02/28/19
First of all
its the singing
ebony, bronze, and tan men ringing
arms crossed pinkies locked
some eyes closed
some open reading
The Hymn beating in our hearts
like stand of tall/dark pines
we breathe as one
holding up the sky.
“Good nuff for my Brothers”
this sepia history
permeates my bones
ghosts of men name(less) step the quad
in bloody beta
“Good nuff for meee”
i first met homeboy chuck in front of crampton
years later
he became Brother Barnes.
“Good nuff ”
no accident
the weight of this furious/needful thing
my magician/uncle/physicist William Edward Ryder
kneeling in chapter black-n-white photo
my warrior/soldier/uncle/priest George Wilson
followed his big brother
onward & upward
into Delta Xi then
both Life Members of Omega chapter now.
nothin
& i mean nothin
the Big Brothers could do
could be worse than
growing up
twice as good and half as far
in black middleclass/war/veteran/family
striving/struggling
(
my ancestors were slaves
on a Kentucky hemp farm
)
chasing our america
into good white neighborhoods (in queens and silver spring) & out &
into good black neighborhoods (in montclair) & out again
so desperate
to be.
always/already (k)new
was already made
(told my mama)
of cool, black, onyx
born old
as a golden Sphinx
Been here
be here long
after you’re gone.
are we ever (properly) finished?
had to ask The Secrets (to The Ring)
from my (bloody) Beta Brother &
find the prayer & Hymn
after crossing
(28 January 1984)
never saw my 3 sands again
did they learn?
and I Am but still becoming
(
difference btwn somethin hard
and somethin difficult
)
becoming is/was (always) difficult
but I Am
but still becoming.
(w)here I am now
(in prince george’s county) is where
“where did you pledge?”
rolls off the tongue as easy as
“what chuch you go to?”
there is so much
in these colors
signs & symbols
How much is this black and old gold
worth
the key rusty
the lock tarnished
to a door battered and worn.
Postscript: you can find a nicely formatted printout and more detail about this poem by becoming a patron at my eyepoet Patreon site. Please support my work.