The sixties
our era to rage
now
after the purge
we ignore
racism
The eighties
a poem about race
is not a poem
people say that's 
sixties rhetoric
anger no longer
the correct response
to white supremacy
We put on grandboubas
not dashikis dread our hair
no longer bushes call ourselves
kwekuhodarikunjufu
tote incense peddle oils
and vegetarian sermons
write safe poems about 
trees in nicaragua cover
eyes with blue contact lenses
watch our sister host
forsyth county georgia on
national television
go back
tom fetchit step
and be safe
the sixties was our
era to purge
Deny charred holes
in harlem watts
14th street dc
southeast
is a bantustan
glass chrome
granite marble
monuments to racism
rise from connecticut avenue
Forget
heads rolled off the tip
of hoover's tongue
forget
draft cards clogged sewers
so johnny could come marching home
peace be still
forget
james cleveland ordained
nikkigiovanni poet arsonist
forget
panthers parked rifles
between rightwing liberal eyes
police pigs broke many backs
broke no spirits
smash racism
jam the rubble down its
red white and blue throat
the sixties was our era
to rage
Remember 
flames
shattering glass
tvs and stereos
running down the city streets
remember
no forty acres
not one mule only
screams and uniformed
militia national guard
blank faces blocked
clenched fists angry
teeth "black power burn
baby burn" and water the water
tripping over water and fat
firehoses and more water
My water broke right after
the King was murdered
my daughter pushed fragile
and tightfisted against
walls of resistance
Maybe she will remember