maimed, raped and damn near destroyed
rambo will do us no good now, where is dr. drew, dr. carver
where is the ability to bandage and the patience to tend to patients
the easy softness with babies, the untragic shaping
of adolescent egos, the avoidance of posturing, a willingness
to admit ignorance & even impotence, we can not stop
life from cutting us but we can tend to the wounds, or can we
men ever climb down off our high horses, kneel to the earth
embrace life & share the strength of a medicinal mojo hand
—kalamu ya salaam