WE WAS RED BEFORE THEY CALLED US BLACK
We was red before Marx gave a color
to sharing (which
after all, we did all the time
before we became acquainted with snow
and learned to look at a machine
to tell us what time it was, some of us
even carry clocks in our teeth
and get a toothache
every time the opportunity to escape
presents itself
it is so boring becoming white
all you got to do is do the same shit
over and over again
try to be god
fuck over women
and vainly conspire to chain the weather
over and over
I know you think this poem is crazy
but that’s only because
you’re a capitalist
and hate anything red, not to mention
if it’s black and riffing
about peace and freedom
no, I didn’t get this from Marx
Marx got the idea
of sharing from us
you don’t believe me, ask
Engles who the first humans was
and how they used to live
a long time before
the calendar
how do you think people kept track
of what time it was twenty thousand years ago
I bet you they survived
I bet you they had children
lived, loved, laughed and cried
I bet you they weren’t late for work
or worried about the midnight tax deadline
in the middle of April—taxes? What is that
some form of devil worship, of paying tribute
to the great-great grandchildren of terrorists?
I bet you long time ago women still had their
periods regular without having to take Tylenol
for three days straight, and we didn’t
have to wonder what to do with trash
that wouldn’t disappear if you buried it or
what time the church service was or
leaving work late to avoid the rush hour traffic
or none of that
I bet you they didn’t worry about the stock market crashing
or paying the mortgage—mortgage? A strange word, mort =
death, gage = pledge, what are we pledging
to pay back some money or die trying, I know
most of yall believe in progress
believe we know more than people did ten thousand years ago
I bet you think a cell phone and a computer prove
that we better off than natives was in Africa even two
thousand years ago
Ok, here’s one for you, there were at least 12 Egyptian dynasties
each one at least four or five hundred years long, how much
longer you think America going to be around
I’ll give you a few moments to think about that
Opps, time’s up…)
—kalamu ya salaam